The Sultana is April 27th Drink of the Day
With ten times the amount of people it was meant to hold, the S.S. Sultana’s boiler exploded, killing at least 1450 people while delivering just-released Confederate POWs and Union soldiers to Illinois. It happened this day in 1865.
The Civil War had just ended the week before, so everybody was in a rush to go back home to their loved ones. The wooden steamship had to make many stops to mend an already leaking boiler. Every stop, more people bribed their way on the boat. In all over 2400 people would be on this vessell during the explosion. This isn’t including the livestock and horses that were on-board, as well. This ship was built for the cotton trade on the lower Mississippi River, where a crew of less than 100 people were usually on-board.
To this day, it is the considered America’s worst maritime disaster. Though the drink I’m introducing today has nothing to do with this accident, it does have the same name. Matthew Colling, in 2006 while a bar manager at Ponzo in San Francisco, California, named this drink the Sultana due to its meaning - “all powerful woman”.
The Sultana
3 oz. Vanilla Infused Vodka
1/2 oz. Yuzu Juice
1/2 oz. Fresh Lime Juice
1 oz. Simple Syrup (1:1 sugar to water ratio dissolved on low heat)
10 - 15 Mint Leaves
Method: Place the yuzu juice, lime juice, simple syrup, and all but one mint leaf in an empty mixing glass and grind with a wooden muddler. Add vodka and fill glass 3/4 with ice. Shake well for 15 seconds. Strain contents into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with the reserved mint leaf.
This day in history:
1865 - The boiler on the steamship, the “S.S. Sultana”, exploded killing over 1450 people on-board, making it America’s worst maritime disaster, even to this day.
1880 - Francis Clark and M. G. Foster patented the Electrical Hearing Aid.
1956 - Rocky Marciano retired as undefeated world heavyweight champion of the world.
1983 - Considered a record that would never be broken, Nolan Ryan surpassed Walter Johnson’s all-time strikeout record. This record held since 1927.
Notable Birthday:
Samual F.B. (Finley Breese) Morse, inventor of the electromagnetic telegraph, was born on this day in 1791.
Notable Quote:
“In a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessells is more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks.” - Warren Buffett
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Category: Drink of the Day
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