Harvey Wallbanger
A Harvey Wallbanger is 45ml of vodka and 120ml of fresh orange juice over ice in a highball, stirred once, with 15ml of Galliano floated on top over the back of a spoon and an orange slice and a cherry to finish. About 2.4 UK units. It is a Screwdriver with a vanilla and anise float. The Oxford Companion says the drink was likely the work of the bartender Donato “Duke” Antone, who may have made it as early as the early 1950s at the Black Watch in Hollywood, calling it the Duke Screwdriver, and that McKesson Imports, Galliano’s importer, built a marketing campaign around it in 1969. It says George Bednar of McKesson had the New York marketer Bill Young create a cartoon surfer called Harvey, with the catchphrase “My name is Harvey Wallbanger and I can be made”. The float is what makes it more than sweetened orange juice. The first sips taste of Galliano, the middle is orange and vodka, and the end is close to a plain Screwdriver.
Glassware: Highball Glass
Garnish: Orange slice and Maraschino cherry
Ingredients
45ml
Unflavoured, at our working figure of 40% ABV. Under 120ml of orange and a Galliano float it adds strength rather than flavour, so in our view a mid-priced bottle is enough.
120ml
Squeezed the same day. It is most of the drink, so it decides the flavour, and carton juice tastes cooked beside it.
15ml
Galliano L’Autentico, 42.3% alc./vol. on its own page, sweet with vanilla and anise. It is the only sweetener and the only layer, so pour it last and gently.
Instructions
Squeeze the orange juice the same day.
Fill a highball glass with cubed ice and add the vodka.
Pour in the orange juice and stir once.
Float the Galliano over the back of a bar spoon held at the surface.
Garnish with an orange slice and a cherry, and serve unstirred.
Our version
Recipes vary in their proportions. Ours fixes them at 45ml of vodka, 120ml of fresh orange juice and a 15ml Galliano float, and keeps the Galliano floating rather than stirred in, so the first sips taste of it.
Source: our own specification. Last checked 9 October 2026.
Expert Tip
Pour the Galliano last, slowly, over the back of a bar spoon held just at the surface. Poured fast it punches through and mixes; poured gently it stays on top for the first few sips, and that layer is the drink. Squeeze the oranges. At 120ml the juice is most of the glass, and carton juice tastes cooked beside fresh. Hand it over unstirred. Stirred behind the bar it becomes sweetened orange juice with vodka, which is pleasant and not what was ordered.
Behind the Harvey Wallbanger
Flavour Profile
Where It Comes From
The Oxford Companion says the drink was likely the work of the bartender Donato “Duke” Antone, who may have created it as early as the early 1950s at the Hollywood bar Black Watch, calling it the Duke Screwdriver. It says how it acquired the Harvey Wallbanger name is not known: George Bednar encountered the drink under that name on a scouting trip in Los Angeles in the late 1960s, and McKesson later enlisted Antone to promote it.
Harvey and the Campaign
The fame belongs to McKesson Imports, the importer of Galliano, which adopted the cocktail in 1969 and built a marketing campaign around it, offering free merchandise to anyone who threw a Wallbanger party. George Bednar, who worked for McKesson, had the New York marketer Bill Young create a cartoon surfer called Harvey. The Oxford Companion says the drink enjoyed a popularity in the 1970s equalled by few other postwar drinks.
The story of a real surfer named Harvey who walked into walls after a few too many is repeated widely, but the Oxford Companion describes the Harvey of the advertising as a cartoon surfer mascot created for the campaign.
How the Float Works
Poured slowly over a spoon onto cold orange juice, the Galliano spreads across the surface and stays there for a while. The drink then comes in order: vanilla and anise first, orange and vodka in the middle, and a plain Screwdriver as the layer mixes down.
If the Galliano sinks straight through, the pour is too fast. Slow down and hold the spoon closer to the surface. The New York Sour floats red wine the same way.
The Galliano Bottle
Galliano was first made in Livorno, Italy, in 1896, and the Oxford Companion says L’Autentico, relaunched in 2010 with what its owner called the original formula, is made in the Netherlands; Galliano’s own page gives 42.3% alc./vol. The Companion describes the liqueur as sweet and herbal, tasting prominently of vanilla and anise; Galliano’s page puts anise and peppermint first on the palate, with vanilla in the lingering finish.
It is also the only sweetener in the glass. There is no syrup, so the 15ml of Galliano carries the sugar, the scent and the colour on top, which is why the measure is fixed.
In our experience an open bottle keeps well and has other uses: the Golden Cadillac shakes it with white crème de cacao and cream.
The Screwdriver Family
The Harvey Wallbanger and its Screwdriver relations; the units are our calculation at our working figure of 40% for vodka, Galliano at 42.3% on its own page, Southern Comfort at 35% on LWC’s UK listing and sloe gin at the 25% minimum in the retained spirit drinks regulation
Screwdriver
- Base
- 50ml vodka
- Added
- None
- Orange juice
- 120ml
- UK units
- 2.0
Harvey Wallbanger (ours)
- Base
- 45ml vodka
- Added
- 15ml Galliano float
- Orange juice
- 120ml
- UK units
- 2.4
Slow Comfortable Screw Against the Wall
- Base
- 25ml vodka
- Added
- 15ml each of sloe gin, Southern Comfort and Galliano
- Orange juice
- 90ml
- UK units
- 2.5
| Drink | Base | Added | Orange juice | UK units |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Screwdriver | 50ml vodka | None | 120ml | 2.0 |
| Harvey Wallbanger (ours) | 45ml vodka | 15ml Galliano float | 120ml | 2.4 |
| Slow Comfortable Screw Against the Wall | 25ml vodka | 15ml each of sloe gin, Southern Comfort and Galliano | 90ml | 2.5 |
How to Serve It
Tall, over plenty of ice, with an orange slice and a cherry, handed over unstirred so the drinker works down through the float.
For the drink without the float, make a Screwdriver; for the whole family in one glass, a Slow Comfortable Screw Against the Wall.
Make it at home
The Spirit
VodkaVodka is spirit made from a farmed crop, usually grain or potatoes, distilled and refined so that the taste of that crop is deliberately reduced. Under the retained Regulation (EC) 110/2008 its minimum is 37.5% ABV and it may not be given a predominant flavour, which separates it from flavoured vodka and from gin; our recipes count it at 40%. In a mixed drink it adds strength and body while the other ingredients carry the taste.
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Galliano taste like?
Who was Harvey?
Can I stir the Galliano in?
How strong is a Harvey Wallbanger?
How is a Harvey Wallbanger different from a Screwdriver?
Why does my Galliano sink?
Sources.
Correct as of 19 October 2026.
- The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails (Robert Simonson), “Harvey Wallbanger” (secondary source: a Screwdriver with a Galliano float; likely the work of Donato “Duke” Antone, who may have made it in the early 1950s at the Black Watch in Hollywood as the Duke Screwdriver; McKesson’s 1969 campaign, George Bednar and the cartoon surfer by Bill Young; a 1970s craze).
- Galliano, “Galliano Autentico” (maker’s own page: anise and peppermint most prominent, then fresh herbs, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and citrus, lingering vanilla; 42.3% alc./vol.).
- The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails (Robert Simonson), “Galliano” (secondary source: a sweet herbal liqueur created in Livorno in 1896 by Arturo Vaccari, tasting of vanilla and anise; L’Autentico relaunched in 2010 by Lucas Bols, made in the Netherlands).
- LWC, “Southern Comfort 70cl” (UK wholesaler listing: Alcohol By Volume 35%).
- legislation.gov.uk, “Regulation (EC) 110/2008, Annex II (retained)” (sloe gin: minimum alcoholic strength 25%).
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Where this one sits
Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 19 October 2026