National Name Your Poison Day

Sidle up to a bar and order a drink because it’s time to celebrate National Name Your Poison Day!

1862
First Modern Cocktail Guide Published
American bartender Jerry Thomas publishes “How to Mix Drinks, or The Bon-Vivant’s Companion,” one of the first comprehensive guides to mixed drinks and a landmark in professional bartending culture.
1876
“Name Your Poison” Enters Recorded Usage
The phrase “name your poison” appears in 19th‑century American newspapers and popular fiction as a jocular way for bartenders to ask customers which alcoholic drink they want.
1919
Prohibition Enacted in the United States
The 18th Amendment and the Volstead Act ban the manufacture, sale, and transport of alcoholic beverages nationwide, driving drinking culture underground into illicit bars and speakeasies.
1920s
Rise of Speakeasies and Questionable Liquor
During Prohibition, bootleggers and home distillers sell poorly made or industrial alcohol that can be contaminated with toxic substances, making some “drinks” literally poisonous.
1926
Government Denaturing Program Causes Alcohol Deaths
The U.S. government orders industrial alcohol supplies to be denatured with toxic additives to deter drinkers, contributing to thousands of poisoning deaths among people consuming illicit liquor.
1933
Repeal of Prohibition Reshapes Drinking Culture
Ratification of the 21st Amendment ends national Prohibition, brings drinking back into licensed bars, and encourages safer commercial production of alcohol and a revival of cocktail culture.
1980s–1990s
Cocktail Renaissance and Signature “Poisons”
A new generation of bartenders and bar programs focuses on craft cocktails and personalized drink orders, turning the playful “name your poison” exchange into a hallmark of modern bar culture.

How to Celebrate National Name Your Poison Day

Wondering how to get involved with celebrating National Name Your Poison Day? Well, check out some of these interesting ideas and then come up with some unique activities of your own as well:

Name Your Poison

National Name Your Poison Day might be a fun day to grab a few friends or coworkers and head out to a bar or nightclub to get a drink.

Perhaps try a drink that is new to you, or choose something you don’t normally order. Also, be sure to let the bartender know what day it is – and see if they’ll give any extra drink specials in honor of the day!

Create a National Name Your Poison Playlist

Get involved with celebrating National Name Your Poison Day by creating a themed list of music that can be playing in the background throughout the day.

It’s a fun motif to build some song choices around, getting started with some of these ideas:

Poison by Alice Cooper (1989)
Poison & Wine by The Civil Wars (2009)
Poison Tree by Grouper (2007)
Party Poison by My Chemical Romance (2010)

Thank a Bartender

If it wasn’t for those bartenders who are amazing at making almost any drink there is, National Name Your Poison Day just wouldn’t be the same!

So take a moment on this special day to show appreciation for and say thank you to that person behind the bar who provides whatever drink is requested when you “name your poison”.

History of National Name Your Poison Day

National Name Your Poison Day has roots that can be traced back to the origin of the phrase “name your poison”.

It seems that the idea of naming your poison was popular in the mid-1800s, which was related to the fact that ‘poison’ was a colloquial term for an alcoholic drink. Some researchers even think that the term “name your poison” may have been used all the way back in medieval times!

No matter when it got its start, the phrase, “name your poison” had a very specific meaning during the days of prohibition in the United States.

Because it was illegal to make or sell alcohol from 1920-1933, the alcohol that was being produced illegally was of low quality and suspicious.

Thus, when a person wanted to order a drink the bartender would ask them to name their poison – because if the drink wasn’t made properly, it literally and actually could be poisonous!

It seems that the phrase, “name your poison” can also be used in a broader sense for someone who is being asked to make a choice.

In some cases, this might mean to try to choose the best out of a number of poor options. Today, National Name Your Poison Day really just offers a bit of an opportunity for having some fun!

Facts About Name Your Poison Day

The Double Meaning Behind “Name Your Poison”

The phrase “name your poison” grew out of 19th‑century bar slang in Britain and the United States, where “poison” was a joking reference to a person’s preferred alcoholic drink.

By the 1880s it was common in printed dialogue to have a bartender or companion invite someone to “name your poison,” and the expression later broadened to mean choosing among any set of options, especially bad ones, while retaining its roots in drinking culture.

Why Alcohol Is Legally Classified as a Poison

In toxicology, ethanol is literally classified as a central nervous system depressant and a toxic substance, and many national legal codes treat it as a controlled poison.

The World Health Organization notes that alcohol contributes to more than 200 diseases and injury conditions, and acute alcohol poisoning can suppress breathing and heart rate enough to be fatal, which is why medical guidance treats it as an overdose of a toxic chemical rather than just “having too much to drink.”

The Deadly Role of Methanol in Illicit Drinks

One historical reason alcohol gained a deadly reputation is the contamination of illicit spirits with methanol, a different type of alcohol that even in small doses can cause blindness or death.

Public‑health reviews of poisoning outbreaks show that bootleg or homemade liquor may contain dangerously high levels of methanol due to poor distillation or deliberate adulteration, a problem documented from U.S. Prohibition–era moonshine to modern mass poisonings in countries such as India and Indonesia.

How Governments Made Industrial Alcohol Undrinkable

During U.S. Prohibition, the federal government required industrial alcohol to be “denatured” with toxic chemicals so it could not legally be diverted for drinking, but bootleggers often redistilled and sold it anyway.

Historians and medical journals have documented that these added poisons, including methanol, benzene, and other solvents, contributed to thousands of cases of severe poisoning and death among people who consumed black‑market liquor in the 1920s and early 1930s.

Why Bartenders Are Trained as Safety Gatekeepers

Modern bartenders are not only expected to mix drinks but also to act as informal safety gatekeepers, guided by responsible beverage service programs.

In many U.S. states and other countries, servers are trained and sometimes legally required to check identification, recognize signs of intoxication, refuse service when necessary, and discourage dangerous drink combinations, a role that research links to lower rates of drunk‑driving crashes and alcohol‑related violence in communities that enforce such standards.

The Science Behind Different “Poisons” in the Glass

Different alcoholic drinks can carry very different toxic risks beyond ethanol itself because of congeners, additives, and serving traditions.

Toxicology and clinical studies show that high‑congener spirits such as bourbon and some dark rums are more likely to cause severe hangovers than low‑congener spirits like vodka, and drinks that mix alcohol with large doses of caffeine can mask intoxication and have been linked to riskier behavior and more alcohol‑related injuries.

“How Do You Want to Die?”: Poison as a Metaphor for Bad Choices

Linguists note that using “poison” metaphorically for pleasurable but harmful choices is common in English, and the phrase “pick your poison” is often used when all available options have downsides.

Corpus analyses of modern English show that the idiom appears not only in contexts about alcohol and drugs but also about junk food, stressful jobs, and even political decisions, where speakers frame decision‑making as choosing the least damaging “toxic” alternative.

National Name Your Poison Day FAQs

How did the phrase “name your poison” come to be associated with alcohol?

The phrase “name your poison” emerged in 19th century English as a colloquial way for bartenders and hosts to ask someone which alcoholic drink they preferred, using “poison” humorously to refer to liquor’s potentially harmful effects.

Over time it broadened in everyday speech to mean “choose your preferred option,” while still strongly linked in many contexts to ordering a drink at a bar.

What are the real dangers of drinking illicit or homemade alcohol?

Illicit or poorly made alcohol can contain toxic levels of methanol or other contaminants that may cause blindness, organ failure, or death, and the risk is higher when production is unregulated and quality controls are absent.

Public health agencies advise avoiding unlabelled spirits, drinks of unknown origin, or products that appear tampered with, especially in regions where counterfeit alcohol is a known problem.

How do bartenders learn to serve alcohol responsibly?

Many bartenders complete formal “responsible beverage service” or “server training” programs that teach how to check IDs, recognize intoxication, refuse service safely, and understand local alcohol laws.

In a number of countries and U.S. states, such training is required by law for staff who sell or serve alcohol, and employers often provide additional in‑house policies on safe service.

Is it true that moderate alcohol drinking can still harm health?

Why do some people react much more strongly to alcohol than others?

How did Prohibition influence the way people thought about “poisonous” drinks?

During Prohibition in the United States, illegal alcohol was often made and distributed with little regard for safety, which led to frequent cases of poisoning from contaminants like methanol and industrial solvents.

These incidents, and the government’s own decision to denature industrial alcohol to deter drinking, reinforced public fears that drinks obtained through illicit channels could be literally poisonous.

What legal responsibilities do bars have if a guest becomes dangerously intoxicated?

In many jurisdictions, “dram shop” or similar liability laws allow injured parties to sue establishments that continue to serve clearly intoxicated customers who then cause harm, such as in drunk‑driving crashes.

As a result, bars are expected to monitor patrons’ consumption, refuse further service when necessary, and sometimes help arrange safe transportation to reduce the risk of alcohol‑related injuries.