Alcademics

Category: books

  • The History of Grenadine Use in Cocktails: Literature Review

    When was grenadine first used in cocktails? I thought this would be a simple question to answer, but not so much. Along the way to figuring this out, I've had to split up this one blog post into several.

    First we'll look at the cocktail books from 1862 – 1930 and see where grenadine is called for in recipes. Then we'll try to draw some conclusions from that. And then we'll look into what the grenadine that bartenders were using really was: made from fresh pomegranate or artificially-flavored? 

    So let's get busy. 

    From Nowhere to Everywhere

    In Jerry Thomas' How to Mix Drinks, the first bartenders' guide from 1862, he calls for raspberry and strawberry syrups throughout, plus shrubs made from cherries and white currants, but I don't see any pomegranate. 

    Fifty years later in Savoy Cocktail Book from 1930, I counted about 100 drinks that call for grenadine. Many of those say "raspberry syrup or grenadine" so it seems one had replaced the other. Let's see what happened in between. 

    Cut pomegranates2_tn

    A Review of Grenadine in Cocktail Books 1862 – 1930

    In Harry Johnson's Bartender's Manual from 1882, his list of required syrups at the bar do not include grenadine but white gum, raspberry, pineapple, lemon, strawberry, orange, orchard, rock candy, and orgeat syrups. 

    Modern bartenders guideThe Modern Bartenders' Guide by O.H. Byron from 1884 lists recipes for cordials and syrups, concentrated fruit syrups, and fruit brandies: none of them list pomegranate or grenadine. 

    In The Flowing Bowl (1891) by The "Only" William, I don't see any grenadine or pomegranate recipes, but several have raspberry syrup, including the Violet Fizz, the Knickerbocker, and the Pineapple Julep.

    So far, the first grenadine recipe I see in a cocktail book comes from Cocktail Boothby's American Bar-Tender, from 1891. In the body of the text, it is only mentioned once, and not even in a cocktail, but in "Turkish Harem Sherbet." However, stay tuned for more information that comes from a later edition.

    Modern american drinksIn Modern American Drinks by George Kappler (1895), The Bosom Caresser is made with raspberry syrup, egg, brandy, and milk. In later books, the ingredient changes.

    This book shows grenadine beginning to creep into cocktails. Specifically:

    • Grenadine Cocktail: "Use grenadine in place of gum-syrup in any kind of cocktail."
    • Grenadine Lemonade: "Make a plain lemonade rather tart, and add a pony of grenadine before shaking. Trim with fruit, serve with straws."
    • Pousse Cafe (French Style): Grenadine, maraschino, orange curacoa, green Chartresue, cognac. Note that there is also an American Style pousse cafe that includes everything but the grenadine, and a New Orleans Style pousse cafe that uses raspberry syrup instead of grenadine, plus you light this drink on fire. 
    • Schickler (brandy, grenadine, soda)

    Meanwhile, in France, grenadine was all the rage in Louis Fouquet's Bariana from 1896. His recipes include:

    • Bosom Caresser – grenadine, maraschino, cognac, sherry
    • Corpse Reviver –  This is a 13-layer Pousse Cafe, not the version we know today.
    • Pick Me Up – lemon juice, grenadine, kirsch, champagne, orange slice
    • Chicago -creme de noyaux (the signature ingredient of this book),grenadine, cognac, Amer Besset, seltzer water, lemon slice
    • Mother's Milk – Curacao, noyaux, grenadine, egg yolk, cognac, milk, nutmeg (gross!)
    • Ranson Cooler – Noyaux, curacao, grenadine, kirsch, bitter, and seltzer water, lemon slice (looks just like the Chicago)

    I also don't see any grenadine in Mixicologist by C.F. Lawlor (1895). 

    Stuart's Fancy Drink and How to Mix Them (1902) also lists many recipes for syrups and liqueurs, but no grenadine. 

    A brief look through Recipes of American and Other Iced Drinks by Charlie Paul (1902) didn't reveal any grenadine either. 

    Back to Cocktail Bill Boothby's American Bar-Tender. In an addendum of the 1908 edition of the book are several typed pages with new cocktails (apparently collected from contact with other bartenders), and here we find some grenadine. 

    • Jack Rose Cocktail (credited to R.H. Towner of Wm. St. N.Y.) with grenadine, applejack, and lime juice
    • Marguerite Cocktail ("conceived by the famous Otto as served in Henry's Hotel 11 Rue Volney, Paris, France and the La Salle Hotel, Chicago) with lime, grenadine, Plymouth gin, dash of absinthe, white of an egg
    • Opalescent Cocktail (a la Bingham American Congress Bar, City of Mexico) with lemon, grenadine, mint leaf, egg white, Plymouth gin). You'll recognize that last drink as the better-known Clover Leaf or Clover Club.

    After this point, grenadine really takes off. 

    Drinks by jacques straubIn Drinks by Jacques Straub (1914) we find a ton of grenadine drinks:

    • Aviation Cocktail (applejack, lime, absinthe, grenadine)
    • Bacardi Cocktail (grenadine, Bacardi, lime)
    • Beauty Spot Cocktail (orange juice, sweet and dry vermouth, gin, grenadine)
    • Booby Cocktail (gin, grenadine, lime)
    • Chantecler Cocktail ("Bronx with 4 dashes of grenadine syrup. Shake.)
    • C.O.D. Cocktail (grenadine, gin, slice of grapefruit)
    • Isabelle Cocktail (grenadine, creme de cassis)
    • Italian Cocktail (Italian vermouthg, grenadine, Fernet Branca)
    • Jack Rose
    • Japanese Cocktail (not the standard one – this contains grenadine, rye, Italian vermouth, and curacao)
    • Marqueray Cocktail (lime, absinthe, grenadine, egg white, gin)
    • Millionaire Cocktail (orange bitters, cuacao, rye, grenadine, egg white)
    • Rose Cocktail (orange juice, grenadine, gin)
    • Royal Smile Cocktail (lime, grenadine, dry vermouth, apple brandy, egg white)
    • Ruby Cocktail (grenadine, apple jack, gin)
    • Ruby Royal Cocktail (gin, dry vermouth, raspberry, frappe')
    • Society Cocktail (dry gin, dry vermouth, grenadine)
    • Sunshine Cocktail (lime, dry vermouth, Old Tom gin, grenadine, egg white)
    • Country Club Cooler (grenadine, dry vermouth, soda)
    • Sea Side Cooler (lime, grenadine, soda)
    • Cider Cup (lots of fruit and grenadine)
    • Grape Juice (same)
    • Ginger Ale (same with ginger ale added)
    • Star Daisy (lime, gin, applejack, grenadine)
    • Amer Picon Pouffle Fizz (Amer Picon, grenadine, egg white)
    • Elsie Ferguson Fizz (lemon, strawberries, gin, grenadine, cream, soda)
    • Grenadine Gin Fizz (grenadine, Old Tom gin,lemon, soda)
    • King Cole Fizz ("gin fizz with grenadine syrup")
    • Bemus Fizz (lemon, grenadine, lime, sugar, gin, cream, soda)
    • Ruebli Fizz (lemon, orange, grenadine, Rhine wine, soda)
    • Whiskey Grenadine Fizz (lemon, grenadine, rye or bourbon)
    • Amer Picon High Ball (Amer Picon, grenadine, soda)
    • Irish Rose High Ball (Irish whiskey, grenadine, soda)
    • Queen's High Ball (Amer Picon, grenadine, soda)
    • French Flag (grenadine, maraschino, creme Yvette)
    • Polly ("Gin Fizz made with grenadine syrup instead of using sugar.")
    • Pousse Cafe No. 2 (grenadine, anisette, creme Yvette, Green Chartreuse, cognac)
    • Millionaire Punch (lime, sugar, whiskey, grenadine, creme de menthe)
    • Amer Picon Sour (Amer Picon, lemon, lime, sugar, grenadine)
    • Canadian Whisky Sour (lemon, lime, sugar, Canadian whiskey, grenadine)
    • Grenadine Sour (lemon, grenadine, dry gin)
    • Grenadine Gin Sour (same with whiskey)
    • Millionaire Sour (lime, lemon, grenadine, rye, curacao)

    The book lists raspberry syrup in other drinks separately. The Knickerbocker lists the drink with raspberry syrup. 

    In Hugo R. Ensslin's Recipes for Mixed Drinks (1916-1917) we also have a ton of grenadine drinks. Clearly grenadine was  well-established at this point. Drinks that include grenadine in the book are: Beauty Spot, Clover Leaf Cocktail, Daiguiri [sic] Cocktail, Hugo Bracer, "Have a Heart" Cocktail, Jack Rose Cocktail, Littlest Rebel Cocktail, Millionaire Cocktail I, New York Cocktail, Oppenheim Cocktail, President Cocktail, Pollyanna Cocktail, Pinky Cocktail, Royal Smile Cocktail, Santiago Cocktail (same as the 'Daiguiri"), September Morn, Saxon Cocktail, Twin Six Cocktail, Wallick's Special, Apricot Cooler, Lone Tree Cooler, Picon Highball, California Lemonade, American Rum Punch, Bacardi Rum Punch, Pineapple Punch, Hugo Rickey, Applejack Sour, Fireman's Sour, Knickerbein, Pousse Cafe, Wild Eye Rose. 

    Some interesting things about this book:

    • The Bacardi Cocktail doesn't mention grenadine, and yet the "Daiguiri" does. 
    • The Knickerbein isn't made with grenadine in many recipes but here it is. 
    • The Daisies are all made with grenadine, not raspberry syrup. This seems a big switch from previous books. 

    In Cocktails: How To Mix Them by Robert Vermeire (1922), which was published in London, we see grenadine drinks such as the Chinese Cocktail, Club Cocktail, Daiquiri (the same Bacardi Cocktail-Daiquiri reversal is present here), Dempsey Cocktail, Depth Bomb, Gloom Raiser, Luigi Cocktail, Millionaire, Monkey Gland, R.A.C. Cocktail, Monkey Gland Cocktail, "75" Cocktail, Tipperary, Trocadero, Ward Eight Cocktail, and Whiz-Bang. That's just the cocktails- there are also coolers, juleps, sangarees, etc. 

    • In the Clover Club Cocktail recipe, raspberry syrup is listed in the ingredients, but in the description it says, "Grenadine is often substituted for raspberry syrup."
    • The Jack Rose Cocktail lists "A little raspberry syrup or grenadine" in the ingredients. 

    In Barflies and Cocktails by Harry and Wynn (published in Paris in 1927), we again see lots of grenadine in the recipes. Below are some notes.

    • The Bacardi Cocktail has grenadine and so does the "Dacqueri"
    • The Clover Club Cocktail is again listed with raspberry but a note says "In London for some time it has been the custom to serve Grenadine instead of Raspberry."
    • The Clover Leaf Cocktail (a Clover Club with a mint leaf on top), however, specifies grenadine. 
    • The Daisies use grenadine. 
    • Under "Various Continental Beverages" (the continent would be Europe), we see some interesting combinations such as Kirsch and Grenadine and Picon Grenadine, both of which are the two mixed with soda.

    SavoyAnd that brings us to the Savoy Cocktail Book from London in 1930. Some notes:

    • The Bacardi Cocktail Special is made with grenadine, Beefeater Gin, Bacardi Rum, and lime juice. 
    • The Clover Club is made with grenadine, and the Clover Leaf is listed as "The same as Clover Club with a sprig of fresh mint on top."
    • There are a few Daisy cocktails, but only the Gin Daisy is sweetened with grenadine. Other daisies call for different liqueurs. 
    • The Jack Rose is made with grenadine and "applejack or calvados" (as I'm sure the latter would be easier to come by in London).
    • The Bosom Caresser is made with grenadine 
    • The Monkey Gland is made with grenadine 

    In the next post in this series, we'll look at some conclusions from this literature review. 

     


    PomegranateProjectSquareLogoFor the month of December I'll be looking at the pomegranate and its use in cocktails, including in grenadine and in PAMA pomegranate liqueur, the sponsor of the project. Check out the information developed just for bartenders at PamaPros.com.

     

  • Irish Whiskey History

    Irish whiskey book

    I recently read the book Irish Whiskey: A 1000 Year Tradition, which is no longer in print but still available. It was originally published in 1980 and most recently reprinted in 1998. A lot has happened since then, but this book has some good historical information. 

    Here are some facts and assertions from the book.

    As in Scotland, oppressive laws and taxation drove many people into illicit distilling. "In 1806, out of 11,400,000 gallons of spirits made in Ireland, 3,800,000 of these were produced by illicit manufacturers. In the years 1811 to 1813 almost 20,000 ilegal stills were destroyed by the revenue authorities and the military."

    In the earlier 1800s, scotch whisky was heavy in flavor profile and the English didn't prefer it. Irish whiskey, which used malted and unmalted barley, was both lighter and more consistent.

    When column distillation was invented, Irish whiskey makers were very reluctant to use it to water down their whiskey. They argued against it and refused to use it, while the Scots took to it to dilute their strongly flavored spirit. The lighter flavor profile was more popular both in England and America.

    The Irish whiskey industry was further harmed by world war rationing, independence from England, and American Prohibition.

    The last remaining Irish whiskey distillers banded together in the 1960s to form Irish Distillers. They were the sole producers of Irish whiskey, which was made both at the Old Bushmills distillery and down at Cooley.

    I'll have some of the more modern history and production of Irish whiskey in a forthcoming story in the San Francisco Chronicle.

  • A Thousand Year Old Drunken Regret Letter

    For my book club I read the book Foreign Devils on the Silk Road by Peter Hopkirk. It's about European explorers finding and raiding the artwork of abandonded and sand-buried cities along the silk road.

    In a chapter on finding a hidden library of ancient scrolls at Tun-huang, the author notes (page 175) that they found "a thousand-year-old 'model' letter of apology in Chinese designed for inebriated guests to send to their hosts."

    I think you'll find it's still useful today.

    Here's the translation:

    'Yesterday, having drunk too much, I was so intoxicated as to pass all bounds; but none of the rude and coarse language I used was uttered in a conscious state. The next morning, after hearing others speak on the subject, I realized what had happened, whereupon I was overwhelmed with confusion and ready to sink into the ground with shame…'

    The letter adds that the writer will soon come to apologize in person for his transgression. A suitable reply for the outraged hosted is suggested, which Giles translates thus:

    'Yesterday, Sir, while in your cups, you so far overstepped the observances of polite society as to forfeit the name of gentleman, and made me wish to have nothing more to do with you. But since you now express your shame and regret for what has occured, I would suggest that we meet again for a friendly talk…'

    Sounds like something I've heard from a bartender or two in this millennium. 

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  • History of the El Diablo Cocktail in Trader Vic’s Books

    I was trying to find the first reference to the El Diablo cocktail recently.

    Mexican El Diablo



    1/2 lime

    1 ounce tequila

    1/2 crème de cassis

    Ginger Ale

    Squeeze lime juice into a 10-ounce glass; drop in spent shell. Add ice cubes, tequila, and crème de cassis. Fill glass with ginger ale.

    Searching the web, the earliest reference I read to it was from Trader Vic's books of 1946 and 1947.

    I asked tiki expert Martin Cate, who has these books, if he knew if the drink was a Trader Vic original. After his research it's still not entirely clear, but the research is interesting in itself.

    Martin says:

    IT IS in the 1946 TV Book of Food and Drink- It is
    called a "Mexican El Diablo" and it IS singled out as an original
    cocktail.
     
    IT IS in the 1947 TV Bartender's Guide again as a
    "Mexican El Diablo", but does not declare it an original- although that book
    does not specify.
     
    It's not in the TV Kitchen Kibitzer
    1952
     
    IT IS in the TV Pacific Island Cookbook of
    1968, but now called "El Diablo" only
     
    IT IS in the TV Bartender Guide Revised 1972 as an
    "El Diablo", but does not say it's his.  This edition DOES call out
    original drinks.

    Thanks Martin!

    If anyone finds an earlier reference to the El Diablo or Mexican El Diablo, please let me know.

  • The Intercontinental Cocktails of Charles H. Baker

    I wrote a story in this weekend's San Francisco Chronicle about Charles H. Baker's cocktails and their popularity, centering around the program at Heaven's Dog in San Francisco.

    "A hazy memory of a night in Havana during the unpleasantnesses of
    1933, when each swallow was punctuated with bombs going off on the
    Prado…"

    erik adkins read charles h baker's the gentlemans' companion at heaven's dog in san francisco This line by Charles H. Baker Jr. introduces not an account of Cuban
    rebellion but the cocktail Remember the Maine, which he was drinking
    there while it took place. Baker wrote about drinks from his travels
    around the world in the early 1900s, mostly during Prohibition, when
    the drinking in the United States wasn't legal – or very good.

    Other drinks in Baker's two-volume "The Gentleman's Companion" are
    introduced from such ports of call as Beijing, Monte Carlo and Bombay
    (now Mumbai), ripe with mentions of princes, peacocks, cruises up the
    Nile and hanging out with Hemingway.

    Bartenders in particular have latched on to Baker as a patron saint
    of good living, and his cocktails and quotes from his writings are both
    appearing on drink menus.

    "I've always thought that when you have a drink there's so much that
    comes with it: your friends, who you're with, the time of the day,"
    says Erik Adkins, general manager of Heaven's Dog in SoMa. "And (Baker)
    captured all that.."

    But for all the excitement about Baker's cocktails, they share an unfortunate common trait.

    "I think the recipes mostly need a lot of work," says Adkins.

    read the rest of the story here.

    In the story I also mentioned the forthcoming coffee/cocktail bar Fort Defiance, in Brooklyn, that should be opening later this month. But that's not the only bar to put Baker back on the menu:

    The Brooklyn bar Clover Club dedicated a small section of the menu to what owner Julie Reiner says are Baker’s best cocktails this winter, including the Remember the Maine.

    In Portland, Ore., the bar Beaker and Flask, named for the subtitle of one volume of “Gentleman’s Companion,” is set to open. Owner Kevin Ludwig says he’ll be featuring Baker drinks on the menu, though not exclusively.

    In Amsterdam, speakeasy-style bar door 74 recently offered several pages of Baker drinks, with the menu letterhead mimicking the Baker’s own.

    Baker's globe-hopping cocktail book is now helping those cocktails hop back around the world.

    Bakerbookfromchron

  • The History of the Ice Trade

    Frozenwatertrade I recently finished reading The Frozen Water Trade: A True Story by Gavin Weightman. The book is the story of Frederic Tudor, whose wacky idea of cutting ice in winter from ponds in Massachusetts and selling it to people in warmer climates in the summer turned into a 100 year industry until refrigerated ice became readily available. Tudor's ice was shipped as far as Martinique, India, San Francisco (around the tip of South America where there was plenty of ice already), New Orleans, and throughout the American South.

    Of course, my interest in the book was purely cocktail-related. The sale of ice was directly responsible for the creation of drink categories including juleps, cobblers, and smashes, and created the need for cocktail shakers as well as straws. Iced drinks became popular with Englishmen in India, but didn't catch on in England (not for lack of trying to sell it there). American cocktails stood out from English and other ones in their need for ice (as evidenced by books like Recipes of American and Other Iced Drinks), and grew in format and in number because of this ingredient.

    As we know the cocktail was an American invention and probably its first native cuisine, we can probably chalk up a lot of the credit for America's famous drinks and bartenders (pre-Prohibition) to this one guy who created a world-wide industry out of nothing but freebies- frozen lakes, sawdust to keep it cold through the summer, and room in ships' holds as ballast on trading routes.

    The book itself isn't the "page-turner" as described on the cover, nor does it delve too deeply into the discussion of the impact on cocktails, but with an understanding of what came later in American cocktail history, it's fascinating for its implications. 

    An index of all of the ice experiments on Alcademics can be found here.

  • The Gentleman’s Companion’s Companion

    Baker
    The Gentleman's Companion     by Charles H. Baker is one of the most entertaining historical cocktail books, if not always the most useful. It contains cocktail recipes gathered from Baker's travels around the world, but the best parts are the drink introductions and settings. Like this one:

    THE JAMAICAN BLACK STRIPE, another Heartener from that Tropical Paradise, that May Be Served either Hot or Cold
    If served cold: work 2 tsp strained honey into 1 tbsp boiling water until well dissolved. Add 1 jigger Jamaica rum, shake with cracked ice, pour into stemmed cocktail glass and dust with nutmeg. Furnished us by Emerson Low, Esq., gentleman, student, Rhodes Scholar, author and delightful dilettante, who, now that he is married and possessed of child and responsibility, is not nearly so diverting, it pains us to say.

    It's a cocktail recipe, and a total diss.

    Anyway, my pal St. John Frizell has been studying the life of Charles H. Baker. He gave an awesome talk at Tales of the Cocktail this year, and published a long biography in the Oxford American this summer. Now he's posted the story on his website. It's a must-read for all Baker fans.