PROFESSOR JERRY THOMAS

The Father of the By Dale DeGroff

n City on March 3rd 2003, The Plaza glass is moistened with lemon juice and coated with a fine Hotel’s historical Oak Room was the scene of a trib- frost of sugar and then a long wide swath of lemon peel is I ute to the creator of the modern bartending profes- tucked into the mouth of the glass. As the drink is sipped, sion, Jerry Thomas. This extraordinary showman and the liquid flows over the lemon peel. entrepreneur authored what is widely considered to be Sasha Petraske, the owner of Milk & Honey Bar the first modern cocktail book, How to Mix Drinks or here in as well as a partner in the The Bon Vivants Companion. Slow Food New York London M & H, prepared the Gin Daisy. This drink City, along with David Wondrich, Esquire columnist and refers to a combination of a spirit with a couple sweet- author of Esquire Drinks, produced this sterling tribute to eners, usually curacao and simple syrup, then topped Thomas’s drinks. The evening was also sponsored in part with sparkling water. by Schieffelin & Somerset. There were eight bartenders Robert Hess, who created the authoritative and on hand presenting drinks from the 1862 first edition of popular cocktail site DrinkBoy.com prepared a Thomas’s book. Japanese Cocktail, one of only thirteen drinks that appeared in the cocktail and Crusta category in The Drinks T h o m a s ’s first edition. He mixed two David Wondrich made the long forgot- ounces of Hennessy Cognac and a table- ten Arrack Punch, which, according to spoon of orgeat syrup (almond flavored) David, was old-fashioned when Thomas and lemon peel, stirred them together and printed it in his book. The drink is based chilled. on a powerful spirit called Batavian George Papadakis, the head bartender Arrack, a distillate of molasses and red at The Plaza, added a classic to the evening rice that weighs in at 116º…Yikes. The with the Manhattan. George made his ver- Arrack is combined with a heavy dark sion with Wild Turkey Rye, Martini & rum, Coruba, from Jamaica, fresh lime Rossi sweet vermouth, bitters and a couple juice, simple syrup and filtered water. dashes of Grand Marnier. I was tossing flaming Talisker Scotch Gary Regan, prepared the M a rt i n e z and water back and forth between two sil- C o c k t a i l. The recipe calls for Red ver lined mugs to make the Blue Blazer. Vermouth, Tanqueray 10 and maraschino The idea is to create a Hot Toddy-like l i q u e u r. Angostura bitters, of course, was drink with some drama and showmanship. The drink is a included but Gary decided to defer to modern tastes by bit difficult to execute for many reasons, but the most adding gin. important trick to a successful Blazer is heating both the Audrey Saunders, the talented beverage manager at water and the Scotch to almost the boiling point. Mix the the Carlyle Hotel, rounded out the evening nicely with a two in equal amounts, light the drink and begin the show. steaming Tom & Jerry. Thomas probably didn’t invent The second trick to the drink is finding the proper mugs this drink after all, but it has been paired with his name to pull off the effect with a minimum of bodily harm. I so often and he was so famous for his presentation of it finally located the perfect mugs in the antique stalls in that ownership is not an issue. Audrey’s version was the back streets of Islington, London. After pouring the spicy, rich, and completely scrumptious. flaming liquid back and forth about four times, transfer There was genuine passion for the American mixed the hot liquid to appropriate glasses. Add a whisper of drink called the cocktail at the Thomas event. I am more sugar to take away the burn and a lemon zest twisted and more delighted to see the excitement that anything over the drink. concerning the cocktail creates, not just in the small Ted “Dr. Cocktail” Haigh made one of my favorites in group of practitioners, but also in the general public. the book, the Brandy Crus t a . It’s a combination of Cognac, As a leading authority and popular personality in the beverage curacao, lemon juice and a dash of Boker’s bitters. Since world, Master Mixologist Dale DeGroff appears regularly in the Bo k e r ’s Bitters didn’t make it to the other side of press and on television. He is the author of “The Craft of the Cocktail” (Clarkson Potter).He offers "bartender boot camps" at Prohibition, Ted had to take out his chemistry set and, using bars in Manhattan and lectures throughout the U.S. and Europe . a 19th century recipe, recreate the essence. The drink has a DeGroff is also the spokesperson for the Distilled Spirits Council in dramatic garnish that also adds lots of flavor; the rim of the the .(more info at:www. Kingcocktail.com)