h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The first commercial (in that it was included in the cost of the tickets) version of the pangalactic gargleblaster was created for Ken Campbell's Science-Fiction Theatre of Liverpool's stage production of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy in the late 70s. This took place at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in the Mall, London, where the audience was seated on a primitive hovercraft for the duration of the performance, necessary to point the auditorium towards each of the four stages being used for different parts of the plot.
The prologue of the play (Arthur and Ford in the pub) was unusual in that it took place in the foyer of the theatre, before the audience was admitted to its seats. To make the pub atmosphere more authentic, the ICA cunningly arranged for the audience to be supplied with gargleblasters while waiting for the production to start. As the demolition proceeded, Arthur and Ford disappeared and the audience was ushered in to its raised seating.
The gargleblaster was totally inauthentic, partly because of the requirement that some hundreds should be produced virtually simultaneously, partly because of the non-availability of certain galactic ingredients, but mainly because the highly-qualified and goodlooking cocktail barman who designed it for the ICA hadn't read the book with sufficient attention to detail.
For the record, the cocktail was made thus:
To a tall champagne flute containing a sugarlump saturated with angostura bitters, add a splash of Bols Blue Curacao and a splash of Bols Parfait Amour. Decorate each glass with a small disc of aluminium foil in the way that a lime slice might be added to a more earthbound drink. When the audience arrives, add champagne to top up as fast as possible (or in our case, an acceptable sparkling wine).
Despite the lack of authenticity in both colour and content, it received, some months later, the approbation not only of Douglas Adams himself, but also of his parents, whom he brought to my bar at the Cafe Royal to try it out.