The 7 drinks everyone had in their cocktail cabinet during the 70s and 80s

• A cocktail cabinet was a popular addition to the dining room in the 70s and 80s
• But what did people keep in those cabinets?
• The most popular liqueurs and other drinks of the day show how tastes have changed

You knew you’d really made it in the 70s and 80s if you had a drinks cabinet.

It was a case of the more ostentatious, the better, with the classic globe cabinet adding a touch of glamour to many a dining room or lounge.

Whatever the style, it helped keep your dinner party rolling after dessert, as the digestifs were sipped.

But what did people keep in their cocktail cabinets back then?

The most popular liqueurs and other drinks of the era show how tastes have changed, with people enjoying a much sweeter tipple in the 70s and 80s.

Below are some of the best-loved drinks of the day, and the cocktails they were used to make.

Midori

This lurid green melon-flavoured liqueur from Japan was brightening up many a dining table during the 70s and 80s.

It was used in many cocktails, most famously the Midori Sour, in which it is mixed with vodka, lemon and lime juice and soda water.

If you think Midori today doesn’t taste quite how it used to, you’d be right. The sugar content was watered down in 2013 to cater to modern preferences.

Babycham

This was the gateway drink to champagne, loved by students and anyone else who couldn’t afford the real thing or found it too dry during the 70s and 80s.

The sparkling perry was invented in Somerset and initially called ‘baby champ’.

The adorable little bottles in which it came, and the branded glasses featuring its bounding deer logo, have become highly collectable.

Cinzano

This drink was popularised in the 70s and 80s by the series of classic adverts starring Leonard Rossiter and Joan Collins as an unlikely couple.

The Italian vermouth could be enjoyed, neat, on the rocks or with a dash of soda or lemonade. Or it could be combined with campari and gin to make a Negroni cocktail.

Archers peach schnapps

This sweet peach drink was guzzled in vast quantities during the 70s and 80s.

You could drink it neat or combine it with vodka, orange juice and cranberry juice to make Sex on the Beach, a classic 80s cocktail.

Malibu

This coconut-flavoured rum was all the rage in the 80s.

It could be enjoyed neat or in a variety of cocktails but was most famously a key ingredient of that classic 70s and 80s cocktail, the piña colada.

Malibu was actually created in 1978 to make it easier for bartenders to whip up a piña colada, which is traditionally made with rum, pineapple juice and cream of coconut.

The maraschino cherry, pineapple wedge and cocktail umbrella are optional, of course, even it didn’t feel that way during the 70s and 80s.

Advocaat

This rich and creamy Dutch liqueur is made with eggs, sugar and brandy.

Its popularity peaked in the UK during the 70s, partly due to its use in the fashionable Snowball cocktail, made by combining it with lemonade and a squeeze of lime juice.

The Snowball remains a popular drink, particularly during Christmas, as a winter warmer.

Sloe gin

This was an essential component of any drinks cabinet during the 70s and 80s.

It is made with gin and blackthorn fruits, or sloes, which are related to the plum, and give the liqueur its distinctive ruby red or deep purple colour.

It is famously used to make a Sloe Gin Fizz, also known as Purple Fizz, cocktail, which traditionally contains grapefruit or lemon juice, sugar syrup, egg white and soda water.

Was your favourite liqueur or cocktail on our list?

If you enjoyed this trip down memory lane, you can rewind the clock again with our look back at Generation Game prizes in the 70s, 80s and 90s.