The History Lesson
Early in his life, Richard drew didn’t strike folks as a particularly brilliant dude. He only grudgingly went to college after he couldn’t quite swing a career as a banjo player. And then, he dropped out of college, too.
Finally, in the early 1920s, he finagled a lowly job at a company called 3M. Which at the time, mainly sold sandpaper. Richard’s task? To try and sell the sandpaper to auto shops.
One day at a shop, Richard overheard some workers cursing their fate: they’d been asked to paint a car two different colors. To do it, they’d paint the car one color… Then glue newspaper over parts of it, and apply the second color. But when they pulled off the gluey paper, Â paint came off with it. Suddenly, Drew got a million-dollar idea. What if he designed a gentle adhesive tape that wouldn’t strip paint when you pulled it off? 3M had all the materials he needed. Sandpaper was just adhesive tape with grit stuck on it, right?
Working nights, Drew invented the world’s first masking tape. It was pretty simple: Just wood glue and glycerin applied to thin crepe paper. But it was a massive success. Drew went on to oversee the invention of another item you probably have in a drawer somewhere: clear “Scotch tape.” And today, a quarter-century after his death, over 20 percent of 3M’s sales still come from his products.
The Booze
The Naughty Scotty
Invented by Ryan Huseby, co-owner and bar manager of Tongue in Cheek in St. Paul, where Richard Drew helped build 3M’s tape empire. The cocktail is a twist on a Manhattan and the name is inspired by Scotch Tape’s old mascot, Scotty McTape. Check out this vintage ad with Scotty before getting into the drink. Trust us, it’s worth it.
Ingredients:
- 1 ounce 11 Wells Minnesota 13 White Whiskey
- 1/2 ounce Imbue’s Petal and Thorn
- 1/2 ounce Dolin Dry Vermouth
- 1/2 ounce Primitivo Quiles Vermouth Rojo
- 1 dash of Angostura bitters
Instructions:
In a mixing glass with ice combine ingredients, then stir and strain into a martini glass. Optional: Garnish with a passion fruit sphere. It’s a little work of molecular gastronomy created by the Chef at Tongue in Cheek. Ryan describes it as “a little ball that’s liquid in the center. So, when you finish the cocktail, you get a little surprise passion fruit explosion at the end.”
