2. Harry Craddock
-Born in London cca. 1875
- He moved to New York, where he worked at the Knickerbocker Hotel, the
Hoffman House and Holland House, before Prohibition meant he could
bartend no more.
-Craddock claimed to have mixed the last legal cocktail before Prohibition
and jumped ship for Europe the very next day
-He was certainly in London by 1920
- the drinking scene was reportedly quite bad. So Craddock's entrance onto
the London cocktail scene was a big deal, and everyone loved his American
accent.
3. The American Bar at the Savoy Hotel
- Savoy had two female bartenders on staff, including the famous Ada Coleman.
Craddock basically got Colemand and another female bartender booted from
their positions at the bar, as he didn't believe woman should be doing that job
-They didn't have Speed Rack in 1921
- became super famous in his job at the Savoy. Madam Tussaud's even had his
figure in the famous wax museum
- 1927 American Bar at the Savoy was redorated in the Art Deco style
- Craddock was permitted to bury a cocktail shaker containing his creation the
White Lady cocktail in the walls of the bar.
- the shaker has never been found
4. - In 1928, the hotel announced that Craddock had collected 2000 cocktail
recipes. Over 1000 of these were published in the Savoy Cocktail Book in
1930.
The Dorchester
-While Craddock was still employed at the Savoy, luxury hotel The
Dorchester was renovated in 1938, and they asked Craddock to bury a
cocktail shaker with drinks in the walls there also.
-In this shaker, Craddock put vials containing a Martini, Manhattan, and
White Lady, along with recipes and a scroll. When the bar was rebuilt in
1979, they found this shaker and its contents.
- Craddock left the Savoy after nearly 20 years and went to work at The
Dorchester.
- Though previously there hadn't been much evidence that Craddock had
actually worked at the Dorchester
- Though Craddock worked at the Dorchester until 1947, he still opened one
more bar; a place called Brown's Hotel in 1951.
5.
6. Ada Coleman
-Ada "Coley" Coleman, described by the Daily Express as the "most famous
barmaid", was, in all probably, the best-known female bartender of all time.
-- "Coley" took up bartending after her father died. He had been a steward at Rupert
D'Oyly Carte's golf club, and D'Oyly Carte duly offered her a job at one of his hotels -
in the bar at Claridge's, where she started work in 1899, aged around 24.
-- She made her first ever cocktail there, a Manhattan
- Her talent and presence led her to move to The Savoy's American Bar as Head
Bartender, after Frank Wells retired, in 1903. She would remain there until early 1926.
7. -At home, she regularly hosted parties for theatre people, full of
singing, dancing, music and laughter
-- Mark Twain, the Prince of Wales, Prince Wilhelm of Sweden and the
American millionaire Jim Brady.
-Her most famous cocktail, and the only drink which Craddock attributed to
her in his Savoy Cocktail Book, was undoubtedly the Hanky-Panky. She
created it for a comic actor named Charles Hawtrey, (famous for his
performances in the Carry On films) when he requested something "with a bit
of punch in it", because he was overworked.
- Coley lived to the ripe old age of 91 and died in 1966.
8. Savoy bartenders
-Frank Wells, 1893 to 1902.
-Ada "Coley" Coleman, 1903 to 1924.
-Harry Craddock, 1925 to 1939.
-Eddie Clark, 1939 to 1942.
-Reginald "Johnnie" Johnson, 1942 to 1954.
-Joe Gilmore, 1954 to 1975.
-Harry "Vic" Viccars, 1975 to 1981.
-Victor Gower, 1981 to 1985.]
-Peter Dorelli, 1985 to 2003.
-Salim Khoury, 2003 to 2010.
-Erik Lorincz, 2010 to present
9. Miguel Boadas, Don Narciso Sala Parera
-There is no denying that the legendary Cuban-born barman Miguel Boadas put
the city of Barcelona and the unique bartending style of its bartenders on the
international drinks map
-Miguel Boadas Guinart and Josefa Parera Marti were Catalan immigrants who
sought a new life in Cuba. In Havana they opened a bar on Calle del
Empredrado (the same narrow street where Le Bodeguita del Medio now
stands) that came with a small apartment. Their first son, Miguel Boadas
Parera, was born there on the 24th of October 1895.
-Even as a very young boy, Miguel helped his father and quickly gained an
expertise at making before he and his mother journeyed back to Lloret de
Mar, while his father continued to run the bar in Havana. When Miguel finished
his schooling, at age 13, he returned to his father’s side at the bar. Realising his
son’s natural talent, two years later, his father sent him to work as a fully-fledged
bartender with his cousin Narciso Sala Parera, who owned La Florida.
10.
11. Eddie Woelke
-Born in Philadelphia in 1877, Eddie had worked his way up to some of the
world’s finest watering holes.
-From the Germantown Cricket Club in his hometown he made his way to the
Plaza Athenée in Paris, where he also met his wife. Returning to the US, he
presided in 1906 at New York’s Knickerbocker Hotel with a young Harry
Craddock at his side and then at the New York Biltmore when it opened seven
years later. And with a stroke of great luck, he was invited in 1919 by its owners
to be part of the opening team at their new property, Havana’s Sevilla-Biltmore
Hotel on Calle Trocadero.
- General Mario García Menocal y Deop had been Cuba’s president since his
election in 20 May 1913. He was still in office when the hotel welcomed
dignitaries, celebrities, and masters of industry visited this crown jewel of
hospitality. Is it possible that Eddie put this drink on the menu to honour a visit
from El Presidente. We may never know for sure. But popular lore has
frequently noted that this was the politician’s favourite recipe before he was
voted out of office two years later.
12. -Eddie moved on to the Casino National in 1924 when the Sevilla-Biltmore was
closed for renovation.
-bwhen President Gerardo Machado was voted into office the following year, El
Presidente was slightly modified and renamed Presidente Machado.
A slim volume titled El Arte de Hacer un Cocktail y Algo Maswas published in
Havana in 1927 by the Compañia Cervecera International S.A.
Eddie’s Presidente as well as a Presidente Machado! What’s the difference?
- Dashes of both grenadine and curaçao are used to enhance the marriage of white
rum and dry vermouth.
13. Constante Ribalaigua Vert
-Constante Ribalaigua Vert was born outside of Barcelona in 1888. By 1900, his
family emigrated to Havana, where his father tended bar at the venerable cafe
Piña de Plata.
-When Ribalaigua was 16, as he told the American author Thomas Sugrue in
1935, his father “asked him if he wished to learn barkeeping.” He said yes.
-By then, Cuba was swarming with Americans, and the establishment had been
turned into an American-style bar called “La Florida.” In 1918, he had earned
enough to assume ownership of the “Floridita”—the “Little Florida”—as it was
universally known.
-Apparently, when Ribalaigua told Sugrue that his “only hobby is his work,” he
wasn’t kidding. He didn’t even drink.
-besides inventing a new cocktail practically every day—was to make sure that his
customers got the best drinks and the best service, whether they were Ernest
Hemingway, Spencer Tracy etc.
-He was still pulling shifts when he died, in 1952.
17. David Wondrich
- Few people have done more to illuminate the history of our drinking culture
than David Wondrich. A top-notch mixologist, a writer and partner in BAR, said
to be the world’s first advanced education program in spirits and cocktails.
Wondrich entertains as well as he educates.
Gary Regan
- With countless newspaper and magazine columns, books and newsletters to
his name, Gary Regan is known the world over as one of the most-read
cocktail experts around. Whether he’s lecturing at The Smithsonian, conducting
workshops or maintaining the Worldwide Bartender Database, he’s helped
raise the world’s mixological awareness.
Ted Haigh
Known as Dr. Cocktail, Ted Haigh has become the leading authority on vintage
cocktails and spirits. As an author, Imbibe columnist and Museum of American
Cocktail curator, he’s become an unparalleled advocate for rediscovering
what’s lost or forgotten in the world of cocktails.
18. Victor Bergeron
- Trading the sports theme for tiki aesthetic, Victor Bergeron converted his
Oakland, Calif. bar, Hinky Dinks into the instantly popular Trader Vic’s in 1937.
Credited with creating the first Mai Tai, and author of several tiki cocktail
books, Bergeron and the Trader Vic’s franchise later opened more than 20
restaurants around the world.
Dale DeGroff
Dale “King Cocktail” DeGroff gained a following in the mid 1980s at the helm of
New York City’s Rainbow Room bar as a preeminent proponent of classic cocktails
and fresh ingredients, and over the decades since, he’s inspired legions of
bartenders to be better at their craft. Author of The Craft of the cocktail , DeGroff
has developed numerous cocktail recipes, is the recipient of several prestigious
awards and is the founding president of the Museum of American cocktail
Robert Hess
This “technology evangelist” for Microsoft is also something of a cocktail
evangelist, reminding the world that cocktails should be made with the same craft
and care as gourmet food. He’s a co-founder of The Museum of the American
Cocktail and a co-founder of The Chanticleer Society, a website attracting cocktail
enthusiasts from around the world. He’s also the brains behind drinkboy.com, the
author of The Essential Bartender’s Guide and host of The Cocktail Spirit.
19. Kazuo Uyeda
- Kazuo Uyeda began tending bar in the '60s, going on to become one of the
world's most respected bartenders. He's won numerous cocktails
competitions, authored several books, including Cocktail Technique, and elevated
awareness of Japanese bartending techniques around the world, including the
hard shake, a method now championed by a whole new generation of talented
bartenders, such as Stanislav Vadrna.
Sasha Petraske
At the dawn of the 21st century, when Cosmos and Jager shots were still the
drinks of choice, Sasha Petraske sparked a classic-cocktail revolution when he
opened the members-only speakeasy Milk & Honey on New York’s Lower East
Side. Since then, dozens of speakeasy-style bars have cropped up across the
country, and Petraske has built a mini-empire, including White Star, Little Branch
and Dutch Kills.
