Foreword: In the years before National Prohibition a handful of American bartenders had a distinct impact on the liquor trade and the drinking habits of the drinking public. Among them, three stand out: one for inventing, or at least perfecting, a Southern whiskey tipple; two others for codifying the ingredients for favorite cocktails and offering “codes of conduct” for those making and serving drinks over the bar. Brief stories on each man follow.
Born a slave about 1808, Jim Cook was allowed by his owner to be hired out, although the practice was forbidden by Virginia law. Cook went to Richmond and became a bartender at the Ballard House Hotel, shown here. Before long the enterprising black man was carving out a high profile career for his ability to craft mint juleps.
His reputation spread across America and even overseas when Edward, Prince of Wales, the playboy son of Queen Victoria who later became King Edward VII, visited Richmond. As one reporter noted: “Having heard that Richmond boasts the best compounder of cooling drinks in the world, the prince undertook to try one.” Cook provided a tasty julep piled high with ice. Edward was so impressed with the drink that he ordered two more before leaving town the next morning. Followed by American and British reporters wherever he went, the prince’s favor made Jim Cook famous. It is said that the only thing his royal highness later recalled of Richmond was Cook’s julep.
Now a kind of local celebrity, Cook was reported by Richmond newspapers as having left town during the Civil War and making a living by giving anti-Confederate speeches in Washington, D.C. When the war ended and Union troops entered Richmond Cook soon was back in the city, a freed man, presiding over the bar at the Franklin House Hotel and mixing up mint juleps. Some Richmond residents resented his support of the Union. Cook was arrested and accused of stealing money from the Franklin House. Only upon receiving good character references from the proprietor was the black bartender released from jail. Cook promptly left Richmond.
At that point Jim Cook faded into the mists of time. He may have settled in Burkeville, Virginia, about 55 miles southwest of Richmond. A New York Times reporter writing about traveling in the South by rail got off a train at that small town and found that a saloon at the depot, run by “a gentleman of color who rejoices in the name of Jim Cook.” The newsman wrote that the proprietor had a well-patronized establishment and a card behind the bar that read ”The celebrated new drink by JIM COOK.” The trail ended there.
From an inauspicious beginning in San Francisco, German immigrant Harry Johnson became one of the best known bartenders in America, operating drinking establishments across America while dispensing wisdom on bar-keeping and supplying dozens of drink recipes. Johnson published one of America’s first bartender’s manuals, gaining recognition as “The Father of American Bartending.” A unique aspect of Johnson’s manuals was the drawings of cocktails and other libations, some reproduced here.
Restless and wanting to see more of America in 1868 Johnson cashed out of San Francisco and headed east for Chicago. There he opened a saloon of his own, one he later claimed was “generally recognized as the finest establishment of the kind in this country.” Modesty was not a strong trait in Harry. Something of a celebrity in Chicago, Johnson gave lectures, wrote articles and published drink recipes in local newspapers.
As his reputation grew Johnson was invited to participate in a national bartending competition in New Orleans. The judges asked him to make a dozen whiskey cocktails all at one time. The German immigrant is said to have placed 12 glasses in two rows of six each and then built a pyramid, apparently similar to one shown here. “He mixed up the cocktails and strained them using a pair of large glasses without spilling a drop.” That agility won him first prize, $1,000 in gold coins and a silver tumbler and spoon. Johnson subsequently crowned himself “Champion Bartender of the United States.”
Throughout this period Johnson was writing. His “New and Improved Bartender's Manual, or How to Mix Drinks in the Present Style” was published in 1882. The manual provided hundreds of cocktail recipes. Johnson has been credited for the first martini recipe. In earlier editions he called it a “Martine” and included a drawing of it both “on the rocks” and “up.” Throughout the rest of his life he continued to run saloons and update his drink manuals. He died in New York City in 1933 about the age of 88.
Johnson’s rival for bartending recognition was William T. Boothby, a flamboyant San Francisco politician, saloonkeeper, and author of his own set of “drink books.” By 1891 Boothby was tending bar at the swanky San Rafael Hotel in the nearby town of the same name. Self-described as the “Presiding Deity” of the Rafael barroom, he decided, wisely as it turned out, to publish a drink recipe book aiming it at “all students of mixology.” Calling himself “Cocktail Boothby” and the “Standard Authority,” he advertised with the line: “Bar-Keepers – You're Not In It If You Don't Read Cocktail Boothby's 'American Bartender’”. An early edition is shown here.
In truth, at this time Boothby did not have a significant amount of bartending experience or know many drink recipes so he included other material. His cocktails ranged from an “Absinthe Bracer” using the green liqueur and a raw egg, to the “Zsa Zsa Cocktail,” concocted of Dubonnet sweet wine, dry sherry and orange bitters. Boothby’s first manual also contained advice on how to rescue punky beer and methods for artificially aging liquor, using, believe it or not, pickled cucumbers and Seville oranges. That 1903 publication was followed by other editions, each longer than the one before.
Boothby continued as Frisco’s premier bartender until National Prohibition shut down all production and sales of alcohol. Even then he found it hard to stop, continuing to serve drinks “under the counter” at the Orpheum Theatre Annex to his old customers. He was arrested there in 1922 for violating the Volstead Act and paid a fine. Members of his loyal following stepped in to find him jobs, including one as a steward at the St. Francis Hotel.
In his mid-60s Boothby was diagnosed with cancer and died of the disease in August 1930, at the age of 68. His funeral was thronged with mourners, including an estimated 100 bartenders from across America, many of them grateful for mentions in his books. Although Boothby did not live to see Repeal, his drink manuals survived and provide the foundation for the hundreds that have followed.
Note: Longer articles on each of these bartender “whiskey men” may be found elsewhere on this website: Jim Cook, June 30, 2020; Harry Johnson, November 21, 2020; William Boothby, January 1, 2020.
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