season’s libation: Batter Up
PHOTOGRAPHY BY HILARY KLINE
There are only a handful of bars in the country where you can still get a scratch-made Tom & Jerry cocktail. (Beware of those that use a commercial mix.) And the odds of one of those bars being close enough to home to brave going out in the cold are pretty low. Which makes the drink all the more perfect to try at home this holiday season. It is tailor-made to keep you feeling warm and festive on even the coldest winter night. There is a bit of a running dispute as to when the drink was invented. Some experts say that it was first whipped up in the early 1850’s by world famous bartender Jerry Thomas at the Planter's House in St. Louis. Others say the drink was created 30 years earlier, by London writer Pierce Egan as a gimmick to promote his latest book that featured two characters named Jerry Hawthorne and Corinthian Tom. Either way, the Tom & Jerry, which is similar to a warm eggnog, had become so popular by the 1920’s that American author Damon Runyon, creator of the Nathan Detroit character in Guys and Dolls, wrote in 1931 that the “old-time drink” was “once so popular that many people think Christmas is invented only to furnish an excuse for hot Tom and Jerry.” Unfortunately, the complexity of the recipe and changing tastes led the drink to fall out of favor in the 1960’s. We think its time to ditch the store-bought eggnog, whip up some frothy Tom and Jerry batter, start a fire, and make this wonderful winter cocktail an annual tradition again.