The granddaddy of guides - Jeremiah was a Bartender

As the American Civil War was ramping up in 1862, "Professor" Jeremiah "Jerry" Thomas (1830 – 1885) published the first bartenders' guide to include cocktail recipes.

How to Mix Drinks; or,
The Bon Vivant's Companion

Mr. Thomas was the first celebrity bartender. His guide, "How to Mix Drinks; or, The Bon Vivant's Companion" was replete recipes for punches, sours, slings, cobblers, shrubs, toddies, and flips.

Given some of those names, I suppose "cocktail" isn't too odd an appellation for a drink. And speaking of cocktails, there were a variety of other types of mixed drinks, including ten recipes for drinks referred to as, OMG, "cocktails."


Interestingly, at that time, a key  ingredient differentiating "cocktails" from other drinks was bitters.  Ironically, most modern cocktail recipes don't include the use of bitters.


The book collected and codified what was then an oral tradition of recipes from the early days of cocktails, including some of his own creations; the guide laid down the principles for formulating mixed drinks of all categories.


He would go on to update it several times in his lifetime to include new drinks that he found or created.

The "Professor" at work

For more on Jerry Thomas, check out the  New York Times article, The Bartender Who Started it All.

Our first recipes! The old fashioned Old Fashioned

As we noted last time, the Old Fashioned is the closest thing to the original cocktail that we know of. But there is much disagreement over the correct way to make one. This won't be the first time we'll talk about disagreements over how to make a drink "correctly."

Modern American Drinks" by George J. Kappeler

One of the earliest recipes, from "Modern American Drinks" by George J. Kappeler, was written in 1895 (a full 89 years after the first publication of a definition of a cocktail). Kappeler instructs us to "Dissolve a small lump of sugar with a little water in a whiskey-glass; add two dashes Angostura bitters, a small piece ice, a piece lemon-peel, one jigger [1.5 fl oz] whiskey. Mix with small bar-spoon and serve, leaving spoon in glass."

David Embury's classic book published in 1948 provides a slight variation, also generally accepted among purists:

• 12 parts American whiskey
• 1 part simple syrup
• 1-3 dashes Angostura bitters
• Twist of lemon peel over the top, and serve garnished with the lemon peel and a maraschino cherry

As with any recipe, many, many variations have been developed, and despite the purist insistence to adhere to recipes written as long as a century ago, the "correct" way to make the drink is the way the customer prefers. Most modern cocktail recipe books call for Rye or Bourbon whiskey, and also include topping the drink with soda. A good bartender might ask, "Rye or Bourbon?" and, "top it with soda or water?"

Two additional recipes from the 1900s vary in the precise ingredients, but continue to omit the cherry expected in a modern Old Fashioned, as well as the top off of soda water contested by cocktail purists. Orange bitters were highly popular at this time and, for the second recipe, the Curaçao appears to have been added to increase the orange flavor.

This one is from "Drinks as they are Mixed" by Paul E. Lowe (1904):

Use old-fashioned cocktail glass.

• Sugar, 1 lump.

• Seltzer, 1 dash, and crush sugar with muddler

• Ice, one square piece

• Orange bitters, 1 dash.

• Angostura bitters, 1 dash

• Lemon peel, 1 piece

• Whiskey, 1 jigger

Stir gently and serve with spoon.

This is from "Jacks Manual" by Jack A. Grohusko (1908):

OLD FASION COCKTAILS

• 1 dash Angostura bitters 

• 1 dash Curaçao 

• Piece of cut loaf sugar 

• Dissolve in two spoonfuls of water 100% liquor as desired 

• 1 piece ice in glass

Stir well and twist a piece of lemon peel on top and serve

These represent three of the earliest Old Fashioned recipes. Literally dozens more have been published and countless more variations concocted. Do you have a favorite Old Fashioned recipe? Let us know!

Imagining the first cocktails

The earliest ingredient list (noted in our previous post) included spirits, sugar, water, and bitters. That matches up very nicely with what we now refer to as an Old Fashioned.

Classic Old Fashioned

The classic Old Fashioned is made by muddling dissolved sugar with bitters then adding alcohol, such as jenever, whiskey, or brandy, and a twist of citrus rind.

The name "Old Fashioned" originated as a term used by late 19th century bar patrons to distinguish cocktails made the “old-fashioned” way from newer, more complex cocktails.

So what we know as an Old Fashioned is quite possibly the closest approximation of the first drink to be called a cocktail.