1931 Old Waldorf Bar Days by Albert Stevens Crockett

PART VI Concer:n;n.ing the Curriculum

T HE VISITOR to a New York speakeasy, according to report, at least, may lack nothing in abundance or supply; but, according to old-timers, he is confronted by decided circumscription in variety. If one who knows were to breathe to those speakeasy dis'pensers of dread– ful, if not dreaded, drinks that mask under names that were once guarantees of superior content, and harmless, if potent, accelerators of appetite and good feeling– taken in moderation-;--;-some figure~ ?-Swell as facts about the quality and variety of alcoholic dispensation at the old Waldorf in its real prime, he...would probably be greeted by a scouting or scornful, "Aw, what are ya givin' me?" And if you were to tell almost anybody who hasn't the facts before him the number of kinds of fancy drinks those veteran Waldorf barmen knew how to con– coct, and did concoct, they would put you down as a liar and probably say it aloud. Well, certain of those bartenders knew how to make, and did make, two hun– dred and seventy-one different kinds of cocktails. They (IOI)