- Whadya, how do I
start it off?
It's late spring, 1942, and the Japanese control
most of the western Pacific Theater.
But by August, The Allies weren't (beep)ing around anymore,
and they sent 11,000 Marines
and dropped 'em in the Solomon Islands.
Now some Marines will tell you that the Navy
just took 'em over there and dropped them off.
But, the true story, the real story, is that,
yeah, they did, but they left 'em
with a bunch of cases of this Old Crow, good bourbon,
thanks to Admiral Chester Nimitz,
which we now name a bunch of ships after,
because of the bourbon.
But what happened was, the Marines were there on the island,
they were given a ration of about four ounces
of bourbon a day, and you know Marines,
they're just gonna drink everything,
but what they figured out was
that they could make a cocktail
that they could ration that four ounces
and make it last the entire time they were there.
And that cocktail is called the Guadalcanal Cocktail.
Good Old Crow bourbon, some grapefruit juice,
f-f-f-fresh, squeezed island grapefruits,
throw it with some ice - Cool
- that they had appropriated
from the Japanese icehouses,
- Cool. - and you got yourself
a cocktail. (bell ringing)
And here's why you need to make this drink
and drink it tonight.
- [Man] Not literally.
- Oh, sorry.
You got 11,000 Marines, Allied Forces,
on Guadalcanal fighting every day for the world,
and they were toasting,
they were Cheersing with this after every battle won,
after every day fought.
They were Cheersing with this good bourbon drink.
For years after the battle, the veterans of Guadalcanal
drank this cocktail to commenmorate, to commenmorate,
to commemorate, to commemorate the battle,
to commemorate their lives,
to commemorate the day they won the Battle of Guadalcanal.
And now you can drink it too.
Let me show you how to make it.
All right, so Ball glass.
What is this actually called?
Mason jar.
Otherwise known as a Ball glass,
widemouth, widemouth Ball, wide balls.
It's gonna be my receptacle for this.
Old Crow bourbon,
the preferred bourbon of Hunter S. Thompson and Mark Twain.
In the plastic bottle, that's how you know it's good.
Just gonna ballgame,
I'm just gonna ballgame four, four ounces, two, three,
oh actually I don't have to ballgame,
they have it on the side here (weakly laughing).
That's (mumbles).
And then, I'm just gonna get some freshly squeezed island,
you know island grapefruit.
This is a lime squeezer, but it should work.
Ow, ow ow ow, uh excuse my hands.
Squeeze the citrus, got to keep it freshhh.
This is unsweetened grapefruit juice, obviously.
It's a very clean flavor, ya know.
It was just island grapefruit, you just pick it walking by,
pick a nice grapefruit, you're good to go.
All right, so I got some grapefruit down, bourbon,
grapefruit, now I'm gonna add some ice
- Cool
- cause you know on the Solomon Islands in August
it was hotter than Hunter S. Thompson's credit card
in a Las Vegas Denny's.
Get my ice-filled glass.
- Cool
- Stir it around.
(ice clanking)
Cause you know the Marines use bayonets
to stir their cocktails.
(ice clanking)
Let's try it.
So, to the 11,000 Marines kicking off the first offensive
in the South Pacific in World War II,
here's to you, Guadalcanal.
(ice clanking)
(screeches)
It's good.
It's like 8:30 in the morning here in Hollywood.
This is a good breakfast drink.
Also, buy this shirt!
Check it out.
- Ah, it's good.
It's strong.
- Yeah.
- It's--
- Strong like Marines.
- It's early in the morning.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- It's 8:30.
Megan, come try this.
I mean there's grapefruit juice in it.
That means it's breakfast, right?
- [Megan] Yuh, that's real strong.
- Ooooo, it's good, it's good, it's good,
(crow cawing) it's good,
it's good, it's good, it's good, it's good.
So come back next Friday
when I make another military cocktail.
Between now and then, drop us some comments.
Let us know
of any military cocktails
that you want to see made,
or any amazing military stories
that you want us to turn into a military cocktail.
Check it out.
(popping)
Good?
You think they'll like that?
- [Man] I think so.
- (short laugh)