Jazz Age Cocktails

""Roaring Twenties" America boasted famous firsts: women's right to vote under the Constitution's Nineteenth Amendment, jazz music, talking motion pictures, Charles Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean, Flapper fashions, and wondrous new devices like the safety razor and the electric vacuum cleaner. The decade opened, nonetheless, with a shock when Prohibition became the law of the land on Friday, January 16, 1920. American ingenuity promptly rose to its newest challenge. The law, riddled with loopholes, let the 1920s write a new chapter in the nation's saga of spirits. Men and women spoke knowingly of the speakeasy, the bootlegger, of rum-running, black ships, blind pigs, gin mills, and gallon stills. A new social event-the cocktail party staged in a private home-smashed the gender barrier that had long forbidden "ladies" from entering into the gentlemen-only barrooms and cafés. The drinks, savored in secret, were all the more delectable when the cocktail shaker went "underground." The danger of the illicit liquor trade was also memorialized in drinks like the "Original Gangster," the "St. Valentine's Day Massacre," the "Tommy Gun," and others. Crime rose, fortunes were amassed, and a slew of new cocktails were shaken, stirred, and poured in hideaways to brand the "roaring" 1920s as the era of "Alcohol and Al Capone.""--

Get out your cocktail shaker and re-live the speakeasy experience with this collection of authentic cocktails. Gatsby Cocktails features more than 20 classic cocktails inspired by the 1920s. Try re-creating the classic Sidecar, comprising brandy, lemon juice, and Cointreau. Or discover the secret to Jay Gatsby’s tipple of choice; the cooling Mint Julep. Perfect the classic martini or try a tempting Raspberry Rickey from the sparkling selection of recipes. With more than 20 classic recipes, this collection captures the iconic elegance of the Prohibition era.

A delightful romp through America’s Golden Age of Cocktails The decades following the American Civil War burst with invention—they saw the dawn of the telephone, the motor car, electric lights, the airplane—but no innovation was more welcome than the beverage heralded as the “cocktail.” The Gilded Age, as it came to be known, was the Golden Age of Cocktails, giving birth to the classic Manhattan and martini that can be ordered at any bar to this day. Scores of whiskey drinks, cooled with ice chips or cubes that chimed against the glass, proved doubly pleasing when mixed, shaken, or stirred with special flavorings, juices, and fruits. The dazzling new drinks flourished coast to coast at sporting events, luncheons, and balls, on ocean liners and yachts, in barrooms, summer resorts, hotels, railroad train club cars, and private homes. From New York to San Francisco, celebrity bartenders rose to fame, inventing drinks for exclusive universities and exotic locales. Bartenders poured their liquid secrets for dancing girls and such industry tycoons as the newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst and the railroad king “Commodore” Cornelius Vanderbilt. Cecelia Tichi offers a tour of the cocktail hours of the Gilded Age, in which industry, innovation, and progress all take a break to enjoy the signature beverage of the age. Gilded Age Cocktails reveals the fascinating history behind each drink as well as bartenders’ formerly secret recipes. Though the Gilded Age cocktail went “underground” during the Prohibition era, it launched the first of many generations whose palates thrilled to a panoply of artistically mixed drinks.

The Little Black Dress of cocktail books. From the archives of British Vogue, the classic cocktail book, for a new generation of discerning drinkers. Vogue Cocktails is a collection of recipes compiled by former British Vogue drinks aficionado and man-about-town, Henry McNulty. Taking inspiration from the cocktail culture of the 1930s, Vogue Cocktails contains 150 recipes organized by base spirit - Champagne, Gin, Vodka, Whisky, Rum and Brandies & Other Spirits - to ensure a drink for every palate. The book also contains essential information on stocking your bar and mixing drinks, with jazz-age-inspired illustrations by Graham Palfrey-Rogers throughout.

Winner of the 13th Annual Spirited Award, for Best New Book on Drinks Culture, History or Spirits A history of the Lost Generation in 1920s Paris told through the lens of the cocktails they loved In the Prohibition era, American cocktail enthusiasts flocked to the one place that would have them--Paris. In this sweeping look at the City of Light, cocktail historian Philip Greene follows the notable American ex-pats who made themselves at home in Parisian cafes and bars, from Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Gertrude Stein to Picasso, Coco Chanel, Cole Porter, and many more. A Drinkable Feast reveals the history of more than 50 cocktails: who was imbibing them, where they were made popular, and how to make them yourself from the original recipes of nearly a century ago. Filled with anecdotes and photos of the major players of the day, you'll feel as if you were there yourself, walking down the boulevards with the Lost Generation.

Shaken or stirred, on the rocks or straight up, every cocktail has a unique history. Bringing this rich lore to life, An Illustrated Guide to Cocktails showcases the often romantic origin of classic and modern mixed drinks and the fascinating characters who made them famous. From the crooked gangster who inspired the Jack Rose (a drink often served in Manhattan's gilded Astor mansion during the Jazz Age) to the legendary Margarita (associated with the Tijuana dancer now known by her stage name, Rita Hayworth), the spirited blend of alcohol and alchemy is showcased on each beautifully illustrated page. The drink recipes include favorite classics (such as Old Fashion, White Russian, Sidecar) alongside forgotten standards such as the Blood and Sand. With guides to various spirits, suggestions for stocking your home bar, and mixing tips and techniques, An Illustrated Guide to Cocktails brings the marvels of mixology to every home bartender.

The cocktail hour is back and today's home bartenders need a handy, up-to-date book just like this one--with instructions for mixing, shaking, blending, frothing, and stirring up more than 150 of the most requested drinks, including alcohol-free variations. 15 full-color illustrations.

An essential addition to the library of any cocktailians, entertainers, nostalgics, or those who just like to relax with a cold beverage, Shake 'Em Up delivers all the joy of a Jazz-Age cocktail party, without the fear of temperance officers knocking down your door. As the authors say: Shake ’Em Up is “for People Who Fling Parties, People Who Go to Parties . . . People Who Don’t Really Drink but Feel That a Cocktail or Two Enlivens Conversation—in short, for the American People,” and that’s as true today as it was upon the book’s original publication, “in the twelfth year of Volstead, 1930.” Virginia Elliott and Phil D. Stong created a handbook for polite—if not entirely legal—drinking during the height of Prohibition, but the advice remains sound, the voice charming, and the cocktails strong. Whether you’re looking for the proper way to mix a Brandy Punch, what you ought to serve alongside a Bijou Cocktail, or a dependable hangover cure, Shake ’Em Up has you covered. Need advice on how to catch up with your already-inebriated guests, or guidance on what to do when said guests end up a little too inebriated? Here, too, Shake ’Em Up will point you in the right direction. Looking for a step-by-step guide to making bathtub gin? Well, sadly, that page has been censored by the United States District Attorney for the Southern District of New York. An essential addition to the library of any cocktailians, entertainers, nostalgics, or those who just like to relax with a cold beverage, Shake ’Em Up delivers all the joy of a Jazz-Age cocktail party, without the fear of temperance officers knocking down your door.