Drinks of the World (1892)

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Sun Jun 24 15:35:58 UTC 2001


DRINKS OF THE WORLD
by James Mew & John Ashton
NEW YORK:
Charles Scribner's Sons
1892

   I was just "mulling" through these piles here and found this book, which it doesn't appear that I've posted from.  OED has "mull" (sense 11) from 1925.  Does that mean that the earlier Jerry Thomas volumes didn't have it?

Pg. 180:
   AMERICAN DRINKS.
Cobblers--Cocktails--Flips, etc.--Punch--Varieties--A Bar Tender--Anstley's _Pleader's Guide_--A Yard of Flannel--Bottled Velvet--Rumfustian, etc.

Pg. 180:
   Among the chief American drinks are, being alphabetically arranged, _cobblers_, _cocktails_, _cups_, _flips_, _juleps_, _mulls_, _nectars_, _neguses_, _noggs_, _punches_--of which there are at least three score--_sangarees_, _shrubs_, _slings_, _smashes_, and _toddies_. (1)

Pg. 181:
   The _cocktail_ is a comparatively modern discovery.  In this drink _Bogart's Bitters_ occupies invariably a prominent place.  The _Crusta_ (OED?--ed.) is an improvement on the _cocktail_, and is said to have been invented by Santina, a celebrated Spanish caterer.  Its _differentia_ is a small quantity of lemon juice and a little lump of ice.  The paring of a lemon must also line the glass, from which feature it probably derives its name.

Pg. 180 (Note 1):
   The dictionary explanations of these terms are commonly unsatisfactory.  The experience of the bartender is more than the learning of the lexicographer. (...) (Pg. 181--ed.)  _Mull_ is from _mulled_, erroneously taken as a past participle.  According to Wedgwood, _mulled_ is a form of _mould_, and _mulled_ ale is funeral ale, _potatio funerosa_.

Pg. 183:
   In _mulls_, which may be made of any kind of wine, the essential feature is the boiling.  Sugar and spice, of which the nursery song tells us little girls are manufactured, are also invariably used in _mulls_.

Pg. 193:
   The following appeared in _Moonshine_, and may fitly conclude our chapter on American drinks, for which the verdant English youth has paid to the cunning dispenser so many nimble ninepences:--
(...)
   Or it may be thou would'st wish for an _American long drink_?
   Shall I brew a _Flash of Lightning_ or a _Bourbon Whiskey-skin_?
   Or a _Saratoga Brace-up_?  Sweetest, you have but to say,
   Nay, perhaps a _Bottle Cocktail_ would your kind approval win?
   Or a _Santa Cruz Rum Daisy_  will be something in your way?
   I can recommend a _Morning-Glory Cocktail_ to your taste
   And a _Corker_ or a _Nerver_ there are few who will despise...

(Is OED missing the Morning Glory?--ed.)



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