Iowa's Most Popular Cocktails

Most Popular Cocktails of Iowa

With all the March Madness action in Iowa, it’s a good thing the weekend will be capped off by National Cocktail Day on Sunday, March 24. Fans will need some refreshment.

Iowa sports betting has much of its focus on the historic season of Caitlin Clark at Iowa. Also, Iowa State and Drake are in the Men’s NCAA Tournament and Iowa men won their NIT opener Tuesday night.

With National Cocktail Day at the end of the week, we took a break from covering Iowa sports betting apps to get an answer to this question: What is Iowa’s most popular cocktail?

IowaBets.com utilized VinePair’s 50 Most Popular Cocktails of 2023 as a starting place for the research and then utilized Google Trends volume for “Cocktail” from Jan. 1-March 15 to find the most popular cocktails in each state. Here are the most popular around the country featuring the top three in the Hawkeye State:

Top 3 Cocktails in Iowa

State	No. 1 Cocktail	No. 2 Cocktail	No. 3 Cocktail
IOWA	Martini	Penicillin	Old Fashioned

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Little Known Drink at No. 2

The top three cocktails in Iowa are two cocktails you probably have heard of (Martini at No. 1 and Old Fashioned at No. 3) and one you probably have not. The No. 2 favorite of the state is unique. So unique, it didn’t make any other state’s top three. That cocktail is Penicillin - not the medicine, the drink.

The cocktail was created by Sam Ross in 2005, when he was working at New York City’s famous Milk & Honey bar. Ross, who now is the co-owner of renowned New York City bars, including Attaboy and Temple Bar, used replaced bourbon with a recent shipment of Compass Box blended scotch, along with honey-ginger syrup and lemon juice. The final touch: a float of smoky single-malt Islay scotch. The cocktail, still a staple at Attaboy (and evidently Iowa), is famously served without a straw so drinkers can enjoy the mixture and aroma of flavors with each sip they take.

What's the most popular overall drink in the nation? The Manhattan is among the top three in 41 states and is No. 1 overall in 23 states.

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Author

Lou Monaco

Lou Monaco has been a columnist for Gaming Today in Las Vegas and has over 30 years sports experience with previous stints at ESPN SportsTicker, Daily Racing Form and Oddschecker. He is here to guide you in selecting the Iowa sportsbook that best fits your needs.