The cocktail is named for the Gene Hackman film of the same name
In 1984, National Distillers launched DeKuyper Original Peachtree, the first peach flavor schnapps sold in the United States. Inspired by the Screwdriver (vodka and orange juice), Peachtree and orange juice was quickly popularized across the country, particularly among women seeking a sweeter, low calorie vodka alternative. By 1985, Peachtree was the #1 selling schnapps brand in the U.S.
As part of a wider marketing campaign, National Distillers worked with an ad agency to create names for DeKuyper schnapps drink recipes, eventually landing on “Fuzzy Navel” for the popular Peachtree and orange juice combination.
The prominence of mixed drinks incorporating schnapps during the 1980s, including the fuzzy navel, the Slippery Nipple, and the Teeny Weeny Woo Woo, was described by New York Times critic William Grimes as "a kind of cult, rallying points for young drinkers in search of fun and not too picky about taste".
The exact origin of the Gibson is unclear, with numerous popular tales and theories about its genesis. According to one theory, it was invented by Charles Dana Gibson, who created the popular Gibson Girl illustrations. Supposedly, he challenged Charley Connolly, the bartender of the Players Club in New York City, to improve upon a martini. As the story goes, Connolly simply substituted an onion for the olive and named the drink after the patron.
Another version now considered more probable recounts a 1968 interview with a relative of a prominent San Francisco businessman named Walter D. K. Gibson, who claimed to have created the drink at the Bohemian Club in the 1890s. Charles Clegg, when asked about it by Herb Caen, also said it was from San Francisco, not New York. Other reporting supports this theory; Edward Townsend, former vice president of the Bohemian Club, is credited with the first mention of the Gibson in print, in a humorous essay he wrote for the New York World published in 1898.
Another theory is that the Gibson after whom the drink was named was a popular California onion farmer, as seen in the publication Hutchings' illustrated California magazine: Volume 1 (p. 194) by James Mason Hutchings in 1857:
ONION VALLEY. During the winter of 1852 and '53, snow fell in Onion Valley to the depth of twenty-five feet, ... Even the towns of Gibsonville, Seventy-Six, Pine Grove, Whiskey Diggings, and several others, did their trading here.
Other stories of the drink's origins feature apocryphal businessmen, including an American diplomat who served in Europe during Prohibition. Although said to be a teetotaller, he often had to attend cocktail receptions, where he'd ask for a martini glass filled with cold water, garnished with a small onion so he could distinguish his drink from others. A similar story involves an investment banker named Gibson, who would take his clients out for the proverbial three-martini business lunches. He purportedly had the bartender serve him cold water so he could stay sober while his clients became intoxicated; the cocktail onion garnish served to distinguish his beverage from those of his clients.
A 1928 description of the drink was: gin, and a spot of lime. A description in the 1953 Raymond Chandler novel The Long Goodbye stated that "a real gimlet is half gin and half Rose's lime juice and nothing else."This is in line with the proportions suggested by The Savoy Cocktail Book (1930), which specifies one half gin and one half lime juice. However, modern tastes are less sweet, and generally provide for up to four parts gin to one part lime cordial.
The derivation of the name of the cocktail is contested. It may be named after the tool for drilling small holes (alluding to its "piercing" effect on the drinker) or after the surgeon Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Gimlette (1857–1943), who is said to have first added lime cordial to gin to help combat the ravages of scurvy on long voyages.