The Cooler

[varicose veins]

Hi guys,

I'm trying to find some information on the 'Cooler' style of cocktail, and I'm not finding much solid information at the moment. Does anyone have any idea of its origins, perhaps how it has developed? The best Cooler they ever had etc?

Much thanks guys!

[eje]

Hi guys,

I'm trying to find some information on the 'Cooler' style of cocktail, and I'm not finding much solid information at the moment.    Does anyone have any idea of its origins, perhaps how it has developed? The best Cooler they ever had etc?

Much thanks guys!

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You mean things like "Remsen Coolers"?

They're pretty much just extra-large, extra-sweet highballs, garnished with citrus peels, aren't they?

For a second there I was thinking they would be 1940s drinks. But, apparently, the Remsen Cooler appears in Bullock's Ideal Bartender from 1917.

Project Gutenberg link

REMSEN COOLER

Use a medium size Fizz glass.

Peel a Lemon as you would an Apple.

Place the Rind or Peeling into the Fizz glass.

2 or 3 lumps of Crystal Ice.

1 Wineglass of Remsen Scotch Whiskey.

Fill up the balance with Club Soda; stir up slowly with a spoon and serve.

In this country it is often the ease that people call a Remsen Cooler where they want Old Tom Gin or Sloe Gin instead of Scotch Whiskey. It is therefore the bartender's duty to mix as desired.

[varicose veins]

What I've got so far is that it should be served in a wine glass, use crushed/cracked ice and be topped up with a carbonated mixer? It is a pretty sweet form of cocktail, pretty commercial. I think that the name cooler has been added to many more drinks to add commercial value tho, so it may be difficult to track it down to its originl genre? But that Remsden Cooler does sound like it's on the right track.

[slkinsey]

I'm not sure about the wine glass part at all. Go to the cocktailDB recipe search page and search for "cooler." It will bring up over 100 recipes, just about all of which are served in a large (14 oz) "tall glass." This accords with Erik's idea that "cooler" is just a generic name for an oversized, sweeter highball.

For example, this Brandy Hiball calls for 1.5 ounces of brandy, ice, a lemon twist and a fill of soda water or ginger ale in a 9 ounce highball glass. This recipe for a Brandy Cooler calls for 2.5 ounces of brandy, ice, a lemon twist and a fill or ginger ale in a 14 ounce tall glass. In comparing highballs to coolers at cocktailDB, it also seems that the coolers are more likely to have multiple ingredients. For example, This recipe for an Applejack Hiball is much the same as the Brandy Hiball: 1.5 ounces of applejack, ice, a lemon twist and a fill of soda water or ginger ale in a 9 ounce highball glass. The Applejack Cooler, on the other hand, in addition to being served in the 14 ounce tall glass, includes lemon juice, sugar and floats of brandy and grenadine.

[David Santucci]

COOLERS

A Cooler is essentially a Horse's Neck with a Kick (see page 277), although there are also Prohibition Coolers made with non-alcoholic ingredients. So far as I have been able to ascertain, the original was the Remsen Cooler and, while most modern recipe books indicate gin for the Remsen Cooler, this is incorrect. This Cooler derived its name from the fact that it was made with Remsen Scotch whiskey, a brand no longer seen, at least in this country.

    The Cooler is served in a Collins glass decorated with the skin of a whole lemon or orange cut in a continuous spiral and hung over the edge of the glass, exactly as in  the Horse's Neck. Sometimes both a lemon peel and an orange peel are used for decoration.

    Whereas the Horse's Neck is made with ginger ale, the original Remsen Cooletr was made with club soda. Today some Coolers are made with charged water and some with ginger ale. There are also Coolers made with other carbonated beverages, at least one or two made with cider, and some modern recipes even stoop to prescribing plain water. The Cooler should be very dry, but sugar can be used if desired and perhaps the best advice here is "sweeten according to taste." If you want the drink to be  thirst-quenching, refreshing, and satisfying, however, you must keep it definitely on the dry side. The base of the Cooler may be a spirituous liquor, a wine, a liqueur, or even a fruit syrup. With sweet wines or liqueurs it is usually advisable to use a few dashes of lime or lemon juice, but this is optional. It is also optional whether or not to use bitters and how much.

    With the above principles well in mind you should be able to "roll your own" Coolers with whatever ingredients may be at hand and of any type and strength to suit any taste from that of an Andy Volstead to that of the Old Soak. However, the following are offered as specimens:

REMSEN COOLER (The original Cooler) Decorate a Tom Collins glass with a lemon peel as above directed and place 3 or 4 large ice cubes in the glass. Add 2 to 3 ounces Scotch whisky and fill the glass with charged water. Stir quickly with bar spoon and serve.

APPLEJACK COOLER or BRANDY COOLER or GIN COOLER or RUM COOLER or WHISKY COOLER Except for the liquor used, these are made exactly like the Remsen Cooler. Ginger ale maybe substituted for the charged water if desired.

    The Rum Cooler, when made with Jamaica rum, is sometimes calleda BLACKSTONE COOLER.

STONE FENCE or STONEWALL JACKSON An Applejack Cooler with hard cider in placeof the carbonated beverage.

BOSTON COOLER A Rum Cooler with the addition of 1 teaspoonful sugar syrup and the juice of half a lemon.

MOONLIGHT COOLER or HARVARD COOLER Made like a Boston Cooler but with applejack instead of rum.

LONG TOM COOLER Made like a Boston Cooler but Old Tom gin instead of rum.

WINE COOLERS Use any wine desired and make the same as other Coolers except that with the light, unfortified wines, a larger quantity should be used than in the case of spirituous liquors. With very sweet wines, such as sauterne and port, add 1 teaspoonful lemon juice. With very dry wines, such as Rhine wines, a teaspoonful of sugar syrup or of a liqueur such as maraschino or curaçao or may be added.

    A Claret Cooler plus a few dashes of rum is sometimes called a MANHATTAN COOLER.

COUNTRY CLUB COOLER or VERMOUTH COOLER Use 1 ounce grenadine, 3 ounces French vermouth, and charged water. Italian vermouth may also be used, in which case omit the grenadine and add 1 teaspoonful lemon juice.

DUBONNET COOLER or BYRRH COOLER Italian Vermouth Cooler exceptfor the base wine.

And now there are a few PROHIBITION COOLERS for your teetotaler friends:

MINT COOLER Crush one or two sprigs of mint with 1 or 2 teaspoonfuls sugar in the bottom of the glass, add the ice, decorate with the lemon peel, and fill glass with ginger ale.

RAIL SPLITTER One ounce sugar syrup, juice of 1 medium-sized lemon. Fill up with ginger ale.

SARATOGA COOLER Ginger ale and sarsaparilla, half and half.

The Rail Splitter plus a few dashes of Angostura is also sometimes called a Saratoga.

LONE TREE COOLER Juice of 1 lemon and ½ orange with 1 ounce grenadine. Fill up with charged water.

Edited May 9, 2007 by David Santucci (log)

[eje]

Wow! Thanks for typing that up, David.

So the "wine cooler" is then synonymous with the "wine spritzer"?

[Splificator]

COOLERS

So far as I have been able to ascertain, the original was the Remsen Cooler and, while most modern recipe books indicate gin for the Remsen Cooler, this is incorrect. This Cooler derived its name from the fact that it was made with Remsen Scotch whiskey, a brand no longer seen, at least in this country.

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While Embury was a fine mixologist, his historiography leaves something to be desired. The Remsen Cooler was in fact a gin drink, named after a member of the Union league Club in New York; the Ramsay Cooler was a Scotch drink, based on the whisky of that name, made at Port Ellen, on Islay. But in this error Embury is simply following Harry Johnson.

[eje]

While Embury was a fine mixologist, his historiography leaves something to be desired. The Remsen Cooler was in fact a gin drink, named after a member of the Union league Club in New York; the Ramsay Cooler was a Scotch drink, based on the whisky of that name, made at Port Ellen, on Islay. But in this error Embury is simply following Harry Johnson.

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Not to mention Bullock/Walker!

[eje]

Is there any significance to the fact that Harry Johnson included Coolers in his book; but, not (as far as I've found) Jerry Thomas?

Are there any earlier citations than Johnson?

[thirtyoneknots]

Is there any significance to the fact that Harry Johnson included Coolers in his book; but, not (as far as I've found) Jerry Thomas?

Are there any earlier citations than Johnson?

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I am under the impression that the tall/fizzy drink didn't really come into it's own until the late 19th century, at least not in the US.

[eje]

I am under the impression that the tall/fizzy drink didn't really come into it's own until the late 19th century, at least not in the US.

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Well, I guess the twenty some odd years between the books (Thomas (1862) and Johnson (1888)) are significant.

(It's so funny, looking through Thomas. I just found a recipe using Verbena. Lemon Verbena has been such a trendy ingredient in bars for the last couple years, everyone thinking they are a genius for coming up with the idea of using it. But, there it is, in a recipe from nearly 150 years ago!)