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Screwdriver (Difford's recipe)

Name: Screwdriver (Difford's recipe)
Total time: 3 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 50 ml Vodka; 60 ml Orange juice; 5 ml Sugar syrup 'rich' (2:1); 2 dash Orange bitters

Difford’s Guide

Discerning Drinkers (80)

Measurements in:

Serves:

Keep screen awake

Ingredients
1 2/3 fl oz	Ketel One Vodka (from freezer)
2 fl oz	Orange juice (freshly squeezed) (chilled)
1/6 fl oz	Sugar syrup 'rich' (2 sugar to 1 water) 65.0°Brix
2 dash	Orange Bitters by Angostura

How to make

Glassware

Serve in a Highball (max 10oz/300ml)

Prepare

Select and pre-chill a HIGHBALL (MAX 10OZ/300ML) GLASS.
Prepare garnish of orange slice wheel.

Method

Briefly STIR all ingredients with ice.
STRAIN into ice-filled glass.

Garnish

Garnish with orange slice.

Flavour Profile

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

Health & Nutrition

Nutrition:

One serving of Screwdriver (Difford's recipe) contains 154 calories

Alcohol content:

1.1 standard drinks
13.74% alc./vol. (27.48° proof)
15.9 grams of pure alcohol

History

Legend has it that this cocktail first appeared in the late 1940s in Iran, where parched American oil engineers working in the desert supposedly added orange juice to their vodka and stirred it with the nearest thing to hand, usually a screwdriver in their work clothes pocket.

This is partly supported by the following reference to the drink in the 24th October 1949 issue of Time Magazine, "In the dimly lighted bar of the sleek Park Hotel, Turkish intelligence agents mingle with American engineers and Balkan refugees, drinking the latest Yankee concoction of vodka and orange juice, called a 'screwdriver'."

Review

The temperature at which this cocktail is served, and the freshness of the orange juice are crucial to its success, but it's perhaps better made into a Harvey Wallbanger.

My own preference is to make Screwdrivers with a whopping 75ml of vodka, 90ml orange juice, 7.5ml rich sugar syrup, and 3 dashes of orange bitters, served in a Collins glass. I like the grainy bite the generous measure of vodka adds, but it's a punchy cocktail, so I have cut the ingredients back by a third and used a smaller Highball glass for sobriety, while retaining the ratios.

Cocktail of the day:

14th December 2026 is National Screwdriver Day

Variations/similar cocktails

Harvey Wallbanger

Gallery

Screwdriver (Difford's recipe) lifestyle image

Comments & Discussion

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Lorenz Kock 4y

The thinking men's vodka orange or "mische" as we say in Germany

Hunter Newsome 5y

Why 2.5 shot of vodka and not 2 shot in this one?

Simon Difford Verified User Premium Member 5y

Thanks for pointing out. 75ml was a tad punchy. I have amened to 60ml vodka and added a note accordingly.

Hunter Newsome 4y

Initially I was just wondering, but now I understand that the bitters buffer the heat of the vodka, while the extra half measure adds some richer body to the drink. Both versions are great.

Andrew Cassidy 5y

My word the syrup and the bitters totally masks the vodka! A really nice modification to a simple vodka orange.

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