Mixing It Up

Mixing It Up Celebrating the History of a Great American Tradition 7:30 p.m., November 9, 2012

In Honor of the New Season The Whitehall Society Invites You to its Annual Cocktail Reception

Mixing It Up

Celebrating the History of a Great American Tradition Flagler Museum November 9, 2012, 7:30 p.m.

ef Tickets - $40 per-person for Museum Members and $50 per person for non-members Hors d’oeuvres and three tickets good for any of the six featured cocktails included Additional drink tickets may be purchased for $10 each during the reception Tickets for the reception may be purchased using the enclosed response card or at www.flaglermuseum.us/whitehallsociety Please bring this booklet to the reception Valet Parking

A Brief History of Cocktails Cocktails and cocktail parties are traditions established first in America, perhaps because spirits were readily available throughout the American Colonies, as were all the other components of what would become known as cocktails: sugar, clean water, and barks, roots, and herbs used to infuse alcohol, producing bitters of all kinds. The term cocktail most likely was derived from the nineteenth century slang term for a horse of mixed breed, which was then applied to the new class of drinks of mixed ingredients. Early cocktails were either served at room temperature or, in many cases, hot. But, by the late nineteenth century cocktails served with ice had almost entirely displaced the earlier versions.

The first bartender’s guide to mixing cocktails was published in 1862, written by Jerry Thomas, who is considered the “Father of Mixology” and nicknamed the “Professor.” Thomas worked as a bartender in California during the Gold Rush, later in New Orleans, and finally in New York, where he opened a saloon below P.T. Barnum’s American Museum.

“The “Professor” continued to develop new drink recipes until his death in 1885.

Not surprisingly, about the time Mark Twain coined the term “Gilded Age,” in 1873, America was entering the “Golden Age” of cocktails. Most of the cocktails now considered “classic” were either created or perfected during America’s Gilded Age. By the end of the nineteenth century cocktail bars had become big business and a large assortment of glassware had been created specifically for the impressive variety of cocktails concocted during the previous four decades. However, surprising as it might seem, while serving cocktails in bars and restaurants was very popular during the late nineteenth century, the first formal cocktail party in history was hosted less than 100 years ago.

This year’s selection of cocktails from the Gilded Age are all related in some way either to Henry Flagler’s amazing yacht, Alicia, which is featured in the Fall Exhibition on the history of yacht racing, or to the Presidents of the Gilded Age, many of whom will be featured in the 2013 Whitehall Lecture Series. For more information on the history of Flagler’s yacht Alicia and the upcoming Whitehall Lecture Series, please see the Museum’s fall issue of Inside Whitehall.

Alamagoozlum Cocktail This drink was reportedly concocted by financier JP Morgan. In the first decade of the twentieth century JP Morgan was a national hero. He’d stepped in during the Panic of 1907 and in lieu of the Central Bank, cheerfully dismantled by Andrew Jackson, organized a group of bankers to stabilize the money supply When Honduras was about to go bankrupt, it was JP Morgan who agreed to buy more than 100 million dollars in Honduran bonds (for about 15 cents on the dollar) in order to take the London Bankers out of the picture and stabilize the Honduran economy.

The problem with the plan was that would have meant the imposition of a tax on bananas and the end of Sam Zemurray’s banana empire. Instead, Sam Zemurray bought Henry Flagler’s old yacht, Alicia, from the US Navy, which had commandeered it years earlier for the Spanish American War, and overthrew the government of Honduras and installed his friend as the new President. That was the end of any plan to tax bananas. And, Sam Zemurray eventually became the head of the first truly international mega corporation, United Fruit.

JP Morgan

½ Egg White 2 OZ Genever 2 OZ Water 1 ½ OZ Jamaica Rum 1 ½ OZ Green or Yellow Chartreuse 1 ½ OZ Gum Syrup ½ OZ Orange Curacao ½ OZ Angostura Bitters Shake very hard over ice and strain into two chilled cocktail glasses.

Pisco Punch Pisco Punch was developed in the mid-nineteenth century in San Francisco and is so strong that one contemporary account described it this way, “It tastes like lemonade but comes back with the kick of a roped steer.” Supposedly, the San Francisco police allowed just one drink per person in a twenty-four hour period.

The drink was made famous in the nineteenth century by writers like Mark Twain, Harold Ross (founder of New Yorker magazine), and Rudyard Kipling, who described Pisco Punch as being “compounded of the shavings of cherub’s wings, the glory of a tropical dawn, the red clouds of sunset and the fragments of lost epics by dead masters.”

When the drink became popular in New York it was said it “caused the unseating of South American governments and women to set world’s records in various and interesting fields of activity.”

Give Pisco Punch a try in honor of the overthrow of the Honduran Government, backed by just one warship, the former yacht Alicia, built for Henry Flagler.

Historic Map of Honduras

Soak cubes of pineapple in gum syrup overnight to make PineappleFlavored Gum Syrup and gum syrup soaked-pineapple cubes ½ OZ Pineapple-Flavored Gum Syrup Distilled Water Fresh Lemon Juice 1 ½ OZ Pisco Brandy 1 Gum Syrup-Soaked Pineapple Cube Combine in a shaker of ice - ½ ounce of pineapple-flavored gum syrup, a splash of distilled water, a splash of fresh squeezed lemon juice, and 1 ½ ounce of Pisco Brandy - and shake. Place a cube of syrup-soaked pineapple cube in a four-ounce punch glass and strain off the mix into the punch glass and serve.

Sazerac Cocktail The Sazerac cocktail was reportedly a favorite of President Grover Cleveland’s (the subject of one of this Season’s Whitehall Lecture Series lectures) and William Sydney Porter (a.k.a. O. Henry) who coined the term “Banana Republic”.

The drink was a sensation in New Orleans, becoming popular nationwide by the 1880’s. No doubt, some of the mercenaries about to set out from New Orleans aboard Flagler’s former yacht Alicia, intent on overthrowing the Honduran government in 1910, hoisted a few Sazerac cocktails before embarking.

President Grover Cleveland ½ TSP Sugar 2 OZ whiskey Peychaud Bitters Lemon Peel Absinthe Muddle ½ teaspoon of sugar with a little water in an old-fashioned flat bar glass and add ice and set aside to chill the bar glass Mix two ounces of whiskey, two dashes of Peychaud bitters, and a twist of lemon peel.

Remove the ice from the bar glass and add a few drops of Absinthe and swirl the mixture of Absinthe, sugar, and water around the glass coating the inside surface of the glass.

Strain the mixture of whiskey and bitters into the bar glass and serve.

Ward Eight Supposedly, this drink originated in Boston just before the end of the nineteenth century as a tribute to Boston’s Ward Eight, which could always be counted on to deliver a margin of victory to the Irish political czar, Martin M. Lomasney. Lomasney served as State Senator, State Representative, and Alderman and wielded substantial political influence in Boston for nearly half a century.

Lomasney was a colorful figure who survived an assassination attempt, was nicknamed the “Mahatma” and was famous for his political discretion, saying, “Never write if you can speak; never speak if you can nod; never nod if you can wink.”

The Ward Eight cocktail was a favorite of Teddy Roosevelt’s, of whom Henry Flagler said, “He has many good and original things to say. But, the good things are not original and the original things are not good.” But, it was TR’s expansion of America’s influence into the Caribbean and Central America, and decision to build the Panama Canal that caused Flagler to proceed with his long awaited plans to build the Over-Sea Railroad to Key West.

President Theodore Roosevelt

3 OZ Rye whiskey ½ OZ fresh lemon juice ½ OZ fresh orange juice 1 TSP of powdered sugar 1 TSP Grenadine 1 Sprig of Mint Shake the rye whiskey, lemon juice, orange juice, powdered sugar, and grenadine with ice; then strain into a chilled beer goblet, garnish with a sprig of mint, and serve.

New Orleans Fizz The New Orleans Fizz (sometimes called the Ramos Gin Fizz, after the bartender who first created it) was the most popular drink in New Orleans from the late nineteenth century and well into the twentieth.

No doubt General Bonilla (the once and future President of Honduras) and Sam Zemurray downed their share of New Orleans Fizzes before setting off in 1910 to overthrow the government of Honduras aboard Flagler’s former yacht, Alicia.

USS Hornet 1 TBSP powdered sugar Orange Flower Water Lemon Juice Orange Juice Egg White from one egg 2 TBSP Cream 1 OZ Seltzer Water Gin, Old Gordon, Old Tom, or Plymouth Add to a shaker, with half a glass of crushed ice - one tablespoon of powdered sugar, several drops of Orange Flower Water, the juice from half a lime, the juice from half a lemon, 1 ½ ounces of Old Tom, Old Gordon, or Plymouth Gin, the white of one egg, two tablespoons of cream, an ounce of seltzer water. Shake for at least a minute and strain into a glass and serve.

Banana Daiquiri While cocktails are a truly American invention and tradition, the Daiquiri was the first cocktail invented outside the United States to become a classic.

Probably created first in Cuba in the 1890s, by 1910 the Daiquiri had jumped the Florida Straights and within a few years became a sensation in America Though bananas had become the most popular fruit in America at about the same time, no one thought to employ bananas in a Daiquiri cocktail until much later. However, we are going to cheat history a little here by including the Banana Daiquiri as one of this year’s drinks in honor of the Daiquiri’s truly tropical origins and the fact that both the Daiquiri and the Banana were wildly popular in the United States in the early twentieth century and remain so today.

Sam Zemurray

2 OZ Barcardi Rum 1 TSP Gum Syrup ½ TSP Sugar 1 Pureed Banana Fresh Lime Juice Shake well with cracked ice, strain, pour into a champagne flute, and serve.

Jerry Thomas, the “Father of Mixology”

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