Jerry Thomas: Bartenders Guide or How to Mix Drink

[dsoneil]

One of the earliest guides to bartending was published in 1862 by Jerry Thomas. This book contains some of the first references to today’s classic cocktails, such as the Manhattan, Pousse Café’s, Juleps and Collins. This book is an invaluable reference to any aspiring mixologist.<br><br>

I am happy to announce that all 130 pages of the 1887 version of the book has been published online and is freely accessible at The Art of Drink: Jerry Thomas Book. Because of copyright laws, this books copyright have long since expired and the material has become part of the public domain. Eventually, I intend to submit to the Gutenberg Free eBook Library.<br><br>

Anyone who has an interest in the history of bartending and cocktails should peruse this book. The tools and techniques are interesting and shine some light on how things were done over 120 years ago. Some of those techniques are still applicable today. By far, the most interesting part of the book is the Introduction to Bartending.

<br><br>

There are also a number of interesting stories such as the The Real Georgia Mint Julep and the White Plush.<br><br>

Currently, the websites navigation only lists specific classes of cocktails but every page has a number of cocktails. The paper book was 130 pages, but I have condensed that into 83 pages, trying to group the classes of cokctails on one page. If anyone has any suggestions on how to improve the online version of the book, please let me know. An Index is currently being worked on. <br><br>

I hope everyone enjoys this unique piece of history.

[mbanu]

Very nice!

[slkinsey]

Thank you, Darcy for this amazing resource! You did all this work yourself? Great!

I have a nice repro copy of the book at home, but actually I think this web version makes it a more useful resource for research, etc. Some of these are fairly simple concoctions, but still amazingly good. One of my standards with any spirit is derived from his Whiskey Cocktail. It's hard to go wrong using this formula with any spirit (except vodka), and this formula with Laird's bonded applejack and Fee's aromatic bitters is one of my all-time favorites.

[dsoneil]

Thank you, Darcy for this amazing resource!  You did all this work yourself?  Great!

I have a nice repro copy of the book at home, but actually I think this web version makes it a more useful resource for research, etc.  Some of these are fairly simple concoctions, but still amazingly good.  One of my standards with any spirit is derived from his Whiskey Cocktail.  It's hard to go wrong using this formula with any spirit (except vodka), and this formula with Laird's bonded applejack and Fee's aromatic bitters is one of my all-time favorites.

←

Thanks. It took a while to get the text right, but a scanner and OCR helped!

The idea for the book came from the Project Gutenberg which for those who don't know is a central resource for books whose copyright has expired. There are number of other books on my list, but I need to get copies of them and some spare time. This type of information just begs to be free.

This book though has a lot of good recipes and I find it very interesting on how things were done so many years ago.

Cheers!

[eje]

This is a great resource. Very cool!

RE: Measurements in Classic Cocktail books

Been reading Baker's, "Jigger, Beaker, and Glass" and wondering about measurements.

For Baker, are the correct interpretations for "jigger" 1.5 ounces, and "pony" 1 oz.?

There are so many different size jiggers I'm never quite sure.

For Thomas' recipes, what is the equivalent in ounces for "Wine Glass" and "Half Wine Glass"?

Thanks!

[mbanu]

This is a great resource.  Very cool!

RE: Measurements in Classic Cocktail books

Been reading Baker's, "Jigger, Beaker, and Glass" and wondering about measurements.

For Baker, are the correct interpretations for "jigger" 1.5 ounces, and "pony" 1 oz.?

There are so many different size jiggers I'm never quite sure.

For Thomas' recipes, what is the equivalent in ounces for "Wine Glass" and "Half Wine Glass"?

Thanks!

←

It's really hard to tell, actually.

For one, it isn't entirely clear whether the early cocktails were Rock & Rye style sweetened concoctions, or doctored shots like the old Kamikaze back when it was just cheap vodka with a few dashes of Rose's to smooth it out.

For another, they don't just refer to wine-glasses, but to small wine glasses, wine glasses and large wine glasses. A lot of people take the standard wine glass to be a sherry glass, (ie 2 ounces), but Thomas also specifies using a sherry glass in some recipes, implying, well, that a sherry glass was a sherry glass and a wine glass was a wine glass.

Edited October 28, 2005 by mbanu (log)

[eje]

RE: Measurements in Classic Cocktail books

←

It's really hard to tell, actually.

←

Thanks for the reply mbanu!

My question re: Baker's jigger size was answered last night when I ran across a snarky comment about how bartenders were using the "new" 1.5 ounce jiggers instead of the old fashioned 2 oz jigger to get more drinks out of a bottle. Seems safe to assume his jiggers were manly 2oz portions! Still unclear about Thomas' measurements and the ounce equivalent for Baker's "pony".

Edited October 29, 2005 by eje (log)

[Splificator]

For another, they don't just refer to wine-glasses, but to small wine glasses, wine glasses and large wine glasses. A lot of people take the standard wine glass to be a sherry glass, (ie 2 ounces), but Thomas also specifies using a sherry glass in some recipes, implying, well, that a sherry glass was a sherry glass and a wine glass was a wine glass.

One thing to bear in mind when wrestling with Jerry Thomas' recipes is that he--or whoever wrote under his name (remember, he died in 1885, two years before the edition in question came out)--collected them from disparate sources and showed no discernible interest in consistency.

Before the jigger was introduced (circa 1880-1890), there was no true "standard" measurement. In 1895, George J. Kappeler, head bartender at New York's tony Holland House, could write "A jigger is a measure used for mesuring liquors when mixing drinks; it holds two ounces. A pony holds half a jigger." In Thomas' day, though, you had to use the bar's standard glassware, which was clearly subject to some variation. In general, the wineglass used was the sherry glass, which held approximately 2 ounces (cf. Paul E. Lowe's Drinks As They Are Mixed, from 1904: ""The jigger...has the same capacity as a sherry glass (2 oz.)..."). The pony was the bar's smallest glass, the kind used to serve liqueurs. It held anywhere from 3/4 oz to 1 1/4 oz.

[eje]

<sigh>

I can't believe no one said, "Hey dope! If you're reading the Derrydale Press version of Jigger, Beaker, and Glass, check out page 178."

Here Baker has a chart listing measurements for all the drink measures in his book. He clearly gives the ounce equivalents for Jiggers and Ponies as 1.5 ounce Jiggers and 1 ounce Ponies.

What this means for his comment in the recipe for The Spanish Orange Flower Cooler, "Use a 2 oz. jigger, not one of those scant 1 1/2 oz affairs which squeezes 4 or 5 extra drinks out of every bottle for our up-to-date barkeeps," I leave as an exercise for the reader.

Though, at least I feel safe in assuming that a "Pony" is 2/3 of a "Jigger", whatever size I choose to make the latter.

[mumkin]

What this means for his comment in the recipe for The Spanish Orange Flower Cooler, "Use a 2 oz. jigger, not one of those scant 1 1/2 oz affairs which squeezes 4 or 5 extra drinks out of every bottle for our up-to-date barkeeps," I leave as an exercise for the reader.

I don't keep a copy of Baker at the office, so I can't provide an exact quote, but I'm fairly certain that he contradicts himself elsewhere as well, to the effect that at his digs, the 2oz. jigger is much admired. I'll dig up a citation this evening... it's something that's bugged me ever since first reading The Gentleman's Companion, since it contradicts earlier admonitions on using precise measures etc.