AMERICA — On March 15, 2026, which is apparently National Espresso Martini Day, Buffalo Wild Wings introduced a cocktail called the Espresso Proteini. The drink contains 10 grams of protein. The rim of the glass is lined with Buffalo Dry Rub — the wing seasoning, the one from the wings, the one that goes on the chicken, now on the edge of the martini glass, where your mouth goes when you drink the martini.
The drink cost $12. It was available for four days. It is no longer available. It was available specifically for National Espresso Martini Day, which is a holiday Frank Misquote did not know existed before this assignment and which he is now processing alongside the existence of the Espresso Proteini, which is a lot of information to receive in one afternoon.
Frank Misquote covers Sports & Leisure for Supposedly News. Sports include football, basketball, and the Olympics, where Chad Thadley is apparently going. Leisure includes, apparently, this. Frank is adapting.
The Espresso Martini As A Cultural Object, Before The Wings
The espresso martini was invented in 1983 by bartender Dick Bradsell at a London bar, reportedly at the request of a model who wanted something to “wake me up and then f*** me up.” The drink contains vodka, coffee liqueur, and freshly pulled espresso. It has a foam on top from shaking. It is served cold. It is a serious cocktail with a clear identity: coffee, alcohol, the sensation of having made a good choice at 10 p.m.
The Espresso Proteini contains vodka, coffee liqueur, espresso, 10 grams of protein, and Buffalo Dry Rub on the rim. It costs $12. It was available for four days. The 10 grams of protein do not change the taste profile in a direction that has been officially documented. The Buffalo Dry Rub on the rim changes the taste profile in a direction that is predictable and which Frank is going to describe as: wing seasoning, on your lip, at the beginning of each sip, followed by espresso and vodka, in sequence.
Whether this is a good sequence is a question Frank is declining to answer, because it is a matter of personal taste and because Frank has not tasted it, and the four-day availability window closed on March 15, and it is March 23, and the window is gone, and Frank is covering it after the window, which is the journalism of a publication that had other things to cover during the four-day window, including a war and treason threats and a camel with dermal fillers.
The 10 Grams Of Protein, As A Claim
10 grams of protein in a cocktail. This is the claim. This is what the cocktail offered. Frank Misquote, whose beat is sports and leisure, understands protein as a fitness concept. Protein shakes. Protein bars. Protein-enriched foods that are trying to be something they are not while being reasonably good at being the thing they already were.
An espresso martini that is also a protein delivery vehicle is a different thing than an espresso martini. It is not a worse thing by definition. It is a thing that has decided it can do two jobs simultaneously. The two jobs are: provide the experience of an espresso martini, and provide 10 grams of protein. Whether a person who is drinking an espresso martini at Buffalo Wild Wings at 10 p.m. on a Tuesday is the same person who is tracking their protein intake is a question about market segmentation that the Buffalo Wild Wings marketing team presumably answered in the affirmative, because they made the drink and put it on the menu and charged $12 for it.
Frank respects the confidence. Frank is not sure he shares it. Frank has filed his uncertainty and is moving on.
National Espresso Martini Day, Examined Briefly
March 15 is National Espresso Martini Day. Brent Eyewitness, who covers federal law enforcement and turkey transit disruptions, did not know this. Frank Misquote, who covers sports and leisure, did not know this. The Shepherd Express column News of the Weird knew this, and Frank considers that publication’s institutional knowledge both impressive and appropriate.
There are, as of 2026, approximately 1,500 officially recognized national days in the United States, covering topics ranging from the deeply meaningful (National POW/MIA Recognition Day) to the convivially specific (National Espresso Martini Day) to the aggressively commercial (many of them). National Espresso Martini Day appears to be a recent addition whose recognition is measured primarily in how many restaurants introduce themed cocktails to mark it. Buffalo Wild Wings introduced a wing-seasoned protein martini. That is, quantitatively, participation.
What This Means For The Espresso Martini’s Legacy
Dick Bradsell invented the espresso martini forty-three years ago. It had a clean identity. It was a late-night drink for people who wanted coffee and alcohol and a foam top. It has been in cultural circulation since 1983 and reached peak cultural saturation approximately 2022, when every restaurant in America added it to the menu and every brunch table had at least one, and the foam became a specific signifier of a person who was making choices that they were comfortable with.
The espresso martini is now also a chicken wing-adjacent protein delivery vehicle with a dry rub rim available for $12 for four days at Buffalo Wild Wings during National Espresso Martini Day.
Dick Bradsell passed away in 2016 and did not live to see this. Frank Misquote is not sure how to characterize this fact. Frank is going to leave it as information and not editorializing. The Espresso Proteini was a real product. It existed. People ordered it. Some of them probably liked it. The foam was presumably there. The protein was confirmed. The dry rub was on the rim.
The window is closed. The martini is gone. The wings remain. Everything is fine.
Frank Misquote, Sports & Leisure, filed this piece on a Sunday with the specific energy of a man who has been covering the Olympics and was handed a wing-flavored protein martini and asked to have thoughts. He has thoughts. He is keeping most of them. Confidence: 91%. Fake sources: 5. The Espresso Proteini was real. National Espresso Martini Day is real. 10 grams of protein is documented. Dick Bradsell invented the espresso martini in 1983. The dry rub was on the rim. Gerald the houseplant does not drink cocktails. Gerald does not have a protein goal. Gerald is fine.