May 8, 2013 
“Daniel Crow visits James Crow’s Distillery.” The illustration for an advertisement in Life, September 21, 1953.
“James Crow ships a barrel of whiskey to Henry Clay.” The illustration from an advertisement in Life, November 1953.
Th’lowest man I know is the one who wins your confidence, buys your liquor, and then turns you in. I believe there’s a special place for people like that after they die.
—A moonshiner, quoted in The Foxfire Book, “Moonshining as a Fine Art”.
Life, May 27, 1946.
YE OLD CELLAR on Michigan Avenue in Chicago has entertainment at the bar. Such barroom cabarets are typical of Chicago, have become popular in the past few years.
A photograph from an advertisement for Ronrico Puerto Rican Rum in Life, 1953.
LOS ANGELES, CALIF. Cocktails at art shows are no novelty these days. In fact, Dalzell Hatfield, of Los Angeles’ famous Hatfield Galleries, thinks that’s exactly their trouble—no novelty.
Mr. Hatfield himself is a gourmet as well as an art connoisseur. At a private showing recently he devised two entirely new cocktails made with Rum. He called them simply Cocktail “X” and Cocktail “Y”. Reaction was immediate and enthusiastic.
They stopped the show.
Guests demanded the recipes. Since then, many have been serving Cocktail “X” and Cocktail “Y” in their own homes and telling their barmen how to make them.
Cocktail X
- 4 pts. light Puerto Rican Rum
- 1 pt. very dry Sherry
Stir with plenty of ice like a martini. Serve in a cocktail glass with an olive or onion.
Cocktail Y
- 3 pts. gold Puerto Rican Rum
- 2 parts Ruby Port
Stir with ice. Serve in chilled cocktail glass with cherry or twist of lemon.
The illustration from an advertisement for Pabst in Life, September 21, 1953.
Every lover of fine cheese will appreciate the perfect flavor companionship of these golden slices—and Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. So smooth, so satisfying with good food, Pabst Blue Ribbon opens up a whole new world of beer enjoyment.
Life, May 27, 1946.
THE CRYSTAL in Virginia City, Nevada, famous for its gold-plated chandeliers, is the gaudiest remnant of the great mining days of the Comstock Lode. Important drinkers put their signatures on the bar register, which contains names like Ulysses S. Grant, Thomas A. Edison and John Mackay, who dug a fortune out of Virgnia City mines.
Life, May 27, 1946.
ZEBRA ROOM in the Town House, Los Angeles, featured “Vesuvius,” which costs $5. Recipe: pack 1 1/2 ounces shaved ice in glass, pour in 1/2 ounce grenadine. Add more ice and pour it over one ounce creme de menthe. Repeat with Cointreau, then with Southern Comfort. Top with lemon rind soaked in rum and dipped in sugar. Light it.
“Gin Lane” by William Hogarth, 1751, in support of the British Gin Act of 1751. This is part of the diptych Beer Street and Gin Lane.
“Beer Street” by William Hogarth, 1751. This is the other half of Beer Street and Gin Lane, two illustrations in support of the British Gin Act of 1751. Here, as was often the case in the early temperance movements, beer as seen is the alcoholic beverage for the industrious and responsible.
He shivers again but not from the cold. ¶ Bourbon does for me what the piece of cake did for Proust.
Walker Percy in The Claremont Review of Books.
BARBACUE.
The subscribed respectfully informs the citizens of Fayette and the adjoining counties, that he will prepare an elegant Barbacue Dinner, on the Fourth of July, at his own house, on the Limestone road, nine miles from Lexington…. The subscriber furnishes foreign liquors of the best quality for the LADIES—the gentlemen will have free access to the use of domestic liquors. Tickets of admittance, two dollars—there will be no expense nor personal trouble omitted to render his entertainment brilliant and interesting.
—An 1815 advertisement in a Lexington, Kentucky newspaper, quoted in Robert F. Moss, Barbecue: The History of an American Institution.
2 of 21
Previous page
Next page
