Ah, the Appletini. One of the most, if not the most, famous club drinks to come out of the 1990s. It’s one of those cocktails that just screams platform shoes, baggy jeans and halterneck tops. The neon green hue, the sugary taste – it’s iconic. But where did it come from? And more importantly, why did this popular drink fall out of fashion?
The Appletini was made at Lola’s, an iconic West Hollywood bar, in the late ’90s. It belonged to an era of bartending when sugary and brightly coloured cocktails reigned supreme and all bartending was “flair.” But unlike its colourful cocktail counterparts, the Appletini’s success remained steady for years. Fans of hit TV show Scrubs (ahem, us) will forever remember JD’s classic order: “Appletini, please. Easy on the ’tini.”
Even the New York Times declared: “The apple martini is officially in season.” But that was 2002, so what’s happened to our favourite ‘90s/noughties cocktail since then? Well, to put it in the simplest terms, bartending changed. And because the industry and its tastes changed, so did the punters. The drinking population moved away from sugary, brightly coloured drinks and started revisiting the classics.
However, decades later we’re seeing a renaissance of bucket hats, low-rider jeans and other ’90s paraphernalia, so it’s only a matter of time until we see the good ol’ Appletini and other flavoured Martinis make a similar comeback. And when it does, we might just be whipping out JD’s famous line for ourselves.
