ThinkingBartender

Has anyone noticed that "Vodka Espresso" (cocktails) aka. Espresso Martini are little more than a la minute coffee liqueurs? A Vodka Espresso is alcohol (vodka), sugar, espresso (coffee), and water (from the melting of the ice, while shaking). Coffee Liqueur is alcohol, sugar, coffee, water. This cocktail as liqueur concept can go further: Limoncello and Lemon Martinis. Rum Shrub (lime) and Daiquiris. Ratafia and Raspberry Martinis. I am sure there are more instances of such drinks. Thoughts? Cheers! George

The word "imbed" is a bit strange, but it could just mean combine by covering, with possible muddling (to extract the lemon oils I assume). There are some who muddle lemon and/or orange peels in an old-fashioned, so I guess the technique could have been employed here. Cheers! George

Here are some excerpts I found on Google Books which feature the Sherry Cobbler, and most importantly how to make them. Drinking through a piece of pasta is optional I assume. "Canada and the Canadians: In 1846," By Richard Henry Bonnycastle, 1846 "...but he does, I am ashamed to say, admire a sherry cobbler, particularly if he does not get a second-hand piece of vermicelli to suck it through. Reader, do you know what a sherry cobbler is? I will enlighten you. Let the sun shine at about 80 Fahrenheit. Then take a lump of ice; fix it at the edge of a board; rasp it with a tool made like a drawing knife or carpenter's plance, set face upwards. Collect the raspings, the fine raspings, mind, in a capacious tumbler; pour thereon two glasses of good sherry, and a good spoonful of powdered white sugar, with a few small bits, not slices, but bits of lemon, about as big as a gooseberry. Stir with a wooden macerator. Drink through a tube of macaroni or vermicelli." "The upper ten thousand; sketches of American society. By a New Yorker," By Charles Astor Bristed, 1852 "take a knife and a lemon, and do as you see me do; don't mind soiling your fingers. First, you rub the lemon with the back of the knife--that brings out the essential oil better; then you pare off the rind very carefully, taking only the yellow, and not cutting into the white at all. Very well. Imbed your lemon-peel in as much sugar as you would use if making a similarly-sized glass of punch. Sometimes you will see slices of lemon put into a cobbler--nothing can be more destructive; avoid everything but the yellow peel. If you will have something more, put in a slice of orange or pineapple, or a few strawberries. I think this may be done to good effect in a bowl, but not in a single glass. Now fill your tumbler half-way with pounded ice. Good. And now pour in two wine-glasses of sherry. You see we use dark sherry for this, both for strength and the colour. It makes the mixture of a beautiful golden hue; with amontillado or Manzanilla it would look too weak. Don't be impatient; we have to mix yet." He took up one of the spare glasses, covered with it the mouth of the tumbler which contained the magic compound, and shook the cobbler back and forwards from one glass to the other a dozen times without spilling a drop. Both of these books, from which the above exceprts are taken, are out of copyright and are public domain; you can download the whole books as PDFs. Cheers! George S.

By the "rules" I take it you mean, "what you can and can't do, and still call it a Cobbler?". Originally, the Cobbler seems to have been wine/ spirit, sugar, and crushed ice; this was then garnished lavishly with all sorts of berries and cut fruit. However some people, including Dale DeGroff, like to muddle the garnish beforehand and shake it up with the wine/ spirit, sugar, and crushed ice. This, altough perhaps offensive to some purists, makes for a more interesting drink. David Embury is not the man I would rely on to ascertain whether a Cobbler was/ is shaken, but his opinion is always interesting. Basically a Cobbler is whatever you want it to be. Cheers! George

Sorry but that link was of no use to me. I am looking for historical information, tidbits, that sort of things. I am not looking to buy a Cobbler Shaker, I am looking to understand the origin of its name, and its original use, and how it relates to the class of mixed drinks called Cobblers. Thanks anyway. George

Dear All, Using the same logic as that of a Julep Strainer straining Juleps, is a Cobbler Shaker used to shake Cobblers? Would the Cobbler shaker have been used to muddle fruit inside of, and then strain the liquid compound over crushed ice, while at the same time retaining the mess/ gunk? The Cobbler Shaker has a built-in fine strainer whereas the Boston Shaker does not, this might support my theory that the cobbler shaker was used for muddling fruit and retaining its mangled carcass post-serving. Any thoughts? or facts? Cheers! George

In England, a Salty Seadog is a naval term for an old sailor. I guess in the same vein as a Jolly Jack Tar (also a sailor). So Petiot was #3 Barfly, thats interesting.

Well thats interesting about the Ohio connection, paris to ohio, ohio to NYC, then back to Ohio. Although I am sure another newspaper article somewhere is bound to throw that assumption out of whack. If Petiot left Harry's bar in 1925, then he only worked there for 2 years max. Shame that MacElhone (I.B.F #1, or was that someone else? Macintyre perhaps?) doesn't credit any Bloody Mary drinks in his books. Surely he would have known. Cheers! George

Yes, I did see the bit about George Jessel claiming the Bloody Mary. But have you seen the following excerpt?: If Petiot is to be believed, and if this article is truly based on a real interveiw with Petiot then it is a confession from the horse's mouth. I side with Jessel, as I have yet to see any proof that Petiot invented the Bloody Mary. Buckets O'blood, chicago nightclubs, can't find anything in the actual time period. Nothing in MacElhones books. Whats a boy to think? On a difference note, I recently "found" Petiots Obituary: Cheers! George

That's really interesting! So would drinks invented in the Prohibition Era require a hot jazz approach? ← You tell me.

I found this today in the "Mansfield News Journal," 18th July 1952. "George [Jessel], was fortifying himself against Republicans with a strange potion out of a champagne glass. He let me have a taste, and after bystanders had turned the fire extinguishers on me and successfully resorted to resuscitation, he explained, that this drink was a Salty Dog." "It is a little something of my own invention," he said, "Just half fresh grapefruit juice, half vodka and a dash of salt, and you think any Democrat can win." Anyone else have any information on the origins of the Salty Dog? Cheers! George

You are anything but amateur Erik, I don't know anyone who would plough through the Savoy Cocktail Book. Personally I equate Cocktails with Music. The cooking analogy just doesn't work for me. My own style of Cocktails attempts to be like an impersonator, trying to do my best impression of a given song. This is at opposites with most peoples Lounge pianist approach, whereby they play every conceivable song is exactly the same way. A Margarita requires a mariachi approach, a Manhattan requires a Classical approach, Pina Colada requires a Calypso approach, etc. I will have to work on these analogies Cheers! George

No word on a Last Word, but I have a copy of Irwin S. Cobbs “Own Recipe Book” from 1934 (a year after prohibition ended) and would be happy to look anything up. It is basically a drinking memoir, recipe book, and full on advertisement for Frankfort Distilleries. Quite funny (and offensive) in places – he describes at the bottom of each recipe what the drink did to him. ← I hold Irwin S. Cobb in the same regard as H. L. Mencken, to both men it is not the truth of what is said that matters, but rather the style in which it is said.

It seems, from Robert Hess' write-up on his Drinkboy site, that Murray Stenson re-found the Last Word in a copy of the 1977 barbook "Jones Complete Barguide". So that makes two books that the last word is listed in. Though its resurrection in this new millenium does seem more than a little artificial. There seems to be a vogue among the US cocktail set to dote over drinks with their favourite esoteric ingredients, why not just invent new drinks with said ingredients? And are these ingredients their favourites simply because they are esoteric? It would be interesting to discuss where the fixation with certain ingredients and cocktails has arisen from. The public are told that old is good, and certain bartenders keep telling each other the same thing; I won't even mention the amateur mixologists and their spin on things. My original question specified cocktails that originated in speakeasies (obviously in the US), and so that would exclude anything that Harry Craddock published in his 1930 book. When Craddock left the US in 1920 he didn't return until 1930, and that was to see what people thought of his book. Cheers! George

The Last Word might be a prohibition era cocktail in the vein of what I am enquiring about. But apart from Ted Saucier's book, where else is it listed? Has it had to be plucked lifeless from the annals of time, and resusitated? or did it walk into the 21st century under its own power? Did Doctor Cocktail list it in his Vintage Cocktails book? I know he mentioned Saucier's book in there, but I do not recall the drinks he chose to include. Cheers! George

The Old Fashioned, Manhattan, Highball and Tom Collins were invented during the 19th Century. And the Long Island was invented in the 1970's. The Gin and Tonic was invented before prohibition, the exact date I am unsure of, but it too could have been 19th century. Also French 75 was World War One. I will have to look up the others, so thanks!

So which mixed drink recipes can be traced back to prohibition (1920-1933), and can specifically be traced to a Speakeasy, on US soil? Cheers! George

This will have to be three questions: 1) Which cocktails were specifically being ordered/ consumed in US Speakeasies, during prohibition (1920-1933)? 2) And of these Cocktails which were actually invented on American Soil, in these same Speakeasies? The point of these two questions is basically, what did the Speakeasy positively contribute to the art of cocktails? They were definately not bastions of knowledge, rather places for mobsters to accumulate hard cash. 3) What is the current fixation with opening Volstead Error [sic - "Era"] drinkeries? And how much of it is authentic speakeasy chic? Any other thoughts? Cheers! George S. g.sinclair@yahoo.co.uk http://www.wiki.webtender.com/wiki/

Is there any record of how the Batavians drank their Arrack? Was the Batavian Arrack straight-swapped for the Goan Arrack simply because of the shared name, or was it also consumed in a punch type beverage? Which country was the colonial master of Indonesia at the time? was it the Dutch? Could an anti-English colonial product embargo have been in place, if not officially then culturally? Cheers! George

Erik, I recommend looking through Google Books for old information on Arrack. There are a few old definitions of Arrack. In some old newspaper cuttings, it seems that Arrack from Goa was highly thought of by the British. And one would assume that it was the original Arrack to be used in Punch. Batavian (Jakartan) Arrack may have taken over in the US, from Goan Arrack, for reasons other than taste, but do you know specifically? Cheers! George S. g.sinclair@yahoo.co.uk http://www.wiki.webtender.com/wiki/

Personally I go for "Cocktail" as a slang term for what was known as "bitters". In turn "Bitters" was a polite term for a "Dram". The Dram and Bitters were drunk in England and Scotland during the 1700s and before. And here, for your veiwing pleasure, are a few excerpts from sources that describe other definitions of "Cocktail". "Three Years in Canada: An Account of the Actual State of the Country in 1826-7-8", By John Mactaggart, 1829 "Nevertheless, let what the people of the States of America call cocktail be fully analyzed - let us pry into the wonderful mysteries of Bitters." "American Notes for General Circulation", By Charles Dickens, 1842 "Cocktail - spirit, bitters, sugar, etc." "Lawrie Todd: Or, the Settlers in the Woods", By John Galt, 1849 "Cocktail, a, a dram of bitters." "Hesperos: Or, Travels in the West", By Matilda Charlotte (Jesse) Fraser Houstoun, 1850 "Their "custom of an afternoon," was to prepare and drink a favourite compound, which went by the name of "brandy-cocktail." The avowed object was to stimulate their appetites for dinner, (though for this there appeared no absolute necessity,) and as it seemed to have the desired effect, I may as well add, for the benefit of other weak and delicate individuals, that brandy-cocktail is composed of equal quantities of "Stoughton bitters" and Cognac." "Notes and Queries", by William John Thomas, et al, 1850 "Now it would appear that the medical profession is to have the invention of that ques-tionable American institution, the ' cocktail,' fathered upon it..." "Dictionary of Americanisms", By John Russell Bartlett, 1860 "Cocktail - A stimulating beverage, made of brandy or gin, mixed with sugar and a very little water." Cheers! George S. g.sinclair@yahoo.co.uk http://www.wiki.webtender.com/wiki/

I hope that Audrey's Home-made ginger beer is extra spicey to warrant all that sugar syrup. Are all the possible spirit, fresh lime, and ginger ale combinations done now? Mamie Taylor Scotch, Fresh Lime Juice, Ginger Beer. Moscow Mule Vodka, Fresh Lime Juice, Ginger Beer. Dark & Stormy Dark Rum, Lime Juice, Ginger Beer. Whats is the Tequila, Lime Juice, Ginger Beer version called? Its not an El Diablo, as that has cassis. What about...? Pisco, Fresh Lime, Ginger Beer? Cachaca, Fresh Lime Juice, Ginger Beer? (this one will probably need sugar!) Arrack, Fresh Lime, Ginger Beer? All the flavoured vodkas, fresh lime, Ginger Beer? Bourbon, Fresh Lime, Ginger Beer? Cognac, Fresh Lime, Ginger Beer? Calvados, Fresh Lime, Ginger Beer?

Bringing your own bitters into a bar will make you look like the most arrogant person who ever lived. If however you know the bartenders, and you offer to bring the "real thing" in with you then fine. Carrying around a "bat utility belt" of forgotten ingredients will definative earn you few friends, regardless of whether you are right or not. Best to keep pestering the bar-staff into introducing obscure ingredients. Cheers! George

From what I can see the ingredients varies from brand to brand, but include the following: Lime Zest cloves almond extract Rum Ginger

Recently I came across the following excerpts: Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, 1852 & "Five Years' Residence in the West Indies", By Charles William Day, 1852 "Wine is not drunk at our table, but cold brandy and water, or sometimes a sort of cold rum punch called "falurnum," a very baneful, heady, bilious drink in great request." Does anyone know the recipe for this particular rum punch, or has Charles Day simply confused the liqueur with the name of the potation? Beverages, past and present by Edward R. (Edward Randolph) Emerson - 1908 "Another drink made with rum was called falurnum, perhaps in honour of the ancient Falernian. It was always served cold..." So even after reading Ted Haigh's article on Falernum I am really none the wiser. Sure it is a brand of liquor, but what else was it? "Pocket Guide to the West Indies", by Algernon Aspinall, 1914: "Amongst other beverages peculiar to the West Indies which should be asked for are pimento dram and falernum..." Cheers! George S. g.sinclair@yahoo.co.uk http://www.wiki.webtender.com/wiki/