1883 The Bar-Tenders' Guide or How to Mix all kinds of Plain and Fancy Drinks (1976 edition)

PREFACE. Bank of Boglana, a small drinking saloon that had been set up "hy « peripatotio ^erican, at the door of wliich was placed a board covered with the unique titlea of the Araorican mised driaks supposed tobe pra. paredwithin that llmited estabUshment. The "Connecticut eye-opon- ers" and "Alabama fog-cuttera," togethor-Rnth the "lightmng-smashos" and fte "thimderbolt-cocktaUs," creatod a piofound sensation in the oro\7d assorabled to peruse the Noctarian biU of fare, if they did not produco ciisfcom. It struek us, then, that a list of aU the social drinka —the composite beverages, if we may call thern so—of America, would reaUy be one of the curiosities ofjovial literaturo ; and that if it waa combmecT with a catalogue of the mixtures common to other nations, and made practically useful by the addition of a concise description of the various processes for "browing" each, it would be a "blessing to mankmd. There vrould be no excuse for imbibing, with such a book at •hand, the "vUlainous compounds" of bar-keepîng Gotha and Yandals, who know nomore of the amonitios of bon vivant existence t.bnTi a Hot- tentot can know of the bouqv^t of Champagne. ' There's philosophy," says Pather Tom in the driina, " evcn in a jug ofpunch." "We daim the crédit of "philosophy toaching by exaraple," then, to no ordînary estentin the composition of this volume ; for our index exlùbits the title of eighty-sLx diOarent kinda ofpunches, togcther with a umverse of cobblers, juleps, bitters, cups, slings, shrnbs, &c.. each and ail of whioh the reader is carefuUy cducated how to conccct in the choicest manner. For the perfection ofthis éducation, the name, alono, of Jerry Thomas is a sufBcient guarantec. He has traveUod Europe and America in search of all that is rccondito in this branch ofthe spirit art. He has boen the Jupiter Olympus of the bar at tho Motropolitan Hotel m tWs city. Ho was the presiding deity at the Planter's Houso, St. loms. Hehasbeen the propriotor of one of the most réchercké saloona in New Orléans as well as in New York. His very name issynonymoua in the lexicon of mixed drinks, with all that is rare and original. To tho ""Wme Press," edited by P. S. Cozzena, Ssq., we are indobtod for the composition of soveral vftluable punches, and among them we may p^icularize the celebrated "Nuremburgh," and the equaUy famous PMadeîpMa Fish House" punch. The rest we owe to the inspiration of Thoyn^ himself, and as he is as inexorable as the Medes and Porsians in his prlnciplo that no excellent drink can be made ont of any thing butexcellent materia^s, we conceive that wearesafe inassert- mg thatwhatever may be prepared aftor his instructions will bo able to speak eloquently for itself "Good wme needs no bush," Shakespear# tella us and over one of Jerry'a mixtures eulogy isquite asredundank