1953 The U K B G Guide to Drinks

FOREWORD

Much has been written, much has been said on the art of blending and mixing the combination of liquors known as the Cocktail. Many hundreds of recipes have from time to time over the past century been published by world- famous Cocktail Bartenders, and manj' have been found after comparison, most conflicting to the Public and Bartender ahke. Following requests from many of our members a Committee was formed from the Elected Council, under the Chairmanship of the President, who,for many months in their spare time,delved,explored,checked and compared many authoritative works, ancient and modern, coupled with the U.K.B.G. file of nearty 8,000 recipes, and have selected what they believe to be the original recipes of the better known and mostly-used drinks. It is known that some Bartenders have added other ingredients to the original recipes, such as various bitters and the white of eggs, which may or may not improve the drink,but which is conflicting to the customer and confusing to the apprentice Bartender. Many of our older members will remember the writings of James E. Hickejq a regular contributor to "The Bartender" who in June, 1937, wrote; "That he was recently given an order for a Detroiter Cocktail" and went on to say: "Since my knowledge of Detroit is confined to a visit to the Ford factory, 1 knew of no recipe for this mixture. Inquiry developed that it was to be made of Lemon Juice, Apricot Brandy and Gin, this same recipe is also known as the'Hop Toad'and'Bull Frog '. 1 have seen it listed dozens of times under various titles which have long since been forgotten. This instance only serves to underline the real necessity for a standard international guide to the popular mixtures so that we shall not be plagued for ever with this constant duplication of titles". This confusion has continued with the years and we now hope this book will help towards the standardisation of mixed drinks and fill a long-felt need. The reader will