Romanticizing the Prohibition Era

[mbanu]

I've noticed that it seems like a lot of good bars making good drinks are sorta enamoured with the whole Prohibition theme. Why is that??? Is this sort of a "past as it should have been" trend kinda like how Tiki bars made people think that if they ever visited the tropics, the natives would be sipping on maitais and flaming zombies instead of cheap beer and rotgut rum?

I mean if you've ever actually tasted Prohibition cocktails (as opposed to, say, cocktails invented in France or England to satisfy American expatriates), you'll not be surprised at the tears of joy in people's eyes when Prohibition was repealed. The long drinks aren't so bad, but the short drinks...

You can even do an experiment for yourself.

Buy one of those big 1.75L jugs of gin. Cheap gin. Nothing of a higher quality then perhaps Gilbey's at most. McCormicks, Aristocrat, or worse would be better. Then think of cocktails (short ones, not long drinks like Tom Collinses and Gin and Ginger ales) to make out of it with no other alcoholic ingredients, other than a dash here or a dash there, and no fresh ingredients, unless they're local or in small quantities. It helps especially if you normally drink beer instead of cocktails, and if you devote yourself to not drinking any other alcoholic drinks until the bottle of cheap gin is finished.

Here, I'll even help you get started:

The Orange Blossom

2 ounces gin

1 ounce orange juice

dash of orangeflower water

Maybe it's the right season and real oranges aren't too expensive to ship up from Florida. Or maybe you're settling for canned juice. You mix it hopefully, on the rocks. Underwhelming and vaguely unpleasant. You add a dash of orangeflower water, hoping the smell will help distract you from the taste. No luck. You pour the whole mess in a shaker and shake vigourously, hoping that maybe when it's cold it won't be so bad, then add another dash of orangeflower water for the smell. If you're using canned maybe you give in and add an extra can or two to make a Gin and Juice, and sip on it discontentedly, wishing for a beer. :)

Edited May 2, 2005 by mbanu (log)

[WoBuJiDao]

Ah, don't be picky. It gets you drunk, who cares?

[cdh]

Who ever romanticized prohibition for the drinks? It is romanticized for the bonhomie and the cloak and dagger antics of the speakeasies.

I can see why bars would want to trade on the exclusive clubbiness of the speakeasy mystique. Never seen a former speakeasy (or such themed bar) try to sell bathtub gin cocktails.

And, by the way, does anybody know if bathtub gin actually had any botanicals, or was it archaic vodka before anybody knew the name for it. More to the point, would a liter of Popov with a shot of rubbing alcohol in it (DON'T DO THIS EXPERIMENT AT HOME, OR ANYWHERE ELSE!!!) be a more apt simulation of the bathtub 'gin' experience?

As to foreign bars making cocktails for thirsty expatriates, you can't say that prohibition didn't set off a spark of creativity over in europe. I like Sidecars, don't you?

[spiritchild]

If these "good bars" that you speak of are making such "good drinks", then I would say that their admiration for pre-prohibition (as I think you mean to say) drinks is not a quality at which to sneer. Also, the drink that you speak of, if made correctly, like all cocktails, is delicious.

Furthermore, the reason that pre-Prohibition cocktails are thought of with such high esteem within some circles is that during the years right before Prohibition hit, mainly the 1870's, cocktail culture had reached the height of the golden age. Industrialization fueled its force with things like refrigeration, mechanical ice machines, soda water and an amazing number of bottled spirits, both domestic and imported (not just the "cheap gin" you speak of in your posts). On that note, it is quite apparent from your prior posts about gin that you are not exactly a gin lover, so for you to use the Orange Blossom as a cocktail to prove your point about how dissappointing cocktails of this era are does not quite make sense to me. How is it you can claim that an era that left us with the Martini, the Manhattan, and the old fashioned is not an era to be held in high esteem?

[slkinsey]

No, I think mbanu is referring to the fact that the prohibition era is commonly associated with the cocktail revival. I speak of the years between January 16, 1920 (the enactment of the Volstead Act) and December 5, 1933 (ratification of the 21st Amendment, which repealed the 18th Amendment).

It certainly is the case that the 20s are often associated with cocktails in the modern imagination, and mbanu does have a point that these years were not by and large distinguished by quality cocktail culture in the United States. That said, it might be pointed out that what is commonly taken to be style and culture from the 20s is actually style and culture from the 30s or later (Lindy Hop, big band, swing, Art Deco, early radio, zoot suits, etc.).

[mbanu]

If these "good bars" that you speak of are making such "good drinks", then I would say that their admiration for pre-prohibition (as I think you mean to say) drinks is not a quality at which to sneer. 

←

Nope, I meant Prohibition. Generally this Prohibition preoccupation translates into an unusually keen focus on gin, art deco, and exclusivity, and a glamourizing of things which weren't quite so glamourous while they were actually happening.

Not that I'm putting it down or anything, I'm just curious why it's such a popular theme? Cdh's reply about it being the cloak and dagger atmosphere being alluring is a good point, I'm just sorta surprised because it seems ironic that some of the best drinks being made nowadays are being made in bars that glamourize one of the worst eras for getting anything drinkable.

Edited May 3, 2005 by mbanu (log)

[slkinsey]

To continue a bit my point from above -- that a lot of what is often taken as 1920s style and culture is really 1930s style and culture -- although "bathtub gin" was certainly a feature of the prohibition years, real gin became the dominant drink of the years that immediately followed. Why? Because gin doesn't have to be aged. Due to prohibition, there simply wasn't very much aged spirit to go around, whereas there had been plenty before (all the supplies of aged spirits had been exhausted or disposed). And most "brown spirits" (whiskey, brandy, etc.) need to be aged in wood before they are palatable. One result is the almost complete death of good old American rye whiskey, probably the dominant spirit in the US right before prohibition. Another result is the popularization of blended brown spirits, where a small amount of aged spirit is stretched by diluting it with neutral spirits.

So, the focus on gin, the focus on Art Deco, etc. is all a focus on the years after prohibition than it is the years during prohibition. For example, all the Thin Man movies save the first one were made post-prohibition.

[eje]

And, by the way, does anybody know if bathtub gin actually had any botanicals, or was it archaic vodka before anybody knew the name for it.  More to the point, would a liter of Popov with a shot of rubbing alcohol in it (DON'T DO THIS EXPERIMENT AT HOME, OR ANYWHERE ELSE!!!) be a more apt simulation of the bathtub 'gin' experience?

←

My understanding is Bathtub Gin was simply homemade undistilled (i.e. infused or flavored) Gin. If you were lucky, grain alcohol, water and whatever else the maker thought to put in it for gin-like flavor. As you point out, if you were unlucky, wood or rubbing alcohol and whatever flavoring they could use to disguise that fact.

[mbanu]

So, the focus on gin, the focus on Art Deco, etc. is all a focus on the years after prohibition than it is the years during prohibition.  For example, all the Thin Man movies save the first one were made post-prohibition.

Hmm. I'd thought that the Great Depression sorta killed off American cocktail culture when everyone's spending money evaporated? It mostly killed off the expatriate scene in England and France, at least.

[slkinsey]

The Great Depression of the 20th Century "officially" started with the stock market crash of 1929. Its worst year was probably 1933, and perhaps not coincidentally prohibition was repealed at the end of 1933. Meanwhile, we had the beginning of the New Deal and things started slowly looking up. Before too long we were into World War II.

I also think it's the case that many people who were lifting cocktails at places like the Waldorf=Astoria and the like weren't exactly characters out of Grapes of Wrath. There were still plenty of affluent people around in cities like NYC.

[mbanu]

The Great Depression of the 20th Century "officially" started with the stock market crash of 1929.  Its worst year was probably 1933, and perhaps not coincidentally prohibition was repealed at the end of 1933.  Meanwhile, we had the beginning of the New Deal and things started slowly looking up.  Before too long we were into World War II.

I also think it's the case that many people who were lifting cocktails at places like the Waldorf=Astoria and the like weren't exactly characters out of Grapes of Wrath.  There were still plenty of affluent people around in cities like NYC.

←

Fair enough. I suppose "shrunk" is a better word than "killed off". :) Without a big inflow of money and people willing to spend it on cocktail "research", the field sorta stagnates, I think.

I've been looking into it more and it's really a weird sorta situation. Glamorizing Prohibition drinking seems to have started shortly after Repeal (people have short memories, huh? :P) generally in books and movies and radio shows as a way to get away from the harsher realities most people faced during the Great Depression. After all, I suppose if you can't afford to go out to a swanky bar and drink cocktails, watching it on a movie screen while nursing your cheap beer is a decent substitute. :)

Modern "Prohibition revival" bars I guess draw most of their energy from those old movies and books, and from innovations that came out of the 1920s expatriate scene, sort of a glamourization of a glamourization.

Edited May 3, 2005 by mbanu (log)

[fatdeko]

Somewhere in here, I'm almost sure, is a great discussion. My problem, I guess, is with the position that there are "Prohibition Revival" bars afoot. I've not heard of such a thing, unless you include bars that feature "Swing" dancing, and even then, I'm pretty sure they miss the historical mark. And last I'd heard, they had nearly gone the way of PHISH and were known more for their dancing than drinking; bars were losing their shirts on Swing Night.

The great thing about discussing Temperance, Prohibition, WWI, the Depression, etc is that they are all so intertwined at the political level, it's nearly impossible to pull one thread and get at the "THING"

It's like that old Carnival/Midway booth where the Carny holds a bundle of strings, each one apparently attached to a prize. Spend a buck, pull the right string, and you go home with a color Television. Or a goldfish. Nearly everyone gets a gold fish, or equally crappy prize, and noone goes home with the Trinitron.

There isn't a string attached to the TV, or at least not one offered to the "mark".

Prohibition is a lot like that. Pull at an Historical thread, and you'll get the prize next to it. Pull another, you'll get the prize above it. Pull a few more, you'll get all the crappy prizes surrounding it. Go ahead, knock yourself out, keep pulling threads and taking the prizes, but you'll never get at "IT".

Prohibition was a weird amalgam of forces and fears and politics and opportunity, innovation, technology and War. It was, essentially, a bad idea whose time had come.

Luckily, as in most things, times change.

myers

[mbanu]

Somewhere in here, I'm almost sure, is a great discussion.  My problem, I guess, is with the position that there are "Prohibition Revival" bars afoot.  I've not heard of such a thing, unless you include bars that feature "Swing" dancing, and even then, I'm pretty sure they miss the historical mark.  And last I'd heard, they had nearly gone the way of PHISH and were known more for their dancing than drinking; bars were losing their shirts on Swing Night.

←

Well take bars like Milk & Honey in New York, that thrive on secrecy and exclusivity, as though they were modern-day speakeasies. Or art-deco bars like the Flatiron Lounge in New York, that plaster their websites with vintage photos and fill their bars with vintage jazz, or the Orbit Room in San Fransisco, with it's cone tables and Wurlitzer jukebox lookalike. A fascination with Prohibition themes, but making fantastic cocktails. Maybe I'm using the wrong term for it, but that's what I mean by "Prohibition Revival".

Edited May 4, 2005 by mbanu (log)

[slkinsey]

Well take bars like Milk & Honey in New York, that thrive on secrecy and exclusivity, as though they were modern-day speakeasies.  Or art-deco bars like the Flatiron Lounge in New York, that plaster their websites with vintage photos and fill their bars with vintage jazz, or the Orbit Room in San Fransisco, with it's cone tables and Wurlitzer jukebox lookalike. . .

I thought I'd just make a few comments about the places with which I am familiar. I wouldn't say that either M&H or Flatiron has a 1920s vibe going on.

M&H uses the "sort of secret" phone number, reservations policy and all that as a way of limiting attendance to the number of people they can serve up to their standard and also as a way of hopefully limiting attendance to true cocktail enthusiasts rather than "in crowd" types and poseurs. Flatiron also doesn't strike me as a heavily nostalgic bar. There are some Art Deco touches, but there are also very modern elements.

More to the point, however, is that Art-Deco's biggest time was the mid 1930s, as was the first explosion of the Wurlitzer jukebox and the popular era of what most of us would hear played as "vintage jazz" was the 1930s (Jazz was hardly what most people would recognize as "jazz" in the 1920s. Armstrong's "Hot Fives" and "Hot Sevens" -- which would be considered pretty raw stuff by most people today -- were recorded between something like 1925 and 1928. Anything you're likely to hear in a bar will come from a later era.)

This all goes back to my earlier point about mistaking 1930s culture for 1920s culture.