Pioneers of Mixing at Elite Bars: 1903-1933

Once upon a time in America there was a gentleman named Charles Christopher Mueller, who published, in 1934, seven little volumes titled Pioneers of Mixing at Elite Bars. He wasn't alone, his three compatriots--Al Hoppe, A V Guzman, and James Cunningham--compiled the recipes they shook and stirred at 30 bars around the US before Prohibition. They had met in 1906, at the height of the cocktail's Golden Age.

In this compilation there is a recipe for a Cosmopolitan Daisy made with raspberry syrup and gin instead of cranberry juice and vodka!

There's only one problem in reading vintage cocktail books. Some of the ingredients are no longer available and need to be replaced with a focus on maintaining the original flavour profile as closely as can be practically managed. This can take years when you are working through 1,374 recipes: That is how many drinks this compilation contains. That is why award-winning London mixologist Myles Davies scoured through the contents and annotated everything including the spirits descriptions to give you, the reader, an opportunity to play with less pressure.

So now it's time to stroll through pre-Prohibition American cocktails with the four gentlemen known as the American Traveling Mixologists and their British sidekick. Don't just stop at the Cosmopolitan Daisy. There are plenty of jewels in this treasure chest.