New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-12-03
Drinks That No
One Asks For
BY Harold NJ. Harvey

nave the word Of white-haired Jim for it. and
Jim has poured more liquor than any man IN
New York in the forty years he has stood b.
hind the mahogany counter, with its inevitable
brass footrail. Jim can tell you in just VIVA,
year a certain drink first crossed the bar; he
can describe the genial Southern colonel or
the beautiful toast Of Broadway for whom |,
was named; and, II he knows you we'll he MAJ
whisper the name Of the doughty Senator Of
the late 7o's who would stamp into the bar Of
IN. old Fifth Avenue Hotel on q stormy win.
ter's night and linger over the beverage until
he had to be lighted TO bed.
"Sure, / don't know what's become Of lot
O. the old drinks" Jim told me the other night
as he shooed the sleepy Maltese of the end Of
his Third Avenue bar. They didn't used 70
20 In much for fancy drinks when frs,
started In tho business. It was mostly whisky,
straight. They didn't drink highbslls then
Some Scotch there was, but we had only one
or two brands that were popular. To-day
there is a new brand every month and bar.
keep don't know how to keep up with u.
taste"
Jim smiled as he looked back over the years.
"It's thirty years since left the hotels, bu.
now that we're talking about It, remember
the old drinks as If it were yesterday. In The
summer, when the Southerners came TO town,
there wasn't much sold but mint juleps. Nov
it's hard to find a real iulep this side Of Viz.
GINA. Then there were brandy smashes--
made with just dash O. mint And gold and
silver fixes. Lord remember one summer
hotel where the demand was so great for them
that we would have to mix up seven or eigh,
quarts the first thing in the morning so we
could satisfy the customers. Otherwise We
would have been swamped. But people don't
drink them very much any more.
There were cocktails in those days, Of
course" Jim shook his head reminiscently
But they weren't the fancy things people drink
these days. Mostly, we put little sugar and
bitters in glass and let the customer pour out
his own whiskey. The Manhattan we knew
but the Martini is only about eighteen or
twenty years old at the most"
"How about the Bronx" asked.
Jim shifted in scorn. why, the Bronx amt
only about eight or ten years on the bars he
scoffed. eve never used orange bitters. Il
was always Angostura. We made real drinks.
"Then there was the Horses Neck. They
still drink that now, but it's long time since
/ heard Of the Horses Tail and the Horses
Collar. They were lot O. trouble TO make, be.
cause you had to peel your lemon as if it were
an apple and hang it in your glass just so, and
pack the spirsls with ice. The Horses Neck
was ginger ale, the Horses Tail was sarss.
parilla with dash O. sugar, and the Horses
Collar was layer O. whiskey on top Of .
Horses Neck.
Then there were a lot O. foolish drinks
named after women well known on Broadway.
guess you don't remember the Mamie Taylor.
There was time when lot O. them were sold
1t started a rage for show girl drinks and
every pretty girl in town had her name tied 10
one Of EN- But they didn't last any longer
than the girls popularity"
Jim laughed. "Do you know" he said Il
understand they're making lot O. drinks out
O. pineapple juice these days. That is, Broad.
way is. Broadway makes all the changes in
drinks. What Fifth Avenue Is TO clothes
Broadway is to drinks. And it's funny thing,
too, that it's only Broadway that drinks the
fancy mixtures. Over here on Third Avenue
everything is mostly straight, just as it was in
the old days at the Fifth Avenue. They don't
go in much for the new-fangled sweet mixtures
that look like diamond dyes"
Jim paused. The cat had crept back On
~ L.. L. Il 4. r.. rsy