America’s First Famous Bartender

The cocktail is practically an American institution. One of the first Bartenders to popularize the cocktail was Jerry Thomas, America’s original “Celebrity Bartender.” Thomas wrote what is considered one of the first books containing cocktail recipes, “The Bartenders Guide”.

When I first came across this little volume (last published in 1887) in a dusty old bookstore, I was impressed. Here the history of cocktails was finally revealed! I bought it on the spot and literally sat up all night and read the book cover to cover. For anyone with even the slightest interest in cocktails and drinks, it’s a gripping read. Jerry Thomas is to cocktail culture what Louis Armstrong is to jazz!

Here at last, written on paper, were some of the earliest cocktail recipes ever recorded. It was amazing, but it wasn’t just about cocktails, the book contained a number of other recipes, for “Punch, Egg Nogs, Juleps, Smashs, Cobblers, Mulls, Sangarees, Toddies, Slings, Sours, Flips, Negus, Shrubs, Pousse Coffee, Cups” and many, many more.

In total there were more than 230 original recipes. Some were famous, some I had never heard of! They represented an amazing cross section of exciting and wonderful drinks.

Jeremiah P. Thomas was born in Jefferson County, New York, in November 1830 and first learned the trade as a waiter in New Haven. He then went to San Francisco and the California gold fields.

In 1851 he opened the first of four salons in New York, below the Barnum Museum at Broadway and Ann Street. He then appears to have traveled the United States for several years. He working as head waiter in the best hotels in St. Louis, Chicago, San Francisco, Charleston, South Carolina and New Orleans. Little by little becoming the first famous bartender in America! In 1859 he visited London and Paris. He took with him a set of solid silver utensils constructed at a cost of $4,000!

Returning to New York, Thomas became the head bartender at the Metropolitan Hotel. Then in 1866 he opened his most famous bar located on Broadway between 21st and 22nd streets.

Thomas was “an imposing and stately figure of a man, portly, elegant and jovial, yet possessed of immense dignity”. His trademark was a “jacket of pure, immaculate white that wrapped around the great bulk of him.” He also sported a huge mustache, Walrus style! Obviously a man seen once, not easily forgotten!

The various lounges that he operated became exhibition venues where he demonstrated his art as a mixologist. They were very popular with sports and theater celebrities of the time. To quote the New York Times at his death in 1885, “he was at one time better known among the men of the club and the men of the city than any other bartender in the city, and was very popular with all classes.” .

He is credited with inventing the “Blue Blazer” and the “Tom and Jerry” and certainly popularized many other early cocktails and drinks. Referring to the Blue Blazer, the Bartender’s Guide states: “The novice mixer should be careful not to burn himself. To become adept at pouring the liquid from one cup to the other, it will be necessary to practice for some time with water. cold.”

Thomas’s book was first published in 1862 and quickly went through half a dozen editions. The book was updated in 1876 and the final edition was published in 1887. In the first edition there were ten recipes that Thomas referred to as cocktails (in the 1887 edition there were more than 20 cocktails). His book was probably the first to include real cocktail recipes and certainly the world’s first bartender’s guide.