This Issue's Libations
Cover Art/Illustration Explanation
H.L. Mencken
My first mentor?
Department of Commerce Advance Monthly Sales for Retail and Food Services- June 2010
Sidebar
A funny and great bar/saloon ad
Brewster
The Beer Lover’s Prayer
Barchives I
EL-BART GIN – another unique ad
Bar Cartoon
A little VIP history, cartoons, plus a couple of his unique recipes
Barchives II
Michter’s Quarter Whiskey, a historical spirit
Cocktail Recipe Book Review
American and other Drinks, 1887 (continued)
New Classic Cocktails, and Weirdo Unclassic Cocktails
Readers of this site should be of legal drinking age (LDA)
in the state or country where they reside.
Any and all information published on this website are the opinions of the
author, who is in no way responsible for actions of the readers
Members of the eating and drinking establishment trade are expected to
adhere to the practice of “RESPONSIBLE BEVERAGE SERVICE”
Cover Art/Illustration – B.A.S.T.A.R.D.S.
This is the preliminary cover design of a book I hope to publish by years end. As you can see, B.A.S.T.A.R.D.S. is the acronym for Bars And Saloons, Taverns And Random Drink Stories, and the book is intended to be a bouquet, or lagniappe to the Drink and Hospitality Industry, which I was involved with for over sixty years. I have worked in, and consumed adult beverages in, gin mills, waterfront bars, local bars, restaurants, nightclubs, gourmet restaurants, and some places I don’t want to mention.
I have also been a corporate beverage director, college instructor, beverage management consultant, author, seminar leader, etc., and last but not least, the collector of one of the largest libraries of drink and drink related books in existence, as well as an extensive assortment of various artifacts and ephemera, all drink oriented.
Classic Cocktails
With this rather extensive and varied career in the drink trade, I believe this book will be quite diverse, often weird, funny, historical, sometimes strange, and will include fact, fiction, supposition, with numerous curmudgeon comments, but at all times, will be related to bars and drinks, and it’s never boring environment. Cheers!
All future issues of thebarkeeper.com will contain some material from the book, as well as a few sidebars.
H.L. Mencken – my first mentor?
Mr. Mencken’s The American Language, Supplement 1, was published in 1945, Alfred A. Knopf, in New York. In this enlightening book were numerous explanations of word sources of various drink names and bar terms. In November 1948, the New Yorker Magazine published an article by Mr. Mencken titled, “Postscripts To The American Language, The Vocabulary Of The Drinking Chamber”.
At this particular time I was in my second year of bartending, and was still not sure I wanted to be a bartender. On the way home from work, I purchased this edition of the magazine, and read same on the subway going home. Having no real formal education, this book was somewhat a revelation, as well as a historical treatise to enjoy, and to read over multiple times. And….it provided me with the passion and interest in the trade that still endures today.
The following is the first two long paragraphs from the magazine, and the balance will be published in the next issue of thebarkeeper.com in September. This should be a must read for any Professional Bartender, especially to get a sense of the trade and the times of sixty five plus years ago, no less the droll, curmudgeonly wordsmanship of H.L. Mencken.
“Bartenders, as a class, are probably the most adept practical psychologists on earth, but they have never given much attention to purely humanistic studies, as, for example, semantics. One result is that their professional argot is pretty meager; indeed it might be described as infirm. At least ninety-five per cent of them, in speaking of the tools and material of their craft, use threadbare words of every day. A glass to them, is simply a glass, a bung starter is a bung starter, a bouncer is a bouncer, rye whiskey is rye, a cocktail is a cocktail, gin is gin, and so on ad finem. There are to be sure, occasional Winchell’s among them, but no such Winchell has ever concocted anything to raise the hackles of a linguistic pathologist. When they call a garrulous client an auctioneer, or a souse a trance, he barely flutters an eyelid, nor does he find much to lift him in squirt gun for a Seltzer siphon, sham for a glass with a false bottom, stick for the handle of a beer spigot, or comb for the instrument that slices off the supererogatory suds from a stoup of beer. Even cop’s bottle for the worst whiskey in the house seems to be close to the obvious; what else, indeed, could it be called? College boys, in their opprobrious names for their books, their professors, and the females who prey upon them, have developed a great many niftier and hotter words, and railroad men, to cite only one group of workingmen, have invented so rich and bizarre a vocabulary that it transcends the poor jargon of the booze slingers as the spiral nebula in Andromeda transcends the flash of a match.”
“A good way to discover the paucity of bartenders’ neologistic powers is to ask yourself what they call themselves. Have they ever invented a fancy name comparable to the mortician of the undertakers, the realtor of the real-estate jobbers, the ecdysiast of the strip teasers, or the cosmetoligist of the beaute-shop gals. Alas, they have not, and it seems very unlikely they will. Even so silly a term as mixologist was devised not by a practicing bartender but by some forgotten journalist writing in the Knickerbocker Magazine in 1856.
“He intended it sportively and it has remained on that level ever since, along with colonel for whiskey drummer and professor for a kneader of pugilists. In 1901, the Police Gazette, then at the apex of it’s educational influence, attempted to revive and glorify mixologist, but the effort failed miserably, and bar clerk was soon substituted, and likewise failed. Barman, borrowed from the English, has been put forward time to time, and there used to be an International Barmen Association in New York, but I can no longer find it in the Manhattan telephone book, and its former spot is now held by the International Bartenders School, Inc., on Forty-sixth Street, which has a Yale for its Harvard in the Bartenders School Inc., on Forty-ninth Street. Both have excellent reputations in scholastic circles. All the existing unions in the profession, so far as I have been able to track them down, use plain bartender in their titles, and so do the various social clubs, choral societies, and leagues against prohibition and Communism. Some time ago, Oscar Haimo, at the Hotel Pierre, described himself as maitre de bar in the latest advertising of his book, “Cocktail and Wine Digest”, but I have yet to hear a second for it. Nor is there any visible support for server, which made its debut in New Jersey late in 1910 and seems to have died the death by January 1, 1911. Forgetting the vulgar barkeeper and barkeep, only bartender survives, a lowly one but a sound one. It arose from unknown sources during the Gothic Age of American boozing, c. 1855, and is of purely American genesis, though the English now toy with it. So is barroom, which was used by John Adams in 1807. And so is bar (the room, not the service counter), which was first heard of in 1788. The English barmaid never caught on in this country; perhaps it suggests too strongly the poetic but smelly milkmaid. There are many females behind our more democratic bars, and I know one in Baltimore who is a first-rate artist, but if you called her a barmaid, she would crown you with the cop’s bottle.”
……….to be continued in September.
Well, the latest Estimated Monthly Sales for Retail and Food Services by the U.S. Department of Commerce indicates Food and Drinking place sales are remaining somewhat stable after a dismal June.
Sales of motor vehicles, furniture, building materials, grocery, gasoline, sporting goods, etc. declined, but Food Services & Drinking Places sales were still posting a slight increase which is a good sign. Hopefully this trend will continue, so get out and do your part!
Sidebar – a funny and great bar/saloon ad (Dick’s Last Resort)
I believe I obtained this great, outrageous ad in Chicago about 20 or 25 years ago, if I remember correctly. Hell, at my age I’m lucky if I can remember my name.
…….a classic
Brewster – The Beer Lover’s Prayer
a very unique ad on a German beer truck.
Our Lager.
Who art in barrels,
Hallowed be thy drink,
Thou will be drunk, I will be drunk,
At home as thou art in the pub.
Give us this day our foamy head,
And forgive us for our spillages,
As we forgive those who spill against us.
And lead us not into incarceration,
But deliver us from hangovers,
For this is the beer, the bitter, the lager forever.
Ahhh-men.
-Anonymous
Barchives I – El-Bart Gin – a unique ad
In 1915, this advertising piece was printed in a few newspapers and magazines offering a complete gin cocktail making ensemble, for the price of $5.00, and in turn you received:
- Four bottles of El-Bart Gin
(Triple distilled after the same formula as that in use for 100 years at the Consolidated Distillery, Paddington Square, London, England. Extra dry, fragrant, crystal clear. There CAN be no better Gin than EL-BART!)
- One bottle of Standard brand of French Vermouth
- One bottle of Standard brand of Italian Vermouth
- The Famous El-Bart Dry Gin Cocktail Shaker
And four first-class lead-blown cocktail glasses
The cocktail shaker had etched on the glass, recipes for the Bronx, Martini, and Dry Martini. Two questions immediately come to my mind. First, what was the size, or fluid content of the bottles, and second, how the hell were they able to offer this package at such a low price? Possibly a loss leader to introduce the product, and a somewhat permanent POS piece (the shaker) to remind the consumer of the gin.
In 1906, gins such as Lithia Gin, Phosphate Gin, Buchu Gin, Tom Gin, Geneva Gin, Gordon Gin, Booth Gin, El-Bart Gin, Mash Gin, and Sloe Gin, were advertised at the price of $1.25, but if you purchased a bottle of four year old Home Club Whiskey, the price was $1.49 for both. Brands such as Black & White Scotch, Canadian Club, and Mount Vernon Rye were priced at $1.19, and wines such as Sherry, Port, Muscatel, Riesling, Tokay, Claret, etc., were priced at .19 cents, a substantial discount from the usual price of .50 cents, and the bottle sizes were fifths.
Historical sidebar
In the 1917 Hugo Ensselin’s book, “Recipes for Mixed Drinks”, the first possible mention of the Aviation Cocktail recipe was listed. The ingredients listed were 2/3 rd’s El Bart Gin, 1/3 rd lemon juice, two dashes each of Maraschino, and Crème de Violette. Time to test.
This my El-Bart Gin bottle, unfortunately it’s empty.
Bar Cartoon – Virgil Partch (VIP), Cartoonist/Absurdist
Virgil Partch was born in 1916, in Alaska, which could explain some of his unique cartoons. Supposedly he studied art at the University of Arizona (at least it’s warmer there), and the Chouinard Art Institute in California (still warm). He also worked at Disney Studios for four years. In 1941 he started submitting cartoons to the major magazines of that period, and in 1942 sold his first cartoon to Collier’s, and the wicked, silly, great cartoonist was on his way.
He created a series of meaningful funny, clever books with titles such as Bottle Fatigue, Here We Go Again, The Wild, Wild, Women, Man and Beast, The Dead Game Sportsman, Authentic and Hilarious Bar Guide, New Faces on the Barroom Floor, etc., etc. I was able to enjoy his off the wall cartoons in the old 1950’s True Magazine, (which may explain my state of mind), but most certainly enjoyed his sardonic, and quite apropos humor, no less a sharp rapier pen.
…and a couple VIP’s special recipes:
Perpetual Motion
2 dashes Crème Yvette
2 dashes Crème de Cacao
½ jigger French Vermouth
½ jigger Italian Vermouth
Stir with cracked ice and strain. Your insides will probably strain
Nude Eel
1 part Cognac
1 part Dubonnet
1 part Chartreuse
1 part Gin
Shake with cracked ice and strain. Naked and slippery. Good Luck.
Virgil Franklin Partch died in an automobile accident in 1984.
“RIP, VIP”
Barchives II
Michter’s Quarter Whiskey, a historical spirit
About 25 or 30 years ago, I purchased a pint bottle of what I thought was a unique product, and one that had some historical and colorful elements of interest. The label stated that it was:
Distilled and Bottled by Michter’s Distillery and Jug House,
Historic Schaefferstown, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania
The back label told us the story and origin of the whiskey, which makes for an interesting historical sidebar.
The bottom of this back label reads “Stored less than one month in reused cooperidge”. Could this have been the “White Dog” of the 1970’s and 1980’s?
The Michter’s Distillery, Inc., claimed to be the oldest operating distillery site, with whiskey making commencing in 1753. Rye whiskey for the Philadelphia market was the product most often distilled, with most of the grains being supplied by Amish and Dutch farmers. The distillery underwent many changes of ownership over the years, and after prohibition, primarily becoming a producer of bulk whiskies for other distilleries. The company was reorganized in 1975, with the Michter’s label again being reestablished, with it’s historical and pot-still distilling methods being featured as a sales point.
The distillery supposedly closed on Valentine’s Day, 1990, or as other sources indicate, 1988. The web site below is an excellent source for information on the distillery, and the products made there. It appears there are still some products being distilled under the Michter’s name.
Ellenjay.com/michters.com
AND….my bottle is still 80% full.
Cocktail Recipe Book Review
American and other Drinks, 1887
……continued
In 1902 the original American and other Drinks was republished by the firm of FARROW & JACKSON, Limited, London, with a new title, Recipes of American and other Iced Drinks, but no author was listed. The new preface stated:
“Preface To The First Edition”
“A new compilation of Recipes for American Iced Drinks has for some time been urgently called for owing to former publications being out of print. It would have been possible to obtain from fresh sources various Recipes, but after consideration it was thought better to reproduce those of a well-known expert whose knowledge and experience it was felt could not be well improved upon, and to whom due acknowledgements are hereby tendered.”
“To these are added some Recipes of Non-alcoholic Beverages which may be found useful by a considerable class of customers. We are indebted for these to the well-known firm of Messrs. W.J. Bush & Co., Ltd., Ash Grove, Hackney.”
Farrow & Jackson, Limited, was a firm that manufactured Mineral Water Machinery, Counter Fountains, Syrup-Making Appliances, and General Bar and Cellar Requisites for which their manufactures have been favorably known for years.
The book was almost identical to the 1887 American and other Drinks, by Charlie Paul, but had different covers, title pages, some different illustrations. In addition there were more ads for soda and syrup making equipment, and……a Bronx Cocktail.
New Classic Cocktails
Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler
(Created by Bob Brunner, Beverage Director, Paragon, Portland, OR)
2 ounces Russell’s Reserve 6 Year Old Rye
½ ounce Cherry Heering Liqueur
½ ounce Domaine Canton ginger liqueur
2 dashes Regan’s Orange Bitters No. 6
Marteau Absinthe, Orange zest garnish
Rinse cocktail glass with absinthe and set aside. Pour rye, liqueurs, and bitters into an ice-filled mixing glass and stir thoroughly. Strain into cocktail glass and garnish with orange zest.
A very intriguing combination, with the rarely used Cherry Heering. You have to taste it at least twice to appreciate the complexities.
Restaurateur
(Created by Andrew Mitchell, Rickhouse, San Francisco)
3 slices fresh ginger
1 oz. London dry gin
½ oz. Yellow Chartreuse
½ oz. Fernet Branca
¾ oz. fresh lime juice
½ oz. simple syrup
Ginger Beer
Place ginger in a shaker and muddle until well crushed. Add everything except ginger beer, fill with ice and shake well for ten seconds. Double strain through a fine mesh strainer into an ice filled Collins glass. Top with ginger beer, add lime wheel garnish.
What a symphony this is with ginger, Fernet, Chartreuse, Gin, and the carbonation and flavor of ginger beer. A double ginger whammy.
Should I top it with some Canton, and call it Gingeration? A fine creation!
Weirdo Unclassic Recipes
Maxine’s Slot Machine
1 ½ ounce gin, ½ ounce Grand Marnier, 1 oz. Cherry Brandy,
1 ounce lime juice. Shake & strain into pre chilled cocktail glass.
Garnish with two 25 cent casino slot tokens.
The Russians are coming
Stolichnaya Vodka, Kahlua, and Spanish Fly.
