The Origins Of The Vodka Red Bull Cocktail, Explained

Every classic cocktail has its own story, and most are disputed. The Bahama mama's origin likely involves a Caribbean stage performer named Dottie Lee Anderson — but we don't know for sure. The margarita likely came from the U.S./Mexican border areas in the mid-20th century — but we don't know exactly when and where. The old fashioned was conceived as a deliberate response to the rise of more complex cocktails in the mid-1800s ... or so the legend goes. The origin of the Long Island iced tea, meanwhile, is heavily disputed between two different guys who each claim to be its creator.

The Red Bull Vodka cocktail is the exception because while it's deceptively simple, we're pretty sure we know exactly where and when it was first sold as an intentional menu item: At Butter, a bar in San Francisco, in 1999. It may have been served elsewhere before that, but that's where it really took off. As to how it got started in the first place, it has to do with the company offering Butter's owners $50,000 to get their product in the door of the rave and club scene — a pretty paltry sum considering how well it ultimately worked out for them.

Red Bull is the product of a partnership between two men: Thai-born chemist Chaleo Yoovidhya and Austrian entrepreneur Dietrich Mateschitz. Mateschitz first tried Yoovidhya's "Red Gaur" mixture on a business trip in 1982, found it immediately cured his jet lag, and the two went into business shortly thereafter. In 1987, their product hit shelves, initially marketed as an energy drink for Austrian skiers. When it hit the U.S. market in 1997, it was pushed in the same direction — but "ski lodges" is a pretty limited pull for a company with broader North American ambitions. Red Bull needed an in to another market.

It got one in the San Francisco club scene. In 1999, event promoter Vlad Cood introduced Red Bull reps to a couple of his friends, Chris and Carleton Solle, who planned to open a small party bar in SoMa. The company offered $50,000 to the owners for building a large part of their menu around Red Bull cocktails. Though they came up with a bunch of ideas, the one that took off with customers was Red Bull Vodka, which they labeled "the R.V."

The investment turned out to be massively successful. Thanks to the interconnectedness of the party promoter scene, Red Bull Vodkas took off in clubs all across the country over the course of the next year. Within the next decade, they became a staple at any modern-thinking bar. The association eventually fell off somewhat thanks to health concerns about mixing energy drinks and alcohol, and Red Bull itself deliberately tries to downplay any association as an alcohol mixer — but they're not exactly refusing to sell to bars, either.

It's important to note that while Butter was likely the first bar to sell Red Bull Vodkas as an explicit menu item, it likely wasn't the first time a bar customer thought to combine the two. Vodka and Red Bull are two very simple ingredients that were — given vodka's uniquely neutral quality among liquors – going to wind up together at some point, and it's likely plenty of people were doing it before it became an official thing. There are, in fact, stories of ski-related events serving the concoction in America before Butter did. Nevertheless, it's telling that not only does Butter get credit, but no one seems to be arguing with that.