The Origins Of The Now-Iconic Pickleback Shot

Every pickle-loving adult of drinking age knows the benefits of a pickle juice chaser (just one of the many clever uses for leftover pickle juice), but not every one of us can stake claim to having invented the pickleback shot. (Though I wish I had.) The now well-known pickleback shot is actually just barely 18 years old itself.

In 2006, in a not-so-high-end-style establishment in Brooklyn called the Bushwick Country Club, the pickleback shot was born thanks to a creative female patron and a pickle company just getting off the ground. The female customer who walked into the bar saw the bartender Reggie Cunningham enjoying a McClure's brand pickle from the jar and requested he serve her a whiskey shot with some pickle brine on the side. Cunningham hesitantly tried the combo as well and ended up knocking back multiple picklebacks that same night.

Some serendipitous circumstances led this woman, a bartender, the owners of the bar, and a pickle company to be able to proudly say they sparked the pickle and whiskey trend. This is how a random request became an iconic part of growing pickle popularity across the world.

Bob McClure, co-founder of McClure's pickles, lived above the Bushwick Country Club, and had a storage conundrum to solve. John Roberts, owner of the Bushwick Country Club, allowed McClure to store his pickle inventory in the basement of the bar. That's how Cunningham wound up snacking on a fresh pickle in the middle of his shift. "I don't think we were the first people to ever drink pickle juice with liquor, but as far as the phenomenon itself, I think Bushwick Country Club was ground zero that night," Cunningham told Serious Eats.

Interestingly, no matter how many times the story is told by McClure, Roberts, or Cunningham, the female customer who ordered the combo remains unnamed. Despite the anonymous nature of the female customer who first requested the pickleback, the shot combo grew by word of mouth in the bartending community to start.

Cunningham shared the pickleback with fellow bartenders, then other regulars of the bar, and eventually the owner, John Roberts. The pickleback was then added to Bushwick Country Club's menu and eventually other bars began doing the same. The drink took off from there to the point where Roberts notes an ex-employee said they saw it being offered at a bar in the jungles of Central America. This author has always recognized and respected the power of a good pickle brine. In fact, pickle juice and liquor can wow cocktail lovers in a few other ways well, including as a boozy pickle martini slushie.