1946 The Stock Club Bar Book by Lucius Beebe

tion of the firm which uses it. In the realm of commercial Cognacs the names Hennessy, Hines, Denis Monnier and a few others are more to he trusted than many stars and all the initials which cus– tomarily follow the names of British admirals. The entire matter of after dinner liqueurs resolves itself into one of personal taste and preference and neither advice nor instructions in their use seem altogether valid. The sweet, highly aromatic cordial, generaliy speaking, is a survival of a more florid -and rococo age of drinking and manners, and their use in the United States at the moment is almost entirely confined to infusion in mixed drinks, but it doesn't take any graybeard to recall a period when they were held in high and universal esteem and their service in elaborate profusion was a hallmark of gentility and sophistication. The trans-Atlantic liners of t)Venty-five years ago were probably the last great stronghold of the liqueur. At the same time no dinner in London or Paris was complete without the appearance of an almost overwhelming variety of sweet cordials with flavors deriving from every known flower and herb and a few unheard of by anyone: Benedictine, Chartreuse, Cointreau, Kiimmel, Cura<1ao, Triple Sec, Creme de Cacao, Creme de Cassis, Maraschino, Prunella, Peach Brandy, Grand Marnier, Danziger Goldwasser, Flora Delle Alpi, Kirsch, Drambuie, Anise and Swedish Punch. They came in every variety of bottle, tall, squat and flattened, globular, square, octag– onal, fluted, beribboned, chaste and plain, austere and fanciful. Today the run of liqueurs has subsided almost to the vanishing point although a green or white mint frappe or glass of Coi~t eau is occasionally seen. Nine Americans out of ten who do not order a highball after dinner call for Cognac, American brandy, Armagnac or one of the related eaux de vie of the family of grape spirits. It is with the greatest infrequency, nowadays, that private drink-

95: Night