1935 Old Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book

18

OLD WALDORF-ASTORIA BAR BOOK

hot coffee, as soon as it is made. Just where cocktails leave off and other mixed drinks begin it is difficult to determine. Some authorities would make cocktails all mixed drinks which have to be shaken~ and cause dissensions. In reproducing the Old Waldorf Bar Book, I have followed in the main the classification of cocktails therein made. Many other mixed drinks fall into groups-determined, as a rule, by one or more of the ingredients used, or the method of making. Others can not be classified, and so are just listed alphabetically. Before closing this dissertation on the products of the American School of Drinking, one must say frankly that so far as chemistry and logic are concerned, it would seem that either has had little to do with the formulas of most cocktails. The American School of Drinking, as it existed in other days, was never that of France; and so far as anybody has revealed, the rules of chemistry were never considered in arriving at formulas, nor was any dietitian consulted. Most American alcoholic concoctions exhibit little regard for chemistry, either in theory or application. In France, as Julian Street intimates in his "Wines," re– cently published, the art of drinking has, in a sense, been guided partly by the laws of chemical reactions. Genera– tions of experts have determined which wines go best with certain foods; which aid the appetite or digestion. Modera– tion has usually been the keynote. .. Americans, as a rule, drink partly for the taste, mostly for the effect. Those who prefer the effect to the taste like to get the same quickly. The cocktail, taken according to general practice, is not sipped as is wine. If it is not gulped, it is usually finished in three swallows, or at most four. Few of us on this side of the Atlantic, when we face