60 Fun Facts About Bartender

What nickname did Jerry Thomas, the 19th-century father of American mixology, go by?

He published the first American drinks book and performed his flaming Blue Blazer for crowds.

In which year did Jerry Thomas publish the Bar-Tender's Guide, America's first drink book?

It was also titled How to Mix Drinks or The Bon-Vivant's Companion, and it is still reprinted today.

Jerry Thomas's signature flaming drink, poured between two mugs in an arc of fire, was called what?

He developed it at the El Dorado gambling saloon in San Francisco.

The first printed definition of a 'cocktail' as a drink appeared in 1806 in which New York publication?

Editor Harry Croswell described it as spirits, sugar, water and bitters, which is essentially an Old Fashioned.

Bartender Dale DeGroff suggests the word 'cocktail' comes from 'coquetier', the French word for what?

Antoine Peychaud, creator of the bitters, allegedly served cognac and bitters in one in New Orleans.

During US Prohibition, illegal bars serving cocktails were known as what?

By 1925 New York City alone was thought to have between 30,000 and 100,000 of them.

On what date did Prohibition begin in the United States, when the Volstead Act took effect?

It ended almost 14 years later with the Twenty-first Amendment on 5 December 1933.

Which amendment to the US Constitution repealed Prohibition?

It is the only amendment ever passed to repeal an earlier one.

A two-piece setup with a large metal tin and a smaller mixing glass is known by which name?

Professionals tend to prefer it because it is faster to open and clean than the three-piece kind.

Which style of shaking tin has three pieces: a base, a top with a built-in strainer, and a cap?

It is the one most home bars own; professionals tend to prefer the faster two-piece Boston.

What is the bartender's tool used like a pestle to crush fruit, herbs and sugar in the bottom of a glass?

Mojitos, caipirinhas and old fashioneds all start with it.

Which US state legally defines a shot as exactly 1.5 US fluid ounces?

Elsewhere in the country there is no official size, though 1.5 oz is the usual pour.

In UK bars a single measure of whisky, gin, rum or vodka must be 25 ml or how much?

The rule comes from the Weights and Measures Act of 1985.

If a customer orders a spirit 'neat', how should it be served?

'Up' or 'straight up', by contrast, means chilled with ice and then strained into a stemmed glass.

A drink served 'up' or 'straight up' has been shaken or stirred with ice and then what?

That is why a Martini or Manhattan arrives in a stemmed glass with nothing floating in it.

What is an order made from the house spirits a bar keeps in the rail in front of the server called?

'Call' and 'top-shelf' drinks are the branded bottles displayed behind the bar.

In bar slang, what does it mean to '86' something?

One theory traces it to Chumley's speakeasy at 86 Bedford Street in Manhattan.

Roughly how much of a US bartender's take-home pay comes from tips, according to industry estimates?

Federal law lets employers count tips toward the minimum wage through a tip credit.

Which restaurant chain held the first national flair bartending competition, the 'Bar Olympics', in 1986?

Its trainer John JB Bandy went on to coach Tom Cruise for the film Cocktail.

Who plays bartender Brian Flanagan in the 1988 film 'Cocktail'?

The film won two Razzies, including Worst Picture, but its Beach Boys single 'Kokomo' topped the charts.

In 'Cocktail', Brian moves on to tend a beach bar on which island?

He is saving up to open his own place, the running dream of the whole film.

The barmaid-dancing film 'Coyote Ugly' is set in a real New York bar that opened in which year?

Piper Perabo's Violet lands the job in the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced 2000 film.

On 'Cheers', bar owner Sam Malone is a former relief pitcher for which team?

Ted Danson played him for all eleven seasons, from 1982 to 1993.

Which real pub, picked out of a phone book, was the model for the bar in 'Cheers'?

It became a tourist magnet and now trades under the Cheers name.

Which actor joined 'Cheers' in season four as the naive young bartender who replaced Coach?

Woody replaced Coach after Nicholas Colasanto's death.

In 'The Simpsons' episode 'Flaming Moe's', what secret ingredient makes Homer's drink a hit?

Moe steals the recipe, renames it, and Aerosmith turn up to play his suddenly packed tavern.

A classic Negroni is equal parts gin, sweet vermouth and which bitter Italian liqueur?

Count Camillo Negroni reputedly asked a Florence bartender in 1919 to strengthen his Americano with gin.

Which brand of bitters comes in a bottle famous for its oversized label and yellow cap?

It is made in Trinidad and Tobago from a recipe known in full to only one person at a time.

Johann Siegert created his famous bitters in 1824 while surgeon general in whose army?

Johann Siegert made them in the Venezuelan town of Angostura, now Ciudad Bolívar.

Which city in 2015 named the whiskey-and-bitters classic it claims to have invented as its official cocktail?

The name dates to 1880, and the Pendennis Club's claim to have invented it is probably false.

On 'Mad Men', which cocktail is Don Draper's drink of choice?

The show's 1960s setting kicked off a wave of orders for it in real bars.

A 'dirty' Martini adds a splash of what?

Swap the olive for a cocktail onion and you have a Gibson.

A dry Martini garnished with cocktail onions instead of olives is called what?

The Vesper, from Casino Royale, is Ian Fleming's invention with gin, vodka and Kina Lillet.

Ian Fleming's Vesper martini in 'Casino Royale' combines gin, vodka and which aperitif?

Bond's better-known order is a vodka martini, shaken not stirred.

A Manhattan made with Scotch instead of rye is called what?

A Perfect Manhattan is one made with equal parts sweet and dry vermouth.

The Bloody Mary is often credited to bartender Fernand Petiot in 1921 at which Paris bar?

Petiot later served a gin version called the Red Snapper at the St. Regis in New York.

In the United States the Bloody Mary is usually drunk in the morning as a cure for what?

The alcohol-free version is called a Virgin Mary.

Which gin, vermouth and Fernet Branca cocktail did Savoy bartender Ada Coleman create?

She mixed it for actor Charles Hawtrey, who wanted 'something with a bit of punch in it'.

Harry Craddock's 1930 collection of 750 cocktail recipes is known as what?

Craddock left America because of Prohibition and is credited with the White Lady and Corpse Reviver No. 2.

The Sazerac became the official cocktail of which city in 2008?

It uses Peychaud's bitters and an absinthe rinse, and switched from cognac to rye after the French wine blight.

A Moscow Mule is vodka, lime and ginger beer, traditionally served in what?

It was cooked up in 1941 to sell Smirnoff vodka and Cock 'n' Bull ginger beer at the same time.

Which cocktail was created around 1915 by Ngiam Tong Boon at the Long Bar of the Raffles Hotel?

He made it look like fruit juice so that women could drink it in public without scandal.

Which territory proclaimed the piña colada its official drink in 1978?

The Caribe Hilton says bartender Ramón 'Monchito' Marrero created it in 1954; the name means 'strained pineapple'.

Trader Vic claimed to have invented the Mai Tai in 1944 at his restaurant in which city?

Rival Donn Beach insisted he had made it in 1933; the name comes from the Tahitian for 'good'.

Robert 'Rosebud' Butt says he invented the Long Island iced tea for a contest featuring which ingredient?

The drink mixes vodka, tequila, rum, gin and triple sec and lands at around 22 percent alcohol.

Roughly what alcohol concentration does a Long Island iced tea reach?

Despite the name it contains no tea; the cola splash just makes it look like one.

The Cosmopolitan became a 1990s phenomenon after which TV character kept ordering it?

Toby Cecchini's 1989 version at The Odeon in Manhattan is the one bars now make.

London bartender Dick Bradsell is credited with inventing which caffeinated cocktail in the 1980s?

The story goes that a customer asked for something to wake her up first.

Aperol, the base of the Aperol Spritz, was created in 1919 in which Italian city?

The spritz itself dates to Habsburg rule over the Veneto, when soldiers watered down the local wine.

The pressure inside a bottle of Champagne is roughly how many bar (about 90 psi)?

That is why a popped cork can leave the bottle at supersonic speed if it is not eased out.

What is the name for opening a Champagne bottle by striking the neck with a sword?

Bartenders and sommeliers perform it for ceremony; the whole glass collar comes off with the cork.

A magnum of Champagne holds how much?

Magnums are thought to age better because there is less oxygen per volume of wine.

Which of these is one of a cocktail's four main components, alongside spirit, acid and base?

Acids such as fresh lemon juice brighten a drink, bases such as syrup or honey sweeten it, and the garnish is where a mixologist gets the most creative freedom.

What is the customary way to tip a bartender in a British pub?

Tipping bar staff is uncommon in the UK; the phrase invites the bartender to buy their own drink with your money, or quietly add a small amount to take in cash.

What caused the cocktail shaker's popularity to falter sharply in 1941?

The same factories that had made shakers switched to artillery shells; the shaker briefly came back in 1950s rec-room bars before blenders took over.

In 1981, Shatbhi Basu became the first woman bartender in which country?

Basu, from Mumbai, broke into a trade that had been closed to women in many places; Kentucky only legalised women bartenders in 1972.

Jerry Thomas's 1876 guide printed the first recipe for which drink, just after a famous 1874 hoax?

The 1874 prank had people asking strangers whether they had seen a slanderous 'Tom Collins'; the same edition also carried an early Brandy Daisy recipe.

What did Jerry Thomas famously carry with him when he toured Europe?

The showman bartender also wore flashy jewellery, juggled bottles while mixing, and had his cups embellished with precious stones and metals.

Goesaert v. Cleary (1948) upheld which state's law barring most women from bartending?

The 1945 law exempted women whose father or husband owned the bar. Michigan repealed it in 1955 and the ruling was overruled by Craig v. Boren in 1976.

Which David Wondrich biography of Jerry Thomas was the first cocktail book to win a James Beard Award?

Published in 2007 and honoured in 2008, it pairs Thomas's life story with annotated versions of his recipes.