This is not unique to Texas. Stories about the provenance of cocktails are notoriously loaded with the kind of longhorn-produced substances you’d find in actual ranch water. While it’s sometimes possible to verify that cocktail X, composed of eight ingredients in specific proportions, came out of Bar Highfalutin in 2004, people have been combining spirits, soda water and citrus for a good, long while. I suspect what we’re now calling Ranch Water has been around for many decades, but don’t underestimate the value of a good handle. (You know, the kind of name that makes idiots wonder if it contains ranch dressing.)

Source: Washington Post July 27, 2021 14:01 UTC