Party people in New Orleans are quick to grab a Hurricane. Folks who attend the Kentucky Derby adore their mint juleps. Miami is famous for its mojitos. Barflies in Anchorage, Alaska, are all about the Duck Fart. (You read that right, the Duck Fart.)
Signature drinks can be found throughout Alabama, as well, and we’re here to point to five of our favorites. Some contain alcohol, and plenty of it. (Sip with caution, please.) Others provide a sugar buzz that’s appropriate for adults and kids alike. All five drinks have earned fame throughout the state. At least one is a Southern classic. And did we mention they taste pretty darn yummy?
The Yellowhammer at Gallettes is one of the most popular signature drinks in Tuscaloosa, especially on Alabama football gamedays. (Ben Flanagan / AL.com)
Yellowhammer
Ingredients: Rum, vodka, amaretto liqueur, orange juice, pineapple juice.
Where to find it: Gallettes — a famous dive bar inside the Campus Party Store building at 1021 University Blvd. in Tuscaloosa — is the absolute best place to order a Yellowhammer. The drink is served here in a 16-ounce souvenir plastic cup that’s adorned with the name of the bar and the phrase “Roll Tide!” The precise recipe used at Gallettes is a closely guarded secret, and has been since the bar opened in 1976. Knockoffs do exist, of course, and you can try to replicate the drink at home.
What it tastes like: Sweet and fruity, like pineapple juice on steroids. But as anyone will tell you, the Yellowhammer packs quite a punch.
Good to know: Gallettes sells thousands of Yellowhammers when the Crimson Tide plays a home game at nearby Bryant-Denny Stadium. In fact, the bar has a five-foot replica of the Yellowhammer mounted on the wall. Created by artist Mathew Simmons, it’s made of aluminum and comes complete with ice cubes and a splash of the drink at its rim.
READ: Gallettes unveils giant Yellowhammer cup monument: Here’s how they made it
If you haven't had a bushwacker at the Flora-Bama, have you really even been to the beach? (Photo courtesy Flora-Bama Lounge and Package)
Bushwacker
Ingredients: Rum (dark, light or both), coffee liqueur, crème de cacao (a type of chocolate liqueur), cream of coconut, milk, ice and possibly other ingredients, depending on who’s making it. “Bushwackers are always served with a thick straw and topped with a maraschino cherry,” Michelle Matthews said in a 2020 feature story for AL.com
Where to find it: Gulf Coast bars serve some wonderful Bushwackers. But how to find the best of the best? AL.com’s Lawrence Specker recently ranked five of his favorite spots for a Bushwacker in Alabama, praising The Pink Pony Pub in Gulf Shores, Tacky Jack’s in Orange Beach, the Flora-Bama Lounge on the Alabama/Florida line and more.
What it tastes like: A milkshake for grown-ups. According to the website A Couple Cooks, the Bushwacker is “a mashup of a chocolate milkshake and piña colada.”
Good to know: An Orange Beach company, The Surfside Shuttle, offers Bushwacker tours that take vacationers to four scenic spots. “Offering a tour would be a chance to let customers sample the alcoholic drink while seeing the area itself in a comfortable, music-filled party bus that picks them off and drops them off at their condo or house,” Michelle Matthews said in a 2023 feature story. And yes, the Flora-Bama Lounge and Tacky Jack’s are on the list.
READ: Where does the ‘Bushwacker Trail’ begin? We rank 5 of the best
An Auburn tradition since the late 19th century, Toomer's Drugs (on the corner of Magnolia Avenue and College Street in downtown Auburn) is perhaps best known for its famous fresh-squeezed lemonade. (Ben Flanagan / AL.com)Ben Flanagan
Toomer’s lemonade
Ingredients: Fresh-squeezed lemon juice, ice and an in-house sweetener that’s a closely guarded secret. A special syrup? A type of sugar? A magic potion created by elves? Who knows?
Where to find it: Toomer’s Drugs, a beloved institution at 100 N. College St. in downtown Auburn, is the headquarters for Toomer’s lemonade. Michael Overstreet, longtime manager of the drugstore and souvenir shop, told AL.com the secret ingredient in the lemonade is “Auburn spirit and love.” And you can only get it at Toomer’s. (The store sells frozen and flavored lemonade, by the way, along with the iconic variety.)
What it tastes like: Sweet, tart and refreshing. “It’s strong,” Overstreet said. “It’s definitely a little stronger than what you’re probably used to, in what you get at the grocery store or make at home. People call it sweet and sour, at the same time, because it’s very strong. But that’s the way we like it, you know.”
Good to know: Toomer’s doesn’t keep records on how many cups of lemonade are sold each day or week, according to Overstreet. However, he said Toomer’s goes through 100-120 cases of lemons on the weekend of an Auburn Tigers football game at nearby Jordan-Hare Stadium.
READ: Lemonade at Toomer’s Drugs is legendary: ‘You’re not going to get it anywhere else’
Many Southerners love sweet tea, especially when it's homemade. (Ben Flanagan / AL.com)
Sweet tea
Ingredients: Tea, water, sugar. We’ve seen some home recipes that include a pinch of baking soda; others debunk this idea or simply prefer a classic recipe. All agree it’s important to add lots of sugar to boiling water and stir the mixture thoroughly while it’s hot.
Where to find it: “You probably order it at just about every restaurant, fast food or sit-down,” Ben Flanagan of AL.com said in a 2021 feature story. “Or you either brew it or buy it by the gallon (hello, Milo’s). Sweet tea is a way of life.”
What it tastes like: Um, “nectar of the gods?” That’s how Flanagan described it. “When you wander out of the region to find tea that isn’t sweet, you feel a shiver down your spine,” he said. “Something’s ... not right.”
Good to know: Homemade sweet tea is widely regarded as the ultimate thirst quencher, but Milo’s tea is mega-popular, too. Celebrity fans include comedian Roy Wood Jr., who told AL.com, “When I go to Milo’s, the cheeseburger combo with sweet tea is a given.”
READ: Sweet tea: When did the South start drinking it?
The Alabama Slammer initially became popular in the 1970s as a cool cocktail, but you can also drink it as a shot. (Brent Hofacker/500px Plus/Getty Images)
Alabama Slammer
Ingredients: Southern Comfort whiskey, sloe gin, amaretto liqueur, orange juice.
Where to find it: The easiest thing to do is make your own. Alabama Slammers can be served as cocktails or shots, and both are a cinch to prepare. Basically, you throw the ingredients into a shaker with ice; strain and serve. Cocktails can be served in tall glass with fresh ice and garnished with orange slices. Shots are simply poured into 1-3 ounce glasses and, well, slammed. (See one recipe here on the Southern Comfort website; see another here on Liquor.com.
What it tastes like: Sweet, fruity and kind of tropical, like something you’d drink at a tiki bar.
Good to know: “Legend has it that the Alabama Slammer was invented at the University of Alabama in 1975, although further details about the drink’s origin are hazy,” says the Make Me a Cocktail website. “Speculation about its inventor abounds, but neither the bartender who first concocted it nor the bar that first served it are part of the lore. It is, however, said to be the signature drink of the Alabama Crimson Tide football team.”