1946 The Roving Bartender by Bill Kelly

THE ROVING BARTENDER

the original John was made from John de Kuyper Holland Gin. This is a good gin but I was never called upon to put it in a collins. There is a lot of controversy over the origin of the name cocktail as applied to a drink and I am convinced that it originated with the dash of bitters. Anyway when I started bartending a long,time ago,old timers that had been in the business over forty years then, said that an old fashioned toddy with a dash of bitters in it made it an old fashioned cocktail and that was all the difference,and then the Bronx cocktail came out and they claimed it wasn't entitled to the name cocktail because it didn't have bitters in it. These same old-timers at that time said that a so-called punch wasn't a punch unless it had lemon or lime juice in it, but there was then and still is today the milk punch and the Picon punch both without any citrus juice. In mixing drinks that call for absinthe you will find that there are several good substitutes,some of them made in the U.S.and all having the qualities of absinthe without the wormwood which was outlawed because it was nar cotic. In making drinks with the substitute, the drinks should be very cold and the glasses frosted. These drinks were mostly morning drinks and used for bracers. A very popular old time drink that is rarely seen now and very seldom made right is the whiskey punch and it was one of the drinks the bartender made a specialty of. Take a punch goblet (7 ozs.) a cube of ice, pour in the drink of whiskey, decorate with the different fruits you have on hand and while the customer is getting thirsty take a mixing glass (no ice) put in an oz. of lemon juice, one spoon of sugar and a couple ounces of charged water, stir this thoroughly and pour into punch glass. Then stir

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