The Funnies - The Prohibition Machine (1920)

Life Magazine, January 1920

"It's the upkeep of the darn machine that worries me."

The Funnies - The Up-to-date Investigators (1922)

The Up-to-date Investigators

"What are you looking for, boys?"

"Someone said there was a blind pig in the cellar."

Life Magazine, 1922

The Funnies - That Second Cocktail (1919)

That Second Cocktail

April 1919, Life Magazine

The Funnies - Slander (1922)

"I understand you were cold sober at the Smithons' party last Saturday."

"Damn it all - that's a dirty slander."

Life Magazine, 1922

The Funnies Prohibition Special: The Catch of the Season (1920)

"She seems to have a great many admirers."

"My dear Ethel, she's the catch of the season. Her father left her the best-stocked cellar in this country."

The Judge Magazine, July 1920

In honor of the second day of the House of Representative's ratification of Prohibition.

Everything New is Old Again: The Moscow Mule

Ah hipster, un-originality is thy name. The latest blast from the past to grace the drink menus of every bar and restaurant I've visited in the last three months is the Moscow Mule. Sure, it gets twisted and "reinvented' with rum or whiskey or artisan, hand-crafted tiddlywink juice from South Jub-Jub, but we all know under the frill and garnishes it's the same drink dressed up in funny clothing.

The first Moscow Mule was concocted in 1941 and served in the Cock and Bull Restaurant in LA. It's origin is most likely as described in a 2007 Wall Street Journal interview with Cock and Bull bartender Wes Price, "I just wanted to clean out the basement, I was trying to clear out dead stock..." Necessity, mother of invention and cocktails! As for the copper mugs, well signs point to John G. Martin who traveled the US promoting Smirnoff vodka and the Moscow Mule with specialty copper mugs. Since then the vessel has become the traditional container for the mule.

The ad to the left is from a May 1950 issue of Life Magazine and falls neatly into Martin's promotional tour. I'm assuming the "Gold Coast" mentioned in the ad copy references California and not Guinea Africa, but advertising never has had much to do with truth. The recipe very specially points you to Smirnoff and the Cock and Bull's house brand of Ginger Beer, though no copper mugs are specified (though Mr. Mule is holding one).

So, next time you're settling down in your retro pop-up commando food crafting hot spot and you pick up the bed pan ironically turned menu and see a handcrafted Haitian Mule...remember, you're not a special snowflake after all.

The Funnies - Momentary Quandary (1922)

A Momentary Qualm

Life Magazine, 1922

The Funnies - Cured with One Bottle (1894)

Cured With One Bottle

The Funnies - An Out-Late View (1894)

Brown - "That's my new house, sure, but (hic) I didn't notices it was so awfully crooked (hic). It's not safe."

Judge's Library, January 1894

Malt and Barley

Few know Thurston J. Howell was a tennis star before the SS Minnow incident. Yes, he'd play a set or two at the club in the afternoon and then the servants would serve up the beverage that connected him with his homies back in the hood - malt liquor. One for the homies, Lovie, one for the homies...

100 Years Ago - Beer, Bread, and Prohibition

The Price of a Pint
"As far as I can make out from the papers, Bert, the breweries seem to 'ave been
'ard 'it by this blinkin' war."

In 1916, while World War I was churning the fields of Flanders into blood-soaked poppy fields, the beer-soaked pubs of England were under siege by the British parliament. In a rationing move then Prime Minister, Lloyd George, implemented the Output of Beer Act of 1916 which cut England's production of beer and raised the per-barrel duty on brewers. Since then, various people have tried to link this action with a hidden prohibition agenda, however no conclusive evidence has ever emerged. In 1916 there may have been grumblings about the rationing of beer and higher prices, but in 1919 these would erupt into civil unrest which eventually undid the Output Act.

In 1917, though, the cartoonist Captain Bruce Bairnsfather, who'd served with a machine gun regiment in France and had been mustered out of the service after suffering shell shock and hearing loss during the Second Battle of Ypres, obviously didn't feel the pains of the people. His feature character "Old Bill" puts the gripes of the brewers in prospective.

Part of me has to wonder if Samwise Gamgee's pony, Old Bill, wasn't actually a bit of J. R. R. Tolkien tipping his hat to Captain Bairnsfather since they'd both served in the trenches during the Great War.

Thirsty Thursday - A Drink for Dear Old General Washington

Benjamin Franklin once said, "By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail". The sage was onto something, a bit of wisdom that applies equally to the boardroom and the barroom. If you really want to make a standout cocktail, the ingredients you use must be carefully considered, of the best quality, and painstakingly prepared. Today's Thirsty Thursday segment will give you a chance to prepare something your friends have probably never heard of and celebrate the birthday of one of Mr. Franklin's cohorts, General George Washington.

In September of 1784, after vanquishing the British and winning independence for the colonies, Washington and his nephew crossed the Allegheny Mountains in the process of planning and surveying the best route for a new road. In preparation Washington was said to have packed a canteen of Madeira, port, and Cherry Bounce for the trip. Preparing to succeed indeed!

Cherry Bounce is a spiced fruit cordial that requires a couple of weeks of preparation, so if you want to celebrate the first president's birthday in style get cracking! Here's the recipe (according to Epicurious):

10 - 11lbs fresh sour cherries or 1lb 9oz of preserved cherries (preferably Morello)

4C brandy

3C sugar (more if you want a sweeter cordial)

2 cinnamon sticks broken into pieces

2-3 whole cloves

1 (1/4in) piece of fresh, whole nutmeg

1. Pit  and half the cherries and put them in a large bowl. Using a potato masher to slightly crush the fruit, extracting as much juice as possible. Strain through a large, fine-mesh strainer, using a spoon to press the fruit and extract all the juice (you should end up with about 8 cups). Put the mashed cherries in the freezer or refrigerator for later use. If you're using preserved cherries, drain the fruit and set the juice aside before halving and mashing the cherries. Add any pressed juice to the reserved jarred juice. 
2. In a lidded 1-gallon glass jar, combine the juice with the brandy and sugar and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Put the lid on the jar and put it in the refrigerator for 24 hours (stir or shake occasionally). 
3. Bring 2 cups of the cherry juice to a simmer over medium heat. Here's where you'll guage the sweetness of your cordial. Give the juice a taste and add more sugar, if desired. Drop the cinnamon sticks, cloves, and nutmeg into the pot and stir. Cover and let simmer for about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, and set aside to cool to room temperature. Strain, and discard the spices. 
4. Return the spiced juice to the 1-gallon glass jar. Cover loosely with the lid, and let set in the fridge for at least 2 weeks, occasionally shaking the jar. 
5. Cherry Bounce should be served at room temperature in small cordial or wine glasses. Store the remainder in the refrigerator. 

Nice and sweet, but if you want to spike the celebration with a little irony, you can use your Cherry Bounce to make a cocktail known as a Communist:

2 parts Orange Juice

2 parts Gin

1 part Cherry Bounce

Juice of 1/2 Lemon

Combine all the above with ice in a cocktail shaker, give it a good rattling, and pour into a martini glass.

The history of this little lost gem? Hard to say, it appears in the 1933 Canapé Parade booklet Cocktail Parade. Canapé Parade published a series of recipe booklets during the early 1930's, giving the home cook ideas for everything from cheese boards to pate. The cocktail edition is a list of period drinks coupled with strange, delirium tremens inspired illustrations that make you wonder if you've somehow become inebriated just by touching the pages. It's an interesting peruse for anyone whose interested in period food and drink, definitely worth a look. 

The Funnies - An Old Wheeze Reapplied (1920)

An Old Wheeze Reapplied

"Mayor, do you think folks will live longer under prohibition?"

"Damme, no! But it will seem longer."

Life Magazine, January 1, 1920

The Funnies - Thinking of Beer (1920)

"Officer arrest that man! He seems to be thinking of beer."

Life Magazine, January 1, 1920

Christmas List - Four Roses

Nothing like a good shindig at holiday time and this looks like the real deal. Silver, candles, pecans, and eggnog from a whopping punch bowl. Not exactly sure why Mr. Ritzy is dishing up a fresh cup when there are no less than 11 filled and waiting, but oh well. You do have to admire his spiffy dress - cravat, white carnation, just the right amount of sleeve peeking from under that tailored suit jacket. Yes, just the sort of party I'd like to crash.

Christmas List - Guinness

I've never heard a beer referred to as "racy". A book, yes. A movie, definitely. But not a beer. Apparently raciness isn't a quality we seek in our alcoholic refreshments any more. It apparently meant something different to the '30's consumer. I am a fan of the idea that the perfect post workout recovery drink is a stout. Then again it looks like being willing to help the misses with a mountain of packages instead of making her schlep them up the stairs alone qualifies as a workout to the '30's mind. I'm also surprised that the ad agency left chicken off the list of meals Guinness isn't a fitting accompaniment for - you've got steak, you've got lobster, you've got oysters, and then...cheese dishes? At least it makes a good nightcap if you accidentally had chicken for dinner.

The Funnies - None of the Vices (1919)

"Your wife doesn't smoke, eh? None of the vices?"

"No, she only drinks and swears."

April 1919, Life Magazine

Thirsty Thursday - Cascade Pure Whisky (1917)

In 1818 George Dickel immigrated from Germany, eventually finding himself in Nashville Tennessee where, by 1860, he opened a whiskey wholesaling company. Dickel bought barrels of whiskey from local producers, bottled it, and sold it on to the public.

The Cascade Hollow region of Tennessee had been a noted site for the production of whiskey since the 1870's and it's from this region that Cascade Pure Whisky draws its name. The "Mellow as Moonlight" tagline comes from the purported practice of cooling mash at night.

Personally, I just liked the panther image used in the ad. I've heard stories of the days when panthers roamed the Kentucky hills and probably the woodlands of southern Indiana. A different time, I guess.

Thirsty Thursday - The Poet's Dream

The internet is like the Ouroboros, feeding on itself a constant cycle of repetition where blogs pick up information from blogs and Wikipedia passes as thorough research. Take today's cocktail for example, The Poet's Dream.

If you surf the blogosphere you'll find assertions that the Poet's Dream came from either an 30's English bar guide or the 1935 Old Waldorf Astoria Bar Book. While that's all well and good and it may have appeared in the Astoria book, but it also appeared in Jauques Straub's 1913 Straub's Manual of Mixed Drinks. 

According to a 1910 issue of the Oakland Tribune Jaques Straub was a wine steward at the Blackstone Hotel in Chicago. He hailed from Switzerland and never drank, he simply knew his stuff, understood the way flavors interplay, and made the most of his skills even writing the cocktail manual Straub's Manual of Mixed Drinks. He worked at the Blackstone until prohibition did in the wine business.

Anyway, I guess the point is it's hard to know exactly where these cocktails come from. You hit on a recipe book, think you've got the source, and then a month later you find a book containing the same recipe that's a decade older. In the end, do you research, identify three agreeing sources, and you're good.

Thirsty Thursday - The Coronation

On August 9, 1902 the coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra as king and queen of the United Kingdom finally took place. Edward was 59 and never had been the model of health and vitality. He smoked upwards of twenty cigarettes and a dozen cigars a day and indulged in overeating, so it probably isn't surprising that he fell ill just before his coronation. Three days before he was to be crowned, surgery was performed on a table in the music room at Buckingham Palace. The festivities which had been scheduled for June, were moved back to August. As a result prospective guests filed who lost money on hotel rooms filed a raft of “coronation suits” and most of the foreign dignitaries who’d come to London for the ceremony returned home and missed the crowning. In the end the 59 year old monarch would be crowned by an archbishop who’d be dead in less than a year and he would join the him in eight more. Still the crowning of a new monarch, no matter how short lived, was cause for celebration and commemoration and in the case of Edward, a namesake cocktail.

Joseph Rose, creator of the Coronation from Mixer and Server No. XII, January 15, 1903

Joseph Rose was a Newark bartender, a young man working the counter at Murray's Buffet Cafe  a forgotten but once popular watering hole for local businessmen. Possibly inspired by the ascension of old King Edward he introduced a new libation: the Coronation. And exactly how did young Rose make his Coronation? Well, it's tough to say, or at least there aren't any period cocktail books laying out the recipe. The best I could come up with was a 1913 copy of Straub's Manual of Mixed Drinks, I guess that'll have to do.

The Coronation

1/3 Jigger French Vermouth

1/3 Jigger Dry Gin

1/3 Jigger Dubonnet

Mix and serve.