Debating the Cocktail Canon

[martin]

@Splificator

But then you run into boundary problems: once you’re roping in cultural stuff; convivial literature in general, where do you stop?

There’s no reason we have to stop. But to make things easier, I will simply start a separate list.

The literature and film of drinking culture

While we’ve been chewing on the daunting task of identifying a Cocktail Canon (perhaps more accurately described as a Mixology Canon), we realized that there was a lot of fiction, commentary, and perhaps even some histories (and movies) that are equally or more significant. We’re running a separate list here for the sake of manageability. Please contribute. P.G. Wodehouse, the Jeeves canon; numerous novels and stories (1915-1974) Hewson Peeke, Americana Ebrietatis (1917) Don Marquis, The Old …

@cocktaildoodle

At this point, for the sake of getting it done, I will bow out and leave this to the professionals-- there are plenty of them here much more learned on the subject than I. This task maybe shouldn’t be open to the public at all? I doubt the Vatican would open a public forum for the arduous task of whether or not to add or remove a book to/from the biblical canon of scripture. Like a patron sitting at the bar, I will stay out of the shaking and stirring.

Well… I protest. For one thing, the people who wrote all that cultural material might have been professional writers, but they were rarely barmen. Moreover, while I have spent a lot of time with my nose in recipe books, I am poorly read in this context, otherwise. (It simply happens that what I tend to read for pleasure has seldom intersected with drinking culture.) So, you, @cocktaildoodle, are at least as qualified as I on this matter.

[federicosardi]

I know this thread has been inactive for quite some time… I thought it could be nice to give it a little shake:

There is some evidence that tells us that Grassi was born in Montevideo, around 1890, remained here at least until 1908 and that he lived for some time in Argentina before moving to Lugano. I’m currently trying to find his birth certificate but due to the current situation with COVID-19 things take quite a bit longer than usual.

Several of the recipes that he includes in 1000 misture have something to do with either Uruguay or Argentina.

Some are related to regions: Catamarca (included in the “Richmond series”, probably from Confitería Richmond), Felkland (sic), Jujuy, Entre Ríos, River’s Plate (sic), Patagonia, Montevideo, Uruguay.

Some are related to emblematic bars and cafés in Montevideo and Buenos Aires; Tupí Nambá, two different Tortoni cocktails + a Tortoni ice cream recipe

Then there is the Zorilla de San Martín cocktail, a Uruguayan writer who appears until today in our $20 bills and the traditional San Martin…

There’s also the Hesperidina amour cocktail: Hesperidina (sort of a bitter orange liqueur/mild amaro) was the first trademark in Argentina’s history (1864) and was produced only in Buenos Aires, Montevideo and Rio de Janeiro.

He also credits many of his recipes to “San Romàn”. Francisco San Román and sons founded the Café Al Tupí Nambá in Montevideo in 1889. It is more than possible that the San Román he includes in his list of “respectable barmen” is either Francisco, his brother Severino or one of their sons. I contacted a couple of Francisco’s great grandsons and they told me they own a book that is supposed to pass from generation to generation… I might get some more precise info there. Another reason that leads me to believe that this are the right guys is that in the American San Romàn recipe he includes Bitter Puyastier, which was widely popular in Buenos Aires and Montevideo in that time. Broken bottles are currently appearing in several parts of the country and I found some import/export registries from 1870 that already include Bitter Puyastier. He might also have met Carlos Gardel and even Giaccomo Puccini in the Polo Bamba (previous café founded by the same guys) or the Tupí Nambá as Gardel used to go there and Puccini visited Montevideo in August 1905 and attended a performance of one of his operas in the Solís Theatre, located right across the street from where the Tupí Nambá was once located.

There are several other small hints, but still, no definitive answers…

[martin]

I’ve added three works to the list, and credit Dr. Nicola Nice @Jspector for drawing attention to them:

Randolph, Mary
The Virginia House-wife
Washington DC: Davis and Force
1824

Leslie, Eliza
Directions for Coookery, in its Various Branches
Philadelphia: E. L. Carey
1837

Herrick, Christine Terhune; Harland, Marion
Consolidated Library of Modern Cooking and Household Recipes Vol. V
New York: R. J. Bodmer Company
1907

There may be others, too, but these seemed like no-brainers.

[martin]

Added the OSC, because… duh.

[martin]

I added five essential soda fountain references, on consultation with @dsoneil .

[martin]

A version of this “canon” is now an exhibit at the Cocktail Kingdom Library web site.

An Annotated Bibliography, or “What is the Cocktail Canon?”

I’ve also got a related timeline presentation.

The ‘Cocktail Canon’ Timeline

Both are “living documents” like this thread, so I will endeavor to update them over time.

Moreover, the “American Fancy Drinks” article from the New York Sun (August 22, 1873) gets it’s own exhibit:

“American Fancy Drinks”: The Dawn of Drinks Writing