Grand Union Hotel Wine List (1895?)

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Wed Jul 26 06:09:55 UTC 2000


     The New York Historical Society also has a menu collection.  The NYHS is
located near the American Museum of Natural History at Central Park West.
The summer hours are Tues-Fri, 11 am-5 pm.  I walked there today to get a
nice whiff of the anti-Nile virus insecticide that was sprayed over Central
Park last night.
    I looked at menus from 1887, 1888, 1893, 1894, and 1895.
    Most intriguing was NYHS 1895-14D, "Grand Union Hotel New York Wine
List."  A pencil marking states "about 1895."  If I remember correctly, the
latest wine date was around 1893.  (I copied only part of the wine list
because the NYHS limits you to 10 copies per day TOTAL.)  What is the date of
this list?  This is from MISCELLANEOUS--see what jumps out at you:

Absinthe (Cocktail; Drip; Frappe)
Ammonia and Seltzer
Apenta
Apollinaris (Lemonade)
Bear Lithia Water
Bi-Carbonate of Soda
Brandy (Cocktail; Daisy; Egg Nogg; Fizz; Flip; Float; Milk Punch; Mint Julep;
Punch; Rickey; Sling; Smash; Sour; Toddy)
Bromo-Caffeine
Bromo Seltzer
Bronx Cocktail
Cafe Kirsch
Calisaya (Cocktail; and Vichy)
Cardinal Sour
Champagne Cider
Claret (and Seltzer; Lemonade; Punch; Sling)
Coffee Cocktail
Cordial Cocktail
Cream Fizz
Dubonnet (Cocktail; Punch)
Egg Lemonade
Egg Nogg (Brandy; Whiskey; Phosphate)
Fruit Lemonade
Gin (Cocktail; Daisy; Fizz; Punch; Rickey; Sling; Smash; Sour; Toddy)
Ginger Ale High Ball, Extra
Golden Fizz
Grenadine Punch
Horses Neck (Domestic; Imported)
Hot Apple (Toddy; Brandy; Claret; Gin; Lemonade (with Brandy or Whiskey);
Rum; Rye; Scotch)
John Collins
Knickebein
Lemon Juice (and Seltzer)
Lemon Squash
Long Drinks, Extra
Lone Tree Cocktail
Madeira, Leacock & Co.
Mamie Taylor
Manhattan Cocktail
Marguerite
Martini Cocktail
Milk (Punch; Shake)
Orangeade (with Seltzer; with Brandy; with Whiskey)
Plain Lemonade
Port Wine (Cockburn's; Sandeman's; Flip; Sangaree)
Pousse Cafe
Remsen Cooler
Rhine Wine (Cobbler; Punch; Sangaree; with Seltzer)
Rob Roy Cocktail
Rock and Rye
Rocky Mountain Oyster
Royal Fizz
Rum (and Molasses; Milk Punch; Sling; Smash; Sour; Toddy)
Sam Ward
Sarsaparilla Cooler
Seltzer (Lemonade; Lemonade with Brandy)
Seltzer Lemonade with Whiskey (and Milk)
Shamrock Cocktail
Sherry (Amontillado, Pemartin & Co.; Cocktail; Cobbler; Egg Flip; Egg Nogg;
Punch; Sangaree; and Egg)
Side Drinks, Extra
Silver Fizz
Soda Cocktail
Soda Lemonade
Star Cocktail
Stone Fence
Suissesse
Tom Collins
Vermouth Cocktail
Vichy (and Milk)
Whiskey (Cocktail; Cooler; Daisy; Egg Nogg; Fizz; Flip; Milk Punch; Mint
Julep; Rickey; Punch; Sling; Smash; Sour; Toddy)
Zaza Cocktail

     What jumped out at me would be the first citations of Bronx Cocktail,
(Ginger Ale) High Ball, Horses Neck, Lone Tree Cocktail, Marguerite Cocktail;
Mamie Taylor, Rickey, Star Cocktail, and Zaza Cocktail.
    Yale Cocktail is NOT here, so if the list is from later than 1895, it's
probably not too much later.   Half and Half (Arf and Arf), a popular drink
also known by 1895, is NOT here.  Klondike Cocktail (about 1898) is NOT here.
 Dewey Cocktail (1898) is NOT here.  Gibson Girl is NOT here.  Fin de Siecle
(about 1899) is NOT here.  Old Fashioned is NOT here.
     A comparable book is DALY'S BARTENDERS' ENCYCLOPEDIA (Worcester, Mass.,
1903) by Tim Daly.  This book has High Ball, Horse's Neck, Mamie Taylor,
Marguerite Cocktail, Rickey, Swiss Ess (sic), plus a lot more that aren't
here, but does NOT have Bronx Cocktail and Lone Tree Cocktail.
     From John Mariani's ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN FOOD & DRINK (1999):

_Bronx cocktail._  A cocktail made of gin, sweet and dry vermouths, and
orange juice, concocted by bartender Johnnie Solon at the Waldorf-Astoria
Hotel in New York City sometime between 1899 (when he joined the
establishment) and 1906 (when the word first appeared in print.)

     An 1895 citation for "Bronx Cocktail" would be significant, indeed.
     From Albert Crockett's OLD WALDORF-ASTORIA BAR BOOK (1934), pg. 57

     LONE TREE
Dash of Orange Bitters
One-half Italian Vermouth
One-half Plymouth Gin
     After the 1899 equivalent of a "nineteenth hole"--a tree which stood
alone in a secluded part of a golf course near Philadelphia.  Players on that
course frequented the Old Waldorf Bar.

     An 1895 "Lone Tree Cocktail" would also be very significant.
     Is it possible that the OLD WALDORF-ASTORIA BAR BOOK was wrong on both
drinks--including one it claims is its own?



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