What Drinks Have To Do With Tina Turner

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Happy 80th birthday, Tina! We made cocktails for you.

80 years ago today, Anna Mae Bullock, the future music icon Tina Turner, was born in Nutbush Tennessee. Her rise to fame began in the late 1950s when her sister Allene took Anna Mae to see R&B star Ike Turner perform at the Tinato Club Imperial in St. Louis, and by 1960, as “Little Ann”, with her fearlessly on point yet gritty voice, she recorded the hit “Boxtop” with him when another singer dropped out. She soon became a regular member of his band, and Ike gave her the stage name that stuck.

Her signature look—the wigs of golden mane, sky high minis, death-defying heels—were Ike’s design to attract even more attention to his talented protégé, but that attention also had dangerous consequences. Despite what intensified into violent, jealous rages, the pair were married in 1962 and continued a successful recording and touring act that lasted into the mid 1970s. Along the way, Ike and Tina famously opened for the Rolling Stones in 1969, when Tina says she taught Mick Jagger many of his now signature moves. 

As a way to cope with Ike’s increasing abuse, which she later documented in the 1986 book I, Tina as having been both physical and professionally autocratic, Tina began practicing Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism. On July 1, 1976, a more spiritually centered Tina reached a breaking point. Following a particularly violent brawl in the back seat of a limo in Dallas—a scene that is captured in the 1993 biopic What’s Love Got To Do With It with Lawrence Fishburne as Ike and Angela Bassett as Tina—she bravely fled with what she says was only 36 cents in change and a gas station credit card. 

Though she recorded a couple of solo albums and toured with a lounge act in the 1970s and early 1980s following their split, commercial success eluded her until the release of the album Private Dancer on Capitol Records. The record birthed a string of inescapable, mega hit singles including the title track, “What’s Love Got to Do With It”, a cover (what many critics cite as the definitive one) of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together”, “Better Be Good To Me”, and “Private Dancer” (written by Mark Knopfler). It also features a cover of David Bowie’s “1984”, fitting, given the year of its release (if not for the over-the-top, de rigueur, ‘80s synth sequences) (Also, by the way, you can get those David Bowie cocktails here). The record went on to win four Grammys in 1985, including Album of the Year. 

It was a long time coming, but finally, Tina Turner was a solo star! What followed were a string of sold out, record-breaking world tours and a memorable casting in the sequel to the post-apocalyptic 1982 Australian film Road Warrior in 1985’s Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. She played the Amazonian-like, chainmail and metal headdress-wearing Aunt Entity, cutthroat ruler of Bartertown, in a role that is said to have been written with Tina in mind, though without knowing if she’d accept it. 

In the late 1980s, having not been in a serious relationship since her breakup with Ike (who died of a reported cocaine overdose in 2007 at the age of 76), Tina met Erwin Bach, a German exec for her record label EMI. The two (I would be remiss not to note he is 17 years her junior) moved to Switzerland in 1995, and have been married since 2013. She has also since renounced her US citizenship, presumably because she is now the queen of Hell Yeah I Can Do Whatever the Hell I Wantistan. 

Earlier this autumn, Tina--the Tina Turner Musical, about the musician’s life, opened on Broadway to mixed reviews (some reports of deep lows, other of triumphs high). Does it even matter to Tina? As the New York Times reported in September, “Tina Turner is Having the Time of Her Life.” She has a devoted husband who even went so far as to donate one of his kidneys when she was on dialysis and near death a few years ago. She lives in a Swiss chateau. People are directed not to contact her before noon. “I was just tired of singing and making everybody happy,” she is quoted as saying. “That’s all I’d ever done in my life.” Having lived for decades in chaos, she says she treasures her new found tranquility and admires the order of life in Switzerland. 

To say Tina Turner is a resilient and powerful talent would be among the understatements of the century. Now at 80, she has earned the right to do as little as she wants, but all in her own bigger-than-life fashion. Let’s raise a drink to this amazing woman. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TINA TURNER!!!!!!!!  

Bold Sotol Sister

By Arik Greenleaf Torren

This agave-tinged Sazerac riff is based on the song “Bold Soul Sister”.

  • 1 oz Tennessee Rye, such as George Dickel

  • 1 oz La Higuera Sotol Leophyllum

  • 1 tsp simple syrup

  • 3 dashes Peychaud’s bitters 

  • 1 dash Angostura bitters

  • absinthe for rinsing glass, preferably Swiss (to celebrate Tina’s new homeland)

  • garnish: fat lemon twist 

Wash rocks glass out with absinthe. In a mixing glass, stir the rest of the ingredients with ice until well-chilled. Strain into absinthe-washed rocks glass. Garnish. 

photo by Mike Vacheresse

photo by Mike Vacheresse

What’s Love Got to Do With It?

By Mike Vacheresse, owner of Travel Bar, Brooklyn

Even a whiskey drinker like Vacheresse says that for whatever the reason, this field-to-bottle flavored vodka makes his pulse react. After all, who needs a heart (or a rule) when one can be broken, like in this Negroni variation?

If rimming glass, wet rim of coupe glass with fresh lemon juice and place rim side down on plate to coat. Add remainder of ingredients except garnish to shaker and shake with ice until well chilled. Strain into coupe. Float strawberry in drink. 

Proud Mary

By Anthony Desario

Desario says his inspirational math was Sazerac = New Orleans, and New Orleans + Tina Turner = Proud Mary. The drink’s ingredients embody what Tina often says on stage before performing the famous, kicked up, Ike and Tina cover of the Creedence Clearwater Revival song: “Nice and easy, But there is just one thing, we never do nothing nice and easy. We always do it nice and rough.” 

  • 1 ¾ oz Spicy Rye Whiskey (Desario used George Dickel as an homage to Tina’s home state of TN) 

  • 4 oz tomato juice

  • fresh lemon juice to taste

  • crushed pink peppercorns 

  • ½ tablespoon fennel salt (instructions follow)

  • 1 ½ bar spoon (or to taste) prepared horseradish 

  • 1 ½ bar spoon balsamic vinegar (in lieu of Worcestershire sauce)

  • 4 dashes hot sauce of choice 

  • ¼ oz Legendre Herbsaint 4:1 mixed with cold spring water

  • garnish: fennel stalk

Combine ingredients in a shaker tin. Roll (down that river) 2-3 times, add Ice, shake till cold, strain into a tall, chilled glass over fresh ice. Garnish with a thin fennel stalk and a bar spoon float of the 4:1 Herbsaint blend.

Fennel Salt

3 tablespoons sea salt and 1 tablespoon fennel seeds toasted and ground into a powder, plus 1 tablespoon fresh ground pink peppercorns. Grind all three together and mix into a powder. 

photo by Geoff Smith

photo by Geoff Smith

Two Tinas Enter; One Tina Leaves

By Geoff Smith, On20, Hartford, CT

“I wanted the cocktail to be smoky, dark and a little bit dangerous, like her character and the overall tone of the movie [Beyond Thunderdome]. And I wanted to include a nod to Gaz with his bitters,” says Smith.

Stir all ingredients with ice until well chilled. Strain into Old Fashioned glass over large ice cube. 

photo by Frederic Yarm

photo by Frederic Yarm

We Don’t Need Another Hero

By Frederic Yarm, La Brasa, Somerville, MA

Yarm says the hit single from the Beyond Thunderdome soundtrack inspired themes of “darkness, roughness, smokiness, and spice.” 

Build in a metal cup filled with crushed ice. Swizzle to mix and chill, and garnish with a lime shell Thunderdome and freshly grated nutmeg.

Jasper's Basic Stock Mix

(From Jasper Le Franc, Bay Roc Hotel bar in Montego Bay, Jamaica)

Stir to dissolve 12 oz sugar in 16 oz lime juice. Add 1 oz Angostura Bitters and 1 heaping tsp freshly grated nutmeg. Refrigerate. Shake before using. This mix is definitely scalable with a ⅛ volume being perfect for two drinks, and it will keep for a few days in the refrigerator.

Talkin’ Like We’re Just Friends

by Carol Donovan, Intoxicatingly Fun Cocktails

“[For ‘Don’t Leave Me This Way’] I wanted to celebrate Tina's strength yet softness—especially when considering this power ballad that this song is,” says Donovan. “That is why the ratios of this cocktail are reversed. The four types of bitters are for all of the different sides of Tina we got to experience throughout her career.” She insists the drink be served in a sparkling vessel to mimic the sequins Tina wears onstage.

Stir all ingredients with ice until well chilled. Strain into bedazzled stemware. Express the oil of a grapefruit peel over the glass, and then discard.

photo by Amanda Schuster

photo by Amanda Schuster

Private Dancer

by Amanda Schuster

One of the most poignant moments in scripted television of the past few years has to be in the finale of the first season of Pose (2018), when Elektra (Dominique Jackson) finds herself alone and broke following gender reassignment surgery, and forced to dance for her shekels at Peep World in Times Square. Though it’s a bit on the nose, “Private Dancer” plays over a sequence that truly epitomizes the sleazy grit of that era of New York City, and that general feeling of emotional desolation (it’s been said a good portion of the show’s budget was spent shelling out for the rights to use the song - worth it!). Since Elektra, even in solitude, could never fully abandon her fancy ways, she deserves a booze-forward cocktail made with an ultra elegant spirit, but with a bit of decadent sweetness and bite, like this Stinger variation. Although the theme doesn’t sound very fa la la, honestly, the flavor would make for a fantastic yuletide drink as well.

Build in rocks glass and stir without ice (yes, a traditional Stinger is shaken, even though it’s got no citrus. A fancy lady would order it that way in a bar no doubt, but at home, who’s looking?) Add ice and stir until chilled.

Nutbush City Limits 

By Chockie Tom, founder of Doom Tiki

Combine all ingredients in a shaker and whip shake (no ice) until combined. Strain into a tall glass or julep cup. Add crushed ice. Top with Mexican Coca Cola. Garnish. 

photo by Paula Lukas

photo by Paula Lukas

Better Be Good To Me

By Paula Lukas, head bartender/bar manager Nur, New York City 

This drink bring’s Tina’s elements of smoke, heat and spice to the glass.

Rim double Old Fashioned glass in spice mixture. Shake all ingredients with ice until well chilled. Strain into glass over fresh ice. Garnish with cinnamon stick and star anise.

Typical Male

By Amanda Schuster

Oh, so very many jokes I could make here. But the song is, in essence, about a woman struggling with that age old attraction of opposites, and whether falling for someone against type is ultimately good for the heart. I picture a scene in my head: a woman sitting at a bar chatting with slick guy in a suit. It’s their third or fourth meeting, and she’s sipping the last few drops of a bittersweet Manhattan variation while fiddling with the end of the toothpick which still spears the uneaten cherry. There’s not much in the way of cultural connections, but somehow they find things to talk about. The guy does have his charms, “I confess I'm a fool/For men with a clever mind/But your intellect ain't no match/For this heart of mine.” Is this just a typical male not worth the bother? Just eat up that cherry and say it’s not going to work, or stay awhile and give it a chance?

photo courtesy the Wren

photo courtesy the Wren

Stir all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice until well chilled. Strain into a chilled coupe or cocktail glass. Garnish.

Simply the Best

By Max Pierson, The Wren, New York City 

Says Pierson, “The romantic context of the song reminds me of two soulmates separated by conflict, so I tempered the strong, vibrant, potent gin with what I think are ‘simply the best’ ingredients...They all come together in a beautiful way that is not too complex on the palate."

  • 2 slices fresh cucumber

  • 2 shiso leaves

  • 2 oz navy strength gin

  • ¾ oz fresh yuzu juice

  • ½  oz agave syrup

  • ¼ oz Yellow Chartreuse

Muddle cucumber and one shiso leaf in a cocktail tin. Add all remaining ingredients and fill shaker tin with ice. Shake until well chilled. Double strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with trimmed shiso leaf.

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