Good advertising is inspirational, aspirational and motivational. The Southern Comfort cocktail recipe booklets, a 25 year company tradition, were exactly that. What started as an experiment in the 1960s grew into a quarterly juggernaut for the 70s, that slowly petered out by the mid 80s. But we’re not interested in the end, we’re interested in the glory days. Distributed as inserts in magazines like Playboy and Life and in displays at liquor stores, it’s estimated that 10 million copies of each quarterly booklet were circulated throughout the 1970s. So let’s look at one of the 70s Southern Comfort Summer Cocktails recipe book.
Southern Comfort may rub shoulders with whiskeys and bourbons on the liquor store shelves, but it’s technically considered at liqueur because the whiskey base is sweetened and there’s added fruit flavors and spices. The marketing department and test kitchen had four strategies for creating cocktails for the booklets:
- The Liquor Swap, where a cocktail traditionally made with whiskey or another liquor swaps in Southern Comfort. This resulted in things like the Comfort Manhattan.
- The Pop Culture tie in, where cocktails were inspired by things like movies and disco. Disco influence resulted in some highly suggestive cocktail names.
- Innovation in the test kitchen, focusing on the “one bottle bar” idea. Southern Comfort makes it so easy. All you need are common supermarket ingredients as mixers to delight the crowd.
- Bartender competitions and submissions, direct from the bar scene to the booklets.
The ad agencies, with their copywriters, illustrators and photographers are what really made the books pop with aspiration. Can something be both outdoorsy and loungey at the same time? Your life can be just that if you serve Southern Comfort. The booklets from the 70s showcased the life you wanted, and, because it was the 70s, the images are really something. Look at that cover. How did they get drenched fully dressed? Were they caught in a summer rain? Did they jump into the pool with madcap abandon? Don’t you want to be equally exhilarated, soaking wet, embracing and ready for your happy hour cocktail?
Ah…our first Liquor Swap and ideas for the one bottle bar, after all “the simple drinks are the most popular.” Would you rather have an ordinary Collins or a smoother Collins as you lounge on your sailboat? Not only is the Comfort Collins easier to make, it’s a hit at the Hotel Fontainebleau in Miami Beach.
Nothing goes with lounging by a cool waterfall on a hot day like a cooler cocktail does. And names are going to get dropped…Anthony’s Pier 4 in Boston, the Alta Mira Hotel in Sausalito, Joe Murphy’s Lounge in Tampa and freakin’ Alice’s Restaurant in Lenox, MA. You can get anything you want, at Alice’s Restaurant…including a Cow Shot.
Oooh, lets go out on the sailboat and “take the simmer out of summer” with a sour. There’s the Comfort Summer Sour aka the Cool Comfort, as served at the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club. And then you can choose between the ordinary Sour or the Comfort Sour, served at the Top of the Mark at the Hotel Mark Hopkins in San Francisco.
And finally, for those sunset moments at the beach house, how about some punches or a Scarlett O’Hara (first marketed by Southern Comfort when Gone with the Wind premiered in theaters) a cool Teul (the internet was baffled by that a Teul is) or a Comfort Julep.
These Southern Comfort summer cocktails and especially the photos are pure distilled 70s vibe and 70s marketing. Very hip and swingy, suave and convincing–why would you have an ordinary Collins? You’re not ordinary. There are lots of the 70s Southern Comfort booklets for sale, should you also want to be hip. Most are in the $5-$10 range. Two are favorites with collectors, the one on the left is from 1970 and one on the right is from 1972. Those will set you back a bit more, depending on condition. But look at those covers. They are worth every penny.
