History

Grenadine Syrup Recipe
Blog Post, History, Syrups

What is Grenadine Made From?

What would you say if I told you the literal translation of grenadine from French didn’t mean pomegranate in the context of the sweet red syrup called grenadine? What would you think if I said modern grenadine is an over-simplified corruption of a once complex and interesting product? I’m sure you would be curious, so let’s break this down because […]

Rhode Island Cabinet History
History

The Coffee Cabinet of Rhode Island

Rhode Island seems to be a sleepy little state nestled amongst giants like New York and Massachusetts. One of the state’s quirks is the drink called the cabinet which to the rest of North America is called a milkshake or ice cream shake. The Coffee Cabinet (or coffee milk) is the states official drink. Why do they call them cabinets […]

Soda Jerks History in Atlanta
History, Soda

Beverage Business (1886)

These old newspaper articles about soda fountain provide a glimpse into the period and city they were written. This article comes from the Rocky Mountain News in Denver circa 1886. Reporters would just report on the happening of the local soda fountain and the new drinks being served. Cocaine, again, makes an entrance to a new city via the soda fountain, […]

Lunar Milkshake Phosphate
History, Soda

Talk with the Soda Men of Atlanta (1885)

This is a great article from the June 7th, 1885 Atlanta Constitution detailed the state of affairs at the local soda fountains. The reporter interviews a local soda proprietor and gets all the goods. One of the great things about this article is that it mentions Coca-Cola for the first time, though the reporter spells it “coco cola”. If you […]

History

Haymaker’s Punch (Switchel)

After a day of working in the hot sun, a cool, refreshing drink is usually in order. What happens when you discover you have no lemons or limes? Beer is always an option, but there are other choices. If you look back a few hundred years, one of the common refreshers was Switchel. If you go back even further you’ll […]

History

Trader Vic

While perusing old newspapers I came across an interesting article on Victor Bergeron aka “Trader Vic”, from 1957. I’m sure most of this information is covered in one of Jeff Berry’s books, but it is an interesting read on his rise to fame. Fantastic Trader Vic He’s a Hardbitten Sailor Who’s Never Been to Sea, but the Legend Has Earned […]

History

Cocktail Origin Part III

The origin of the word “cocktail” is one of those persistent little mysteries that many people would like to solve, but information doesn’t come easily. I’ve looked at this a couple of times, basically putting my spin on previous information. But today, I’ve come across some additional information that I haven’t found referenced elsewhere. The information is from 1788 and […]

History

Origin of the Word Cocktail

This topic has been debated a lot and nobody really knows where the word came from, but every once in a while somebody comes across an old newspaper article discussing this topic. Well, as I was researching through some archives of old newspapers, I came across a couple of articles discussing the origin of the word “cocktail”. I decided to […]

History

Hot Chocolate (1911)

December 12th seems to be National Cocoa day in the US. Why? I don’t know, but I’ll jump on this bandwagon because I came across an old and interesting recipe from an article in the Kansas City Star (December 1911) entitled “Hot Holiday Drinks to Serve”. This particular drink piqued my interest because it was titled “Cocoanut Milk Chocolate”. Coconut […]

Vintage Eggnog Recipe
History

Eggnog Recipes (1898)

’Tis the season to drink the egg and cream concoction called eggnog. And what better way to make a batch, because everyone should, than to look back at old newspaper articles and find a centuries-old recipe to sample from, like White House Eggnog and a British Hotpot which incorporates ale and gin. Now if eggnog isn’t your thing, there are […]

Cocktails, History

Wet Grave

An opportunity to present drink history to the bar community in New Orleans always inspires my creativity. With so many great bartenders and mixologists churning out great cocktails, my efforts are less public than they once were. I’ve eschewed the shotgun approach for the more refined sniper tactics. The Wet Grave is one of those bullseye cocktails that combines everything […]

History, Soda

They Thirst for Cocaine

The title of this post may sound like something out of a fictional tabloid you get at the grocery store checkout, but it comes from the Los Angeles Times (February 25, 1902 edition). I’ve posted the newspaper article because it is an excellent example of what soda fountains were really like at the turn of the 20th century. Plus it […]