Bartender Appreciation Day

Ahhh, Bartender Appreciation Day. Coming right before Repeal Day, it is fitting to celebrate the folks who shake, mix, and pour the spirits we’re about to toast. 

For some of us, our bartender is our therapist. They are the person who listens when we are heartbroken  and gives us high fives when we finally come up aces. They pour shots for celebrations as well as setbacks and give us liquid comfort as well as courage. Being a good bartender doesn’t mean just knowing about drinks, it’s about knowing people. 

People have made a living pouring drinks for thousands of years, and the job description has evolved and changed over the millennia. From innkeepers who brewed their own beers to the craft brewers and mixologists of today, the production has changed but the goal is still the same: to produce a tasty drink. 

Certain things have changed how we prepare cocktails. Ingredients have changed, and the modern palate has evolved to require more complex cocktails. The word itself, “cocktail” has different (often amusing) tales about its origin. 

The first definition of a cocktail came in 1806, and was specifically referring to a “stimulating liquor composed of spirits of any kind—sugar, water, and bitters.” Today the word cocktail is used for a broad category of mixed drinks, not just the one described, which we call an Old Fashioned. 

Drink historians have been trying to pinpoint the origin of the term “cocktail” for ages. They have waded through legend and speculation: the name comes from a feather stuck in the drink, a beverage served in an egg cup called a coquetier, horses with docked or “cock-tails.” 

Historian David Wondrich believes he has finally found the lost story of how the cocktail was named. Not a glamorous origin, it seems to have been a term for invigorating a horse by stuffing it with suppositories of ginger or pepper to give him a cock-tail, and seem spry and lively. This term came to be “used figuratively for encouraging or spiriting one up” (and ginger was a mainstay in a cocktail before bitters showed up). 

Whatever its origin, the definition of what comprised a cocktail was cemented with Jerry Thomas and his Bartender’s Guide in 1862. These “social drinks,” or “composite beverages,” included punches, egg noggs, and juleps, which Thomas declares are “like the American ladies - irresistible.” 

Thomas’ recipes may not be as alluring today as they were in the early 20th century, but his Bartender’s Guide was a bible for bartenders for decades. Some of the recipes were so delightful they required admonitions; like a Punch Jelly that cautioned “many persons, particularly of the softer sex, have been tempted to partake so plentifully of it as to render them somewhat unfit for waltzing or quadrilling after supper.” While most folks today don’t have the need (or the desire) for spiked punch recipes that serve 40, anyone can recreate some of Thomas’ iconic drinks by watching David Wondrich’s step-by-step instructions on YouTube.

While the modern bar is staffed by men and women, the bartender in the public sphere has been male-dominated for most of modern history. Women were relegated to female-only salons or separated in bars by barriers. Bars were referred to by men as the “last stronghold of masculinity” In fact, women have only widely been accepted in bars since the 1970s. While prohibition allowed women to briefly mingle in co-ed drinking establishments, post prohibition the women’s spirit knowledge was relegated to the private sector. 

In her podcast, A Taste of the Past, Culinary Historian Linda Pelaccio interviewed Dr. Nicola Nice on the influence of women on modern bar recipes and cocktail service. Dr. Nice has worked to understand the women’s role in the world of spirits, a place where they were publicly excluded. The research led her to find that while women were not bar-going cocktail enthusiasts, women’s magazines, cookbooks, and etiquette books were jammed with directions for how and when to serve the perfect drink. Anyone who is familiar with Anne of Green Gables will remember the red currant wine that was made “only for sickness” that caused poor Diana to lose her lunch. 

This forgotten phalanx of women who muddled, brewed, and fermented their family’s spirits and turned them into medicines and punches are what inspired Dr. Nice to produce her own brand. Focusing on market research and historic recipes, she has created a gin liqueur that is meant to remind drinkers why it was called “Mother Gin.” 

Today, women are actively brewing, distilling, marketing, and pouring drinks. While men still make up the majority, women are changing the way the market looks, with women building distilleries, breweries, and crafting brands that appeal to men and women. 

To properly celebrate this auspicious day, go to your local watering hole and order an Old Fashioned made with Uncle Nearest if you can find it. Or, settle down at home and sip some of Dr. Nice’s Gin Liqueur, paired with a journey through Wondrich’s Imbibe! From Absinthe Cocktail to Whiskey Smash, a Salute in Stories and Drinks to "Professor" Jerry Thomas, Pioneer of the American Bar.

However you celebrate, cheers! 

“Here’s to the girl that’s strictly in it, who doesn’t lose her head even for a minute, plays well the game and knows the limit, and still gets all the fun there’s in it.” 

Toasts You Should Know - Janet Madison