5 Speakeasy Cocktails…And Their Shady Pasts

Unless you've been living under an especially heavy rock, you're aware that this season is all about the Jazz Age. Thanks to the release of the obscure film adaptation of The Great Gatsby (maybe you've heard of it?), we're awash in bob haircuts and fringe hemlines and drop-waist everything. Frankly, if we see another Art Deco earring, we're going to throw it at someone. Hard.

One thing we're not over? The light, bubbly, historical cocktails that Gatsby has brought back to the mainstream. The Prohibition era, while meant to eradicate drinking in the U.S., in fact had the opposite effect — it made us get creative with our cocktails, and resulted in some of the finest drinks still served at bars today.

Though Jazz Age partiers often relied on bootleg booze, it's believed the high fliers (like the Gatsby set) continued to serve the real deal, sneaking in liquor deliveries via off-shore islands under cover of night. In celebration of this sneaky history, Tanqueray (which may or may not have participated in such transactions, wink wink) has rounded up some of the most infamous cocktails of the era, along with a little backstory of why each is such a classic. Enjoy these for yourself — no password required.