The Last Word

HALLOWEEN
Halloween is celebrated every year on October 31. The tradition started as an ancient Celtic festival called Samhain when bonfires were lit and people wore costumes to scare off ghosts. In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III decided that November 1 should be a day to honor all saints. The two celebrations soon merged and the evening before All Saints Day came to be known as All Hallows Eve, later Halloween. In the United States Halloween parties didn’t really take off until the late 19th century when a great amount of Irish immigrants came, fleeing the Irish Potato Famine. So shake up a Bloody Mary, Blood and Sand, Zombie, Death in the Afternoon, El Diablo a Last Word or any other Halloween-like cocktails to celebrate this All Hallows Eve.

THE LAST WORD
The cocktail was invented at the Detroit Athletics Club around 1915, a club originally founded in 1887 but remade in the early 1900s to cater to Car Company executives and other prominent Detroiters. Not only was the club exclusive, the Last Word was the most expensive cocktail at the club selling for 35 cents, twice as much as a Manhattan.

The Last Word might have been made in honor of the New York vaudeville performer Frank Fogarty. He was performing at Detroit’s Temple Theater at the time of the drinks creation, and the name of the cocktail might be an allusion to the monologue with which he closed his act. The recipe for the Last Word didn’t appear in print until Ted Saucier, an authority on food and drink, added it to his 1951 cocktail book Bottoms Up. In the book Saucier, a boulevardier according to New York Times, calls Fogarty “a very fine monologue artist”. After Bottoms Up the drink never really took off, until the early 2000s.

THE DESIGNER
The cocktail glass was designed by Polish-Ukrainian designer Wszewłod Sarnecki in 1964.

Fog So Thick You Can Cut It

This is yet another Trader Vic original and its his most popular creation after the Mai Tai, and closely related to the Scorpion. The drink was first served in the 1940s at Trader Vic’s in Oakland, California.

The drink is very citrus forward and even with the addition of the favorite Tiki drink sweetener, orgeat, the Fog Cutter is definitely on the tart side, more like a sour than a tiki drink. It soon became immensely popular and thanks to this the original recipe has been tweaked in numerous ways like dialing down the lemon and changing brandy to pisco, as they do at Smuggler’s Cove, a tiki bar in San Francisco.

When making this classic, remember that Mr. Bergeron wrote in his Trader Vic’s Book of Food & Drink from 1946 “This is delicious but a triple threat. You can get pretty stinking on these, no fooling.” In the Trader Vic’s Pacific Island Cookbook from 1968 he explained that the drink should be served with straws (and two aspirin).

The Fog Cutter is said to be one of the very first tiki drinks that was served in a tiki mug. Ever since its inception in the 1940s the drink has been served in a signature mug adorned with a hula girl. In his Bartender’s Guide from 1947, Victor Bergeron even pictured the Fog Cutter hula girl mug along with specific glasses for all the different types of drinks in his book, 30 different glasses and mugs in total.

THE DESIGNER
The tiki mug used for this Fog Cutter is not Trader Vic’s. Instead it’s a mug, designed by Stella Bodey in the late 1950s, called the Island Chief. Bodey was very influential in the development of Tiki mugs, working for Spurlin Ceramics in Lynwood, California where she made most of her designs between 1957-1959.

The Agent And His Sidekick Cocktail

October 4th is International Vodka Day, a day to celebrate the versatile liquor that accounts for almost 25 percent of all spirits sold in North America. Here’s to the spirit that “Leaves you Breathless”, as the Smirnoff ad campaign from the 1950s touted.

THE VESPER
In 1952 the British former spy and writer, Ian Fleming, wrote his first book in a series of novels about the British agent extraordinaire with a license to kill. The book was Casino Royal and it featured a double agent called Vesper Lynd. Being the first ever Bond woman and thus James Bond’s first love interest she got a cocktail named after her, the Vesper. The cocktail, a version of the Martini, was created by Ian Fleming himself and the instructions Bond gave to a bartender in the book were very clear. “Three measures of Gordon’s, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it’s ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon peel.” The only problem making it today is that the bitter Kina Lillet was discontinued in 1969 so you have to substitute it either with Cocchi Americano to get the original bitterness or use Lillet Blanc and maybe add some bitters to the drink. Ian Fleming might have gotten the idea for the Vesper from Ted Saucier’s 1951 cocktail book Bottoms Up, a book where the Vodka Martini first appeared in print. Saucier credited Jerome Zerbe, photographer, and Society Editor for Town and Country, with the recipe. On a side note, during the 1930s and onwards Jerome Zerbe worked at the Rainbow Room, the nightclub El Morocco and at the Stork Club as one of the first ever paparazzi.

THE DESIGNER
Lee Broom designed the glass, On the Rock, in 2014.

The Actor That Didn't Like Her Mocktail

In 2008 India’s health ministry proposed the World Health Assembly in Geneva that October 2 be declared World No Alcohol Day. The date was picked as it coincides with Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday. So it’s the perfect day to enjoy the most famous non-alcoholic drink there is.

THE SHIRLEY TEMPLE
The Shirley Temple is possibly the most famous non-alcoholic cocktail ever made. It might even be the very first mocktail. The drink is named after Shirley Jane Temple, born in 1928. She was an American singer, dancer, actor and diplomat. She is most famous for her acting career as a child during the 1930s and, of course, for the cocktail.

As a child she lived the life of the movie star but in a city full of fancy restaurants and cocktails she couldn’t take part in the latter. On a night out for dinner at the Chasen’s restaurant in Hollywood her parents sat at the bar sipping Old Fashioneds. Naturally Temple also wanted a fancy drink but being very much under age, the bartender kindly whipped up a special drink for her. He added some maraschino cherries to make it look more like her parents drinks, and simply called it a Shirley Temple. At least, so the story goes. Ms. Temple herself said it was created in the 1930s at Brown’s Derby restaurant in Hollywood, another hangout for the Hollywood crowd, but that she had nothing to do with it. Shirley Temple herself was apparently never a fan of the drink. In an interview in 1986 she said that “all over the world I am served that. People think it’s funny. I hate them. Too sweet!”. During the 1940s she wasn’t as sought after as an actor anymore and in 1950 Temple officially left the movie business. Instead she started a career in politics, just like actor Ronald Reagan.

THE DESIGNER
The glass called Strikt was designed by the Swedish sculptor and designer Bengt Orup in 1953.

A New Yorkers Take On Japan

This cocktail first appeared in print in Jerry Thomas’s legendary book “How To Mix Drinks or The Bon Vivant’s Companion” from 1862. The book, that also goes by the name “The Bar-Tender’s Guide” is regarded to be the first ever cocktail book, or at least the first book entirely dedicated to cocktails. At the time of printing the cocktail had been around for just two years. It was in all likelihood created as a tribute to the first Japanese Diplomatic Mission to the United States. After arriving in San Francisco the mission visited Washington DC before coming to New York where they stayed at the Metopolitan Hotel just a block away from Jerry Thomas’s Palace Bar on 622 Broadway.

One of the members of the delegation was a 17-year old translator called Tateishi Onojirou Noriyuki, who everyone in the US simply called Tommy. Thanks to cocktail historian David Wondrich, we know that a reporter from the Minneapolis Tribune followed the delegation’s trip making Tommy into something of a darling to the media. He really enjoyed the western lifestyle, including cocktails, and apparently he was a bit of a ladies man.

The Japanese Cocktail is one of the few cocktails that are known to be created by Jerry Thomas, often called “The Professor” for his ability to cater even to the most demanding customers. Being known for his showmanship he traveled around the United States only using solid silver bar tools and cups decorated with precious stones.

Jerry Thomas’s creation, the Blue Blazer, was definitely his most spectacular. It is made from a blend of whiskey, sugar and boiling water that he set ablaze and then poured between two tankards while on fire. A show that set The Professor apart from his competitors.

THE DESIGNER
The glass is actually a wooden sake cup called Tohka Souen, designed by Masaharu Asano.

The World Mai Tai Day

On August 30, 2009, the city of Oakland declared that from then on August 30 should be World Mai Tai Day. It was a day in August 1944 Victor Bergeron made the first Mai Tai.

THE MAI TAI
The history of the Mai Tai is a story of two tiki bar giants. Victor Jules Bergeron (aka Trader Vic) and Ernest Raymond Beaumont Gantt (aka Donn Beach, or Don the Beachcomber). Donn Beach opened his first South Pacific style restaurant in Hollywood in 1933. He was a rum connoisseur and started making exotic rum drinks inspired by his many travels.

Trader Vic had his own restaurant called Hinky Dinks that he opened in 1934 in Oakland, California. After a trip to Cuba to refine his bartender skills and learn more about rum, the Trader remodeled Hinky Dinks into a Polynesian style tiki bar and changed the name to Trader Vic’s.

The Mai Tai was first made in 1944 for Ham and Carrie Guild, a couple of Tahitian friends of Bergeron’s. They liked it so much Carrie Guild exclaimed in Tahitian “Mai Tai-Roa A’e” meaning “Out of this world, the best”. “That was that”, as Mr. Bergeron said.

Trader Vic and Don the Beachcomber fought over the invention of the Mai Tai for many years but when Mr. Beach claimed the drink to be his the Trader had enough. Donn was sued and lost. Trader Vic stated “There has been a lot of conversation over the beginning of the Mai Tai, and I want to get the record straight. I originated the Mai Tai, but many others have claimed credit … Anyone who says I didn’t create the drink is a dirty stinker.” Victor Bergeron might however have got the inspiration for the drink, along with making a tiki bar out of Hinky Dinks, from Donn Beach so without Donn we probably wouldn’t have the Mai Tai.

THE DESIGNER
The glass, called Pitagora after its triangular base, was designed by Marco Zanuso in 1969.

The Whiskey Sour Day Celebrated With A New York Sour

The Whiskey Sour Day on August 25 each year is a perfect time to try this 19th century classic. Make it with bourbon or whiskey or try New York Sour by adding a Claret float.

THE WHISKEY SOUR
The first time the word sour was used in regards to a drink was in 1856 on a bar menu at Mart Ackermann’s Saloon in Toronto, Canada. In print the sour, brandy and gin, appears for the first time in 1862 in The Bartender’s Guide by Jerry Thomas. Eight years later, the Whiskey Sour makes the stage in Waukesha Plain Dealer, a Wisconsin newspaper. In 1883 the drink had already developed and many bartenders started adding a Claret float, to the drink. Apparently the word Claret was used a bit loosely at the time and didn’t necessarily mean a red wine from Bordeaux. This version came by many names but the bartending world finally settled on New York Sour.

The Whiskey Sour is traditionally made with whiskey, lemon juice, sugar and egg white, an ingredient that will smooth the tartness of the lemon juice and give the drink a frothy topping. The egg white was probably added in the early 1900s. Today the egg white is optional and you often find bars serving the Whiskey Sour without it.

THE DESIGNER
The glass, called Dondolino, was designed by Setsu & Shinobu Ito in 2016 and is painted using a technique with Japanese lacquer called Urushi.

The Sneaky International Rum Day

August 16 is International Rum Day and a great way to celebrate is to make a Sneaky Tiki, a Dark ’n Stormy, a Mai Tai or any other rum based cocktail.

THE SNEAKY TIKI
This is a tiki drink that wasn’t created by one of the tiki bar giants, Trader Vic or Don
the Beachcomber. It was first made either at the Wheel Bar at Harvey’s Casino Resort in Lake Tahoe or at Tiki Bob’s in San Francisco.

Harvey’s first opened right after WWII by gambling pioneer Harvey Gross. The casino started small with just six slot machines and eventually grew to a casino empire. In fact, it was the very first casino in Lake Tahoe, right at the border between Nevada and California.

Another possible creator of the Sneaky Tiki was “Sneaky” Bob Bryant. He worked in San Francisco as a bar manager for Trader Vic’s, who taught him the tricks of the trade. After a falling out with Victor Bergeron, “Sneaky” Bob left and in 1955 he started his own tiki bar just down the street. A bar he named Tiki Bob’s.

Decorated with Polynesian and Asian artifacts and having the guests welcomed by a 50s style tiki column right outside the entrance, Mr. Bryant made a bar rivaling his former employer. The bar’s signature drink was called the Super Sneaky Tiki. “Sneaky” Bob had the foresight to introduce the tiki mug to his bar, a new concept at the time. The design for Tiki Bob’s logo and Tiki mug was made by Alec Yuill-Thornton, an illustrator who had previously worked with Bergeron, illustrating his book Kitchen Kibitzer. Being one of the first Tiki mugs ever created it is highly sought after by collectors.

THE DESIGNER
Alec Yuill-Thornton designed the Tiki Bob tiki mug in 1955.

A Sgroppino on Ferragosto

Ferragosto is celebrated on August 15 every year. It is usually one of the hottest days in Italy and most Italians try to leave the cities. The celebration actually dates back to the year 18 BCE when the Roman Emperor Octavianus Augustus decided to establish several days of formal rest for the hard working agricultural workers of the Roman Empire. Even farm animals were released from work and decorated with flowers. The festivities started August 1 with more days spread out over August. During Roman times it was called Feriae Augusti, Latin for The Holiday of Augustus. (Augustus actually gave name to the month). The Catholic Church eventually decided to move Ferragosto to August 15 to coincide with the Assumption of Mary m. However you celebrate Ferragosto, cooling off the August heat with a Sgroppino is a great way to do it.

THE SGROPPINO
The Sgroppino was probably first created in a wealthy home in Venice during the sixteenth century. To be able to make sorbetto for the Sgroppino you need ice and the only households that kept ice during the Renaissance were the aristocrats and the very upper class. Ice was collected form rivers and lakes during winter and stored in ice houses for use in summer.

The drink could either be served as a palate cleanser or at the end of a meal as you would a limoncello today. The name Sgroppino comes for the Italian word sgropare, in Venetian dialect sgropin, the name still used in Venice, meaning to untie a knot, referring to knots in the stomach after a big dinner. The Sgroppino is made by whisking together sorbetto and prosecco to create a froth. Over time vodka, sambuca or limoncello was added making it more complex.

THE DESIGNER
The Narcisso glass was designed by Italian-American designer and sculptor Isabel Antonia Giampietro-Knoll in 1957.

The Bellini and the Prosecco Day

Prosecco Day is celebrated each year on August 13, initiated by Riondo Prosecco to celebrate the sparkling wine from the Italian North-East an hour from Venice.

THE BELLINI
The 15th century Venetian artist Giovanni Bellini, was famous for his vibrant colors and the bartender Giuseppe Cipriani was a big fan. When working at Hotel Europa in Venice in 1927 Cipriani got to know Harry Pickering, a young Bostonian, who was traveling with his wealthy aunt. After a fight his aunt left with her boyfriend and her money leaving Harry penniless with her dog. Giuseppe Cipriani lent Pickering 10,000 lire, an enormous amount of money for a bartender in 1927. Four years later, in February 1931, Pickering returned, not only with the 10,000 he borrowed but adding another 40,000. Enough money for Cipriani to open a bar of his own. His wife Giulietta found the perfect spot. A small old warehouse at the end of a cul-de-sac, just a stones throw from Piazza San Marco. It was exactly what they were looking for, a discreet 45 square meter bar right by the canal, a place customers had to know to go there. As a gesture of gratitude he named it Harry’s Bar.

Cipriani loved white peaches, which are plentiful in Italy from June to September. In 1948 he started making a white peach puree and adding prosecco. His customers loved it and a classic cocktail was born. He named it after his favorite painter due to the pink glow of the drink resembling a pink toga in a Bellini painting.

Over time Harry’s Bar became the favorite hangout for writers, actors and artists like Ernest Hemingway, Huphrey Bogart, Peggy Guggenheim, Charlie Chaplin and Lauren Bacall. In 2001 Harry’s Bar was declared a national landmark.

THE DESIGNER
The Jellies Family Flute was designed by Patricia Urquiola for Kartell in 2014.

The Apollo 11 Moon Landing and the Moonwalk Cocktail

It took the crew on Apollo 11 only 12 minutes to leave Earth and start orbiting the planet but another three days to reach lunar orbit. With 650 million people watching on television all over the world and with only 30 seconds of fuel remaining the Eagle landed in the Sea of Tranquility. At 10:56 p.m. EDT Neil Armstrong climbed down the ladder and became the first human to ever set foot on the lunar surface proclaiming “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind”. During two hours Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin collected samples and took photos before leaving an American flag to returning to Collins waiting in the orbiting command module, Columbia. After another four days they landed in the ocean outside Hawai’i in July 24.

THE MOONWALK
The Apollo 11 moon landing in the Sea of Tranquility was an incredible feat of engineering, effectively making the United States take the lead in the space race.

After returning to earth and a 21 day quarantine (nobody knew what disease or bacteria could be caught during space travel) the crew went on a 45 day, 24 country celebratory Apollo 11 “Giant step Presidential Goodwill World Tour”.

Before traveling across the globe they celebrated with cocktails and the first cocktail they had after returning from space was a Moonwalk. The cocktail was the invention of Joe Gilmore, head bartender at the Savoy’s American Bar in London. Even though the world tour took the astronauts to London Mr. Gilmore never got a chance to serve them his concoction at his bar. Instead he made the crew a batch of the cocktail and sent it to the US along with champagne and glasses.

THE DESIGNER
The glass, called Moonshot, was
made to honor the Apollo 11 expedition. Designed and produced by Libbey in 1969.

The Daiquiri Day

In 1898 an American engineer, Jennings Stockton Cox, led a mining exhibition in the small town of Daiquiri in Cuba. While entertaining guests when he ran out of gin. To keep the party afloat Cox went out and bought rum that was readily available in Cuba. July 19 is Daiquiri Day, a perfect day to raise your glass to Jennings Stockton Cox, to Constantino Ribalaigua or to Ernest Hemingway for that matter.

THE HEMINGWAY DAIQUIRI
”El Rey de los Cocteleros”, or Constantino Ribalaigua Vert, was born in 1888 and learned the trade from his father. At 26 he tended the bar at El Floridita, at 30, in 1918, he had made enough money to buy the bar. During thirty years Constante, as his customers called him, invented more than 200 cocktails, catering to a flow American tourists. The amount of tourists coming to Havana doubled during Prohibition from 45,000 per year in 1916 to 90,000 in 1926.

One of the most famous of El Floridita’s customers was undoubtedly Ernest Hemingway. In the early 1930’s being fairly new to the city, Hemingway was on the way back to his hotel when he ventured into El Floridita in search of a restroom. Some guests were going on about their excellent daiquiris. Hemingway ordered one, then asked for another, this time with less sugar and double the rum. That was the birth of the Papa Doble (Papa after his Cuban nickname and Doble for the double amount of rum). This first version was way too strong to be enjoyed by any other than Hemingway. He boasted having had 17 Papa Dobles in one go in 1942, amounting to about 1.5 liters of rum.

Over time Ribalaigua added grapefruit juice and maraschino to the rum and fresh lime juice. Ribalaigua gave this modified Papa Doble the name Hemingway Daiquiri.

THE DESIGNER
The glass, Model I-103 was designed in 1956 by Timo Sarpaneva.

The World Mojito Day

The Piña Colada Day was declared a holiday by Ricardo A. Cofresí in Puerto Rico in 1978, in honor of the drink, now known as a symbol of Caribbean culture. The best place to experience it is definitely at its birth place at the Caribe Hilton in Puerto Rico.

THE PIÑA COLADA
Piña Colada, means strained pineapple, and is referring to the freshly pressed and strained pineapple juice in the drink. The first time a drink named Piña Colada was mentioned in print was in an issue of Travel Magazine from December 1922. It was made with Bacardi Rum, pineapple juice, lime and sugar but most importantly, it did not include coconut. The name however, fits very well with this pineapple cocktail.

Nowadays, a Piña Colada is generally thought of as a creamy coconut-tasting drink and the original is usually referred to as a Cuban-style Piña Colada. The modern Piña Colada was invented on August 15, 1952 (the Caribe Hilton say 1954), after three months of hard work. Ramón “Monchito” Marrero Perez, the head barman at the Caribe Hilton in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico was trying to create a signature cocktail for the hotels Beachcomber Bar. He eventually landed on the Piña Colada possibly just adding Coco López cream of coconut, a new product in Puerto Rico at the time, to the existing Cuban drink. The change was big enough though to be considered an entirely new drink.

For 35 years Mr. Perez personally served Piña Coladas at the Caribe Hilton, making it so popular it was made the official drink of Puerto Rico in 1978. In 2004 the Caribe Hilton was presented with a official proclamation signed by Sila María Calderon, the Governor of Puerto Rico, in honor of the 50 year anniversary of the famous cocktail.

THE DESIGNER
The glass was designed by Agustina Bottoni in 2020 and is called High Spirits.

The Piña Colada Day

The Piña Colada Day was declared a holiday by Ricardo A. Cofresí in Puerto Rico in 1978, in honor of the drink, now known as a symbol of Caribbean culture. The best place to experience it is definitely at its birth place at the Caribe Hilton in Puerto Rico.

THE PIÑA COLADA
Piña Colada, means strained pineapple, and is referring to the freshly pressed and strained pineapple juice in the drink. The first time a drink named Piña Colada was mentioned in print was in an issue of Travel Magazine from December 1922. It was made with Bacardi Rum, pineapple juice, lime and sugar but most importantly, it did not include coconut. The name however, fits very well with this pineapple cocktail.

Nowadays, a Piña Colada is generally thought of as a creamy coconut-tasting drink and the original is usually referred to as a Cuban-style Piña Colada. The modern Piña Colada was invented on August 15, 1952 (the Caribe Hilton say 1954), after three months of hard work. Ramón “Monchito” Marrero Perez, the head barman at the Caribe Hilton in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico was trying to create a signature cocktail for the hotels Beachcomber Bar. He eventually landed on the Piña Colada possibly just adding Coco López cream of coconut, a new product in Puerto Rico at the time, to the existing Cuban drink. The change was big enough though to be considered an entirely new drink.

For 35 years Mr. Perez personally served Piña Coladas at the Caribe Hilton, making it so popular it was made the official drink of Puerto Rico in 1978. In 2004 the Caribe Hilton was presented with a official proclamation signed by Sila María Calderon, the Governor of Puerto Rico, in honor of the 50 year anniversary of the famous cocktail.

THE DESIGNER
The glass was designed by Agustina Bottoni in 2020 and is called High Spirits.

The 1962 Seattle World's Fair

These fantastic vintage glasses from the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair are the perfect vessel for a summery long drink, specially The Space Needle created by Trader Vic. Thank you @vignettesbymelissa for this amazing addition to the home bar. I absolutely love them!

THE SPACE NEEDLE
1 1/2 oz Light Puerto Rican Rum
1 1/2 oz Dark Jamaican Rum
1 oz Curaçao
1 1/2 oz Lemon Juice
3/4 oz Orgeat

Blend in a mixer with one scoop of ice.

THE HISTORY
The 1962 Seattle World’s Fair, known as Century 21 Exposition, was a transformative event for Seattle. Held from April 21 to October 21, it attracted nearly 10 million visitors. The fair’s theme focused on science, space, and the future, reflecting the era’s Space Race.

Key attractions included the iconic 605-foot Space Needle, the U.S. Science Exhibit (now Pacific Science Center), and the Monorail. The fair required significant infrastructure improvements, including downtown beautification and transportation upgrades.

Century 21 served national interests during the Cold War, showcasing American scientific prowess. It also aimed to inspire youth to pursue science careers and influence international opinion favorably toward the U.S.

The fair’s legacy is still evident in Seattle Center, a permanent cultural complex. It contributed to Seattle’s transformation from a regional city to a global player, laying groundwork for its current status as a tech hub.

The event embodied a spirit of innovation and forward-thinking that continues to shape Seattle’s identity. Its impact on culture, architecture, and aspirations makes it a defining moment in Seattle’s journey to becoming a 21st-century global city.

Great Tennis and a Great Drink

Wimbledon is considered to be the oldest tennis tournament in the world. The first Championships were held at the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club in Wimbledon, 1877. Since 1971, when the first Pimm’s Bar opened at Wimbledon, the Pimm’s Cup has been their signature drink. Each year an incredible 300,000 Pimm’s Cups are served during the 14 days long tennis tournament.

THE PIMM’S CUP
James Pimm was a shellfish monger born in Kent in Southern England. At the age of 30 he was already the owner of five London oyster bars, often frequented by the Royal Family. Sometime between 1823 and 1840 he invented a herbal tonic to help digestion. The “house cup”, as it was called in the oyster bar, was made with gin, quinine, caramelized orange and a carefully selected secret range of herbal botanicals and spices. It was so popular Mr. Pimm bottled it, as Pimm’s No.1 Cup, named after the cup (a small tankard) it was originally served in, and started marketing it as a health tonic. With sales on the rise Pimm branched out and in 1851 he started making a Pimm’s No.2, with Scotch whisky, and No.3 with brandy. By 1859 Pimm started selling his own gin, and six years after that Pimm’s was available all throughout the British Empire. Before his death in 1866 James Pimm had sold his company and the rights to his name to a Fredrick Sawyer who, after 20 years, sold it to the Mayor of London, Lord Horatio Davis.

Alongside the original, No.2 and No.3, through the years there has been a No.4 with rum, No.5 with rye whiskey, No.6 with vodka and lastly No.7 with tequila. Today, only the No.1 and No.6 is left on the market with the No.3 brandy version appearing seasonally as Pimm’s No.3 Winter Cup.

THE DESIGNER
The Tank Highball glass was designed by the British designer Tom Dixon in 2014.

Happy King Kamehameha Day!

King Kamehameha Day was proclaimed a national holiday on December 11, 1871 by King Kamehameha V to celebrate his grandfather, King Kamehameha the Great, the father of the Hawaiian Kingdom. Originally the people of Hawai’i wanted to honor Kamehameha V on his birthday on December 11, but being a humble chief he chose a date as far away from his own birthday as possible, June 11. Every year, a statue made in Italy in 1883, honoring King Kamehameha I in downtown Honolulu is draped with 90 thirty-foot flower leis. King Kamehameha Day is celebrated all over the Hawaiian islands with parades, dances and flower decorations.

THE ROYAL HAWAIIAN
Princess Ka’iulani was born in 1875 to Hawaiian Princess Miriam Likelike and Scottish-born businessman Arthur Cleghorn. At age 11 she lost her mother and at 13 she was sent to England to get a British education. While in England, in 1891, the King passed away and his sister, Lili’oukalani became Queen making Ka’iulani the heir apparent. When Ka’iulani finally came back in 1897 Queen Lili’oukalani had been forced to abdicate and a year later Hawaii was annexed by the US, something Princess Ka’iulani fought hard to stop. Having struggled with poor health during the 1890s the devastated Ka’iulani died in 1899, only 23 years old. Twenty eight years later, a pink palace, the Royal Hawaiian Hotel opened in Honolulu. During the 1920s they created a signature cocktail named Princess Ka’iulani as a tribute to the princess. The cocktail changed name in the 1950s to Royal Hawaiian, but the legacy of Princess Ka’iulani lives on as a symbol of strength, grace, and the rich cultural heritage of Hawai’i.

THE DESIGNER
The glass for the Royal Hawaiian is fittingly called Princess and was designed by Danish architect and designer Bent Severin in 1957.

THE ROYAL HAWAIIAN
3 parts Gin
2 parts Pineapple juice
1 1/2 parts Orgeat
1 part Lemon juice

Shake ingrediens with ice until well chilled. Strain into chilled glass. Garnish with an orchid.

Happy King Kamehameha Day!

From Hawaii to Oakland

This drink is also known as the Scorpion Bowl as it was originally made and served in a communal bowl for up to 15 people. The Scorpion is attributed to tiki pioneer Victor Bergeron aka Trader Vic, but rather than inventing it Trader Vic found it on a trip to Hawaii at a bar called the Hut in Honolulu. At the time of Bergerons travel the base ingredient was the local Hawaiian spirit Okolehao, made from the fermented and distilled root of the Ti plant. The Hawaiians were taught the distillation process by British sailors in the 1790s. In fact, the Okolehao became so popular in Hawaii that King Kalākaoa had his own Okolehao distillery. On a side note, the king was often referred to as The Merrie Monarch thanks to his habit of entertaining his guests by singing and playing the ukulele. When King Kalākaoa died in 1891, his sister Lili’uokalani took over the throne and became the last monarch of Hawai’i. 

Back in California Trader Vic modified the Scorpion by changing the Okolehao to the easier to come by rum. He kept the idea of a communal bowl and had a custom bowl made specifically for the Scorpion. In Mr Bergeron’s “Book of Food and Drink” from 1946 the recipe contained 15 ingredients, like one and a half bottles of rum, gin, brandy and half a bottle of white wine along with the fruit juices. It was made for 12 people though. Over the years Mr Bergeron modified the recipe quite a bit, simplifying the long list of ingredients and even made a single serve option. The one thing Trader Vic kept throughout the recipes is the Gardenia as a garnish. 

The glass is called Iris and was designed in 2009 by the Swedish glass designer Ann Wåhlström.

The Flower and the Cocktail (Mimosa Day)

Being Mimosa Day, why not give the Mimosa an extra kick by adding some Grand Marnier to the drink, making it a Grand Mimosa. Since it’s supposedly a favorite aperitif in the British Royal Family (along with the Dubonnet Cocktail) it is a perfect drink to enjoy on a warm day in May.’

THE MIMOSA
The Mimosa got its name from the delicate yellow Mimosa flower. It is essentially a fruitier Buck’s Fizz and was created in 1925 by a bartender called Frank Meier at the Ritz Hotel in Paris. Interestingly, in Frank Meier’s own cocktail book “The Artistry of Mixing Drinks” from 1936 Meier listed 300 cocktails marking the ones he had created with a symbol. The Mimosa never got one. It might have been a printer’s error or he never actually invented it. The Mimosa calls for equal measures of champagne and freshly squeezed orange juice served over ice whilst the Buck’s Fizz uses 1 part orange juice to 2 parts champagne without the ice. Some suggest the Mimosa was first made in San Francisco in the 1940’s by none other than Sir Alfred Hitchcock but as it appeared in Frank Meier’s cocktail book in 1936, that’s not very likely. That said, Hitchcock was, along with Royal Family, essential in making the Mimosa popular in the United States. In 1961 the London correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald reported that “The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, and the Queen Mother all have adopted a champagne cocktail they call Mimosa.” Apparently the Queen had been introduced to the drink by Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, who in turn had picked it up on a visit to France. The Mimosa appeared on brunch menus in New York in the early 1970s and has stayed ever since. 

THE DESIGNER
Cesare Colombo, more known as Joe Colombo, designed the Smoke glass in 1964. It is made so that you can drink while keeping your cigarette at the ready in the same hand.

A World Filled With Cocktails

On May 13 in 1806 the first known definition of the word cocktail was published in an upstate New York newspaper, The Balance and Columbian Repository. The cocktail, as they wrote it, was described as “a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water and bitters”. This is also the date Giuseppe Cipriani opened Harry’s Bar in Venice in 1931, home of the Bellini.

THE BEE’S KNEES
The Bee’s Knees was possibly created by the Austrian Frank Meier, during the 1920s when he was the first head bartender at Cafe Parisian at the Ritz Hotel in Paris. During WWII and the German occupation of Paris, Mr. Meier kept the bar open but being half Jewish he started working with the French resistance and handed information about the Germans staying at the Ritz to British intelligence. He also helped Jewish hotel guests escape the concentration camp roundups by providing them with fake documents.

The first time the cocktail was mentioned was in a news article from 1929 where it was attributed to the American socialite Margaret Brown. The article was about women-only bars in Paris and Margaret Brown, being a wealthy widow, shared her time between her home in Denver, Colorado and Paris where she was a frequent guest in these women-only bars. On a side note Margaret Brown also went by her nickname “the Unsinkable Molly Brown” after being one of the 712 people surviving the Titanic in 1912. Yet another background story is that  the honey used in the Bee’s Knees was added since it is a great way to hide the harsh taste of cheap bathtub gin. Putting it all together Margaret Brown might have had the cocktail in an American speakeasy and brought the recipe to Paris where Frank Meier made it his own. If so, all three origin stories could be true. But that, of course, is just mere speculation.

THE DESIGNER
Astrid  Luglio designed the glass called Travasi in 2023.