Drinks that Made the Twenties Roar

It was during the Roaring Twenties, roughly the period between Prohibition and Repeal, that the American psyche came out of the closet and shed its puritan morality. Automobiles and contraceptives made things easier, and a kinky, bearded medic from Vienna made us face up to our carnal natures with such strange new terms as libido and id.

Those were not the only new words in this innovative, precedent-shattering age. Bootlegger, (continued on page 186) Twenties' Drinks (continued from page 147) speak-easy, blind pig, alki, bathtub gin, home brew and hijack became household words--and all referred to the illicit traffic in liquor. Assistant U. S. Attorney General Mabel Walker Willebrandt announced that President Herbert Hoover had undertaken to make sobriety popular; but finding a drink--or, for that matter, a gallon--of whiskey presented no problem. It was as easy as asking a bellhop, a hackie or your friendly neighborhood policeman. Despite Prohibition--some said because of it--the nation was awash in booze.

There were 32,000 taverns or speak-easies operating in New York City, and Robert Benchley once counted 38 cellar clubs on a single street in Manhattan. If you had the scratch, and the connection, you could get just about anything you wanted, reminisces Pete Kriendler, whose celebrated Club "21" was born as Jack & Charlie's speak-easy. When that fabled boite was busted, the impounded whiskey analyzed out as top quality. H. L. Mencken fumed in the American Mercury, "Why raid a place that sells good liquor and isn't poisoning anybody?" In most places, however, raw alcohol infused with juniper drops, oil of bourbon or oil of rye was passed off as gin, bourbon and rye whiskey, respectively. Depending on the blender's fancy, alki might also contain a soupçon of glycerin, burnt sugar, iodine, creosote, prune juice and even "washed" embalming fluid. Not exactly sippin' whiskey.

Cocktails provided a viable alternative. They were known, of course, prior to Prohibition; but it was during the Roaring Twenties that cocktails became the American libation and the cocktail party was spawned. Pragmatically, the addition of sugar, lemon, syrups, juices, egg, cream, bitters, etc., helped mask or modify the rank character of bootleg booze. The new style of drinking also reflected the mercurial, try-anything-once spirit of the times.

Cocktails of the Twenties tended to be sweetish--and fussy; witness the Alexander, snowball and pousse-café. The latter, a rainbow affair of five or six liqueurs floating in horizontal bands, was the bane of the Prohibition barman. After laboriously pouring the spirits so they would stand in discrete layers, it was infuriating to see some yokel toss the thing off in one swallow, instead of sipping it layer by layer.

Other popular Prohibition-era calls were for the bronx. white lady, bizzy izzy (named after a booze-hunting sleuth), the rickey (named for lobbyist Colonel Joe Rickey), chocolate soldier, clover club (favored by William Butler Yeats) and, according to one usually reliable source, the bloody mary. Joe Scialom, the world's premier barman, now ensconced at the Four Seasons, insists that the bloody mary was first served at a speak-easy named Vladimir's, owned by a Russian émigré. The name was gradually corrupted from Vladimir to Vladi-Meyer to Bloody Meyer and finally to bloody mary. Why not? It's about as authentic as any other bloody-mary story you'll hear.

Following are authentic drinks of the Roaring Twenties, adapted in some cases to today's drier taste. As the sports of those days might say, "here's looking up your address."

[recipe_title]Clover Club[/recipe_title]

[drinkRecipe]1-1/2 ozs. gin[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]3/4 oz. lemon juice[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 tablespoon raspberry syrup[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 egg white[/drinkRecipe]

Shake vigorously with cracked ice. Strain into large cocktail glass.

[recipe_title]White Lady[/recipe_title]

[drinkRecipe]1 oz. gin[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1/2 oz. triple sec[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1/2 oz. lemon juice[/drinkRecipe]

Shake briskly with cracked ice. Strain into cocktail glass. Some white-lady recipes call for egg white or, on occasion, cream.

[recipe_title]The Bronx[/recipe_title]

[drinkRecipe]1-1/2 ozs. gin[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]3/4 oz. lemon juice[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1/2 teaspoon dry vermouth[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1/2 teaspoon sweet vermouth[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]Twist of orange peel[/drinkRecipe]

Shake gin, orange juice and vermouths with cracked ice. Strain into cocktail glass. Twist orange peel over, then drop into glass.

[recipe_title]Snowball[/recipe_title]

[drinkRecipe]1 oz. gin[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1/2 oz. crème de violette[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1/2 oz. white crème de menthe[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1/2 oz. anisette[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1/2 oz. heavy cream[/drinkRecipe]

Shake all ingredients briskly with cracked ice. Strain into saucer champagne glass.

[recipe_title]Between the Sheets[/recipe_title]

[drinkRecipe]1 oz. light rum[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 oz. brandy[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1/2 oz. triple sec[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]2 teaspoons lime juice[/drinkRecipe]

Shake briskly with cracked ice. Strain into cocktail glass. Garnish with twist of lemon, if desired.

[recipe_title]Ward Eight[/recipe_title]

[drinkRecipe]1 oz. whiskey[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1/2 oz. lemon juice[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1/2 oz. orange juice[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 teaspoon grenadine[/drinkRecipe]

Shake all ingredients briskly with cracked ice. Strain into cocktail glass. The ward eight was prepared as a tall drink at times, with orange bitters and crème de menthe added.

[recipe_title]Bizzy Izzy[/recipe_title]

[drinkRecipe]1 oz. bourbon[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 oz. medium sherry[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 teaspoon lemon juice[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 teaspoon sugar[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]Club soda, chilled[/drinkRecipe]

Shake first four ingredients with ice. Pour unstrained into 8-oz. highball glass. Add club soda to fill. Stir once.

[recipe_title]Whiz Bang[/recipe_title]

[drinkRecipe]1 oz. Scotch[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1/2 oz. dry vermouth[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]2 dashes grenadine[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]2 dashes Pernod[/drinkRecipe]

Shake briskly with ice. Strain into cocktail glass.

[recipe_title]Mary Pickford[/recipe_title]

[drinkRecipe]1 oz. rum[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 oz. dry vermouth[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1 oz. pineapple juice[/drinkRecipe]

[drinkRecipe]1/2 teaspoon grenadine[/drinkRecipe]

[recipe]1 teaspoon curaçao[/recipe]

[drinkRecipe]Pineapple wedge[/drinkRecipe]

Shake with ice. Strain into cocktail glass. Decorate with small wedge of pineapple.

The Twenties were a wild, gaudy period. But people knew how to have fun. If you would recapture the simpler joys of those times, don your Gatsby threads and shake up these Prohibition-era drinks for a few simpatico souls. Remember--shake, don't stir! That's the way it was done in the Twenties.