"He wanted me to riff on a summer drink," Ross recalls. "Usually drink creation is pretty organic for me, I'm inspired by something or riff on something.

Earning a world record allows paper-plane designers to own football teams and marry Russian oil heiresses. And according to aerospace engineer and record holder Ken Blackburn, you need master only ...

A Little Background. We talk a lot about old-as-hell cocktails here. Cocktails borne from Prohibition. Cocktails that predate both World Wars. Cocktails that predate the damn War of 1812.