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1912 Vintage postcard depicting the Hotel Astoria in Times Square. This hotel set the standard for cocktails around the world. © Susan Law Cain / Shutterstock
There were also five significant wars in the 1900s that affected imbibing Americans: World War I, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, and the Gulf War. The millennium brought the skankification of women in rap music videos, the increase of Cognac sales, half-dressed female bartenders dancing on bar tops, the Cosmopolitan and the Mojito became the most popular cocktails in the world, embarrassing Martini bars popped up—but—the most important development is that the cocktail culture renaissance seeds were planted.
More technology happened during this time than 10,000 years combined. Some inventions in this century include electricity, the blender, the juicer, refrigeration, air-conditioning, the phonograph, radio, the eight-track player, the cassette tape, the compact disc, the boom box, the Walkman, DVDs, iTunes, the automobile, the airplane, the helicopter, the spaceship, motion picture theaters, talkies, drive-in theaters, television, VCRs, special-effects blockbusters, DVRs, online television, the camera, the video camera, neon lights, the zipper, stainless steel, canned beer, the telephone, the cellular phone, the smartphone, texting, the microwave, the calculator, robots, the ballpoint pen, medical discoveries, the fax machine, the pager, the computer, the internet, Skype, the Hubble space telescope, and social media.
Names of bars, saloons, and clubs in the 1900s–2000s include Fox and Hound, Filthy McNasty’s, Fuzz & Firkin, Slug and Lettuce, Snooty Fox, Ciro’s, Chez Victor, the Ohio Club, the Ritz, Whiskey A Go-Go, Stork Club, the Tiki Lounge, VooDoo Lounge, the Palace Saloon, Sloppy Joe’s, Studio 54, Le Freak, Disco Inferno, Cabaret, Electric Cowboy, the Rainbow Room, the Starlight Room, the Velvet Tango Room, Coyote Ugly, Angel’s Share, Absinthe Brassiere & Bar, and Milk & Honey, PDT, Death & Co, Honeycut, Clover Club, Bourbon & Branch, Canon, Revel, Employees Only, the Violet Room, Three Dots and a Dash, and the Dead Rabbit.
Drinking words heard include “acting like a fool,” “baked,” “bashed,” “blasted,” “blitzed,” “blown away,” “bombed,” “bonkers,” “buzzed,” “canned,” “creamed,” “crocked,” “done,” “double vision,” “fried,” “gone,” “hammered,” “high,” “liquored up,” “lit,” “party animal,” “three sheets to the wind,” “shitfaced,” “slave to drink,” “stoned,” “tipsy,” “toasted,” and “wasted.”
Brands and spirits launched in the 1900s–2000s are too many to mention, but include Cutty Sark Scotch, Havana Club rum, Jägermeister, Kahlúa, B&B, Crown Royal, Don Julio tequila, Captain Morgan spiced rum, Irish Mist, Yukon Jack, Finlandia vodka, Stoli vodka, Midori melon liqueur, Baileys Irish cream, Zacapa rum, Absolut vodka, Chambord, Peachtree schnapps, Bartles & Jaymes wine coolers, Absolut Peppar, Absolut Citron, Bombay Sapphire, Gentleman Jack, Patrón Tequila, Guinness in cans, Johnnie Walker gold, Crown Royal Reserve, Skyy vodka, Wild Turkey Rare Breed, Grey Goose vodka, Belvedere vodka, Tito’s vodka, Redrum, Plymouth gin, Three Olives vodka, Smirnoff Ice, Van Gogh gin, Hendrick’s gin, Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel, Bulleit Bourbon, and Smirnoff flavored vodkas, Ancho Reyes Chile liqueur, Ford’s gin, Chambord vodka, Zucca Amaro, St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur, Stiggins Plantation pineapple rum, and Sipsmith gin.
Early 1900s − The Pisco Sour is invented in Peru.
1900 − Harry Johnson publishes Harry Johnson’s Bartenders’ Manual or How to Mix Drinks of the Present Style.
−William T. Boothby publishes the second edition of Cocktail Boothby’s American Bartender.
1902 − Louis Eppinger invented the Bamboo Cocktail in Yokohama, Japan.
1903 − Edward Spencer publishes The Flowing Bowl.
−Tim Daly publishes Daly’s Bartenders’ Encyclopedia.
1904 − Frederick J. Drake and Company publishes a vest-pocket recipe book, Drinks as They Are Mixed. The recipes were gathered by leading Chicago bartenders.
−John Applegreen publishes Applegreen’s Bar Book. This book contains a recipe for a Martini Cocktail.
−Paris Ritz bartender Frank P. Newman publishes American-Bar Recettes des Boissons Anglaises et Américaine.
1905 − Johnnie Solon invents the Bronx cocktail at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.
−Charles S. Mahoney publishes The Hoffman House Bartender’s Guide.
1906 − Louis Muckensturm publishes Louis’ Mixed Drinks. This is the first book in English calling for gin and vermouth for the Dry Martini recipe.
−George J. Kappeler publishes Modern American Drinks: How to Mix and Serve All Kinds of Cups and Drinks.
1908 − Hon. Wm. Boothby publishes The World’s Drinks and How to Mix Them Standard Authority.
1910 − First in-flight cocktails are served to paying passengers on a scheduled airliner, on the Zeppelin flying over Germany.
1911 − Sir Thomas Dewar erects the world’s largest mechanical sign (sixty-eight feet) advertising Dewar’s Scotch whisky on the Thames River embankment.
1912 − Charles S. Mahoney publishes The Hoffman House Bartender’s Guide.
−The Bartenders Association of America publishes Bartenders’ Manual.
1914 − Jacques Straub publishes Drinks.
1915 − The El Presidente cocktail is invented at Bar la Florida (Floridita) in Havana, Cuba.
1916 − The first recorded cocktail party is hosted by Mrs. Julius S. Walsh Jr. from St. Louis, Missouri, and published in the St. Paul Pioneer Press newspaper mentioning cocktails: Clover Leafs, Highballs, Gin Fizzes, Bronxes, Martinis, and Manhattans.
−Hugo R. Ensslin publishes Recipes for Mixed Drinks. The book mentions the first Aviation cocktail.
1917 − Even though African Americans had been tending bar since the 1700s, Tom Bullock is the first to publish a cocktail recipe book, The Ideal Bartender.
1919 − Harry MacElhone publishes Harry’s ABC of Mixing Cocktails. One of the most popular cocktails is the White Lady.
−American tourists love Italy’s Torino-Milano cocktail, so the name was changed to Americano.
−The Grasshopper is believed to be invented at Tujague’s in New Orleans.
1920 − Americans flock to Cuba, Mexico, and Canada to drink legal cocktails.
−Bertha E. L. Stockbridge publishes What to Drink.
−The book This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald has the first known literary mention of the Daiquiri.
1922 − Patrick McGarry invents the Buck’s Fizz at the Buck’s Club in London.
−Harry MacElhone invents the Brandy Alexander at Ciro’s in London.
−The Blood and Sand cocktail is created after Rudolph Valentino from the film of the same name.
−It is believed that Fosco Scarselli creates the Negroni.
1923
