Angostura mixing guide 1947 (image heavy)

A great little mixing guide for bartenders put out in 1947 from the Angostura-Wuppermann company. Filled with great period bartending info. This is a small selection of the 94 page booklet. Enjoy

Thanks for posting this!

I love comparing recipes from the old published cocktail guides.

For example I've been making Monte Carlo's with 1 part rye to 1 part benedictine.

The Trader Vics 1947 guide lists it as 1.5 bourbon (I prefer rye) to .5 benedictine.

This guide settles nicely in the middle at 2/3 rye 1/3 benedictine

I love that they emphasize the importance of measuring ingredients (Accuracy means Uniformity!)

That Zombie recipe looks like it might be worth trying.

And I'll definitely be making myself those swizzles.

Looks like I'll be digging around to add this to my cocktail book shelf.

Thanks Tofu. Tons of info in this little book. Talks of the proper way to make ice, clean glassware,proper measure, and even the different types of rum. Hot drinks, punches, just a cool little book.

On 2007-08-25 10:59, TofuJoe wrote:

I love that they emphasize the importance of measuring ingredients (Accuracy means Uniformity!)

That Zombie recipe looks like it might be worth trying.

And I'll definitely be making myself those swizzles.

Looks like I'll be digging around to add this to my cocktail book shelf.

That Zombie recipe is the same recipe I've been carting around with me since the 90's. It's a great zombie and not so different than the one listed in the Grog Log. Berry's given us four recipes for the Zombie, two definitively Beachcomber recipes, one quasi-Beachcomber known as Spievak's Zombie, as well as the anonymous 1934 knock-off. The recipe above fits into the latter category. Because Don refused to share his recipes, the Angostura recipe and its close cousin, the 1934 anonymous Zombie are now the official "Zombie" recipes of note. I've made every type of Zombie recipe under the sun, and while I acknowledge Don's "Zombie" recipes via Berry as being authentic and true, Don's failure to reveal his recipe means the 1934 knock-off is now the authentic Zombie of record for bar keepers everywhere.

It's no different than the debate over the Mail Tai. Let's say Don really did invent a drink called the Mai Tai. Because he failed to reveal the ingredients, the result is that TV's formula is the Mai Tai of record. Don's descendants can't argue that.

TV believed that drink formulas should be published. He wasn't afraid to share and believed the real draw for the drink wasn't the one made at home or by a competitor, but the ambiance one could only get at TV's.

I agree. If you think about it, it's the same arguement the believers in "open code" versus Microsoft are having today. Open code doesn't cause a loss of profits for a company, confusion about it's code does.

Given Beach's tinkering nature, I find it hard to believe that he didn't mix something very similar to (what we here consider) the Mai Tai recipe. Maybe its just me, but it seems a bit pedestrian for Beach. I suspect he would use almond extract instead of orgeat for example. I'm perfectly happy giving credit to Vic for the Mai Tai I drink today (or will be drinking today). The story of how it was designed to highlight specific rums seems to ring true.

Funny with the Zombie. I've been drinking the Spievak version (served at Forbidden Island) and recently (if you ask nice and take good care of them) the bartenders have been mixing up all the varieties Zombie in Safari. These are just different drinks. I'm of the opinion that you can't deny the 1934 version as found in the little black book of Don Santiago (safari pg 123) as being the closest to the original we are going to find. I suspect that Spievak may have been given that 1950 version, but that Don knew it was not even close to the orginal.

Both of those are good drinks. And, as you say, since the recipe was clouded in mystery for so long, we have to consider them both to be the Zombie.

I don't think we will ever be done debating the best Zombie :wink: