Fix the Pumps

Mocktail, virgin cocktail, and Preggatini® are all terms for non-alcoholic beverages, and all are drinks men would never order. Mocktail screams out for taunting, guys don't like to be classified as a virgin in any endeavour and a guy ordering a Preggatini was obviously coerced by his pregnant wife.

Whether we like it or not, society has picked some regretful names for non-alcoholic beverages. However, there is one non-intoxicating drink that is an American institution. Millions of people fondly remember ordering this drink and having it served to them by a "Jerk". No one chastises a person for ordering and enjoying one. The American soda was the alternative for abstainers.

The convenience of bottles and cans has made soda-pop ubiquitous throughout North America. However, there was a time when people didn’t buy their soda from refrigerated machines or six packs from the grocery store. Instead, people walked down to the soda fountain, order one and had the soda jerk dispense it, much like a bartender serves a cocktail today.

Unlike modern soda, the local fizz counter made each drink to order with a wide array of different flavours. There were literally hundreds of different soda recipes. They spanned the spectrum of simple favours like lemon and strawberry to the complex like aromatic elixirs and gentian syrups. The creativity of soda fountains was easily on par with the local saloon.

Most soda fountains were operated by pharmacists, which meant soda was regularly used as a vehicle for drugs. In the 1800s, it wasn’t uncommon for a person to order a soda that contained cocaine, strychnine, morphine or other assorted narcotics. The saloon may have dispensed alcohol, but the local druggist was well equipped to handle the competition.

The history of early soda fountains is fascinating and has many connection to bars and cocktails, including raising the ire of the Temperance Leagues.

Fix the Pumps looks at the history of early soda fountains and expands on the techniques and recipes used to create these bubbling concoctions.

The techniques and recipes included in this book make it an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the history of drinks and how soda evolved to become a worldwide industry.