The library
Where drinks came from, told from the record. Where the record runs out and the stories begin, we say so.
The professional bar · 1830 to 1900
In 1862 a showman from Sackets Harbor published the first American book of drink recipes. Twenty years later a Prussian rival wrote the first manual on how to run a bar. Between them they made bartending a profession.
5 min read · 9 sources
The Sazerac's long road · 1834 to 2008
A pharmacist's bitters, a coffee house named for a cognac, a switch to rye, an absinthe ban and a local substitute: the Sazerac is the city's drink by law since 2008, and its story is half record and half legend.
6 min read · 10 sources
The vermouth age · 1860 to 1910
When Italian and French vermouth reached American bars in the decades after the Civil War, the cocktail changed shape. The Manhattan came first, the Martinez followed, and the Martini spent fifty years getting drier.
5 min read · 5 sources