1931 Old Waldorf Bar Days by Albert Stevens Crockett

Concerning the Curriculum upon their knowledge of drinks in the making, or else upon their piscatorial prowess when it came to absorb– ing the same. I put this question to a score or more, many of whom were reputed to "drink like a fish": "Leaving out plain Scotch, rye, gin, beer and simple alcoholic drinks of whatever sort, how many kinds of mixed drinks would you say there are?" In no case did the answer reach beyond fifty. And the highest enumeration of cocktails was twenty-five. That gave me a clue to the state of ignorance as to manners and conditions of an c;tge just a little more than a decad~ gone, which, considering that those men were supposed to be experts in - ~heir way, must be widespread. Such ig– norance is due fdr correction. And follow exhibits which multiply more than ten times the highest cocktail guesses of men supposed to know. As the vulgate has it, "Read 'em and weep!" Not for the drinks that have gone, perhaps, but in envy of those who could compass such stuff and ca'rry on, as the Eng– lish put it. That they carried on, in the American sense, is a matter of record. It is also a matter of record -that many of them have been carried on. Awl the stern moralist might consider what follows as their epitaphs. "Other times, other customs,'.~ runs the saw. And some would add that other, beginning, "De gustibus." After all, the verdict belongs to posterity. We are too near the casualty list to pronounce final judgment. The "facts" subjoined speak loud, and in reading, one may almost detect the odors of those other times and those other customs. But the taste--no !

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