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Foreword
..
..
The Author was for twenty years a "Wine Clerk." Per–
haps, though, "Wine Clerk" needs today, under t he Volsteadian
Eclipse, illumination of definit ion. He was one of those gentle–
men, and they were gentlemen, who mixed and served what–
ever "little hearts desired, " at and from the mahogany bars of
all
high-class cafes, clubs and hotels. And to secure such
occupation in the Liberal Age required- have no doubts of
it-long qualifying years of· training and experience, f'?r
~e
v.:as truly an artist in liquors, and as surely as the artist m
oils, had to mature to acceptable perfection for the patrons of
his art.
The Author, himself, was apprenticed as a young man to
the leading wholesalers of his native New England St.ate-to
l~
from them basically and comprehensively the w_hole
sub1ect of the varieties, qualit ies and care of liquors and wmes.
After a year he became attached to the corps of admittedly
the most epicurean hotel and restaurant east of t he Hudson
River, where in a service of three years he studied the applied
~
of compounding and properly serving "mixed and fancy
drinks" for a clientele of most refined and exacting t ast es.
This training and experience gave
him
currency as a qualified
"Wine Clerk" and opened t o him, for expert's finesse, ex:npioy–
ment successively at a select old Boston Club, a nationally
known rendesvouz in Washington, a Broadway
Rest~urant,
two of the most fastidious hotel bars of New York City and
lastly, for years before The Drought , at a Yale world-famous
hostelry in New Haven, Connecticut. .
So
that the Author confidently regards himself as an ac–
corded authority on t he subject matter of this volume.
It
represents a cull of the sum total of his " tricks of the trade"
accumulated as just outlined.
What he gives under the headings "General Directions
~d
Care of Bottled Goods" can be relied upon as perfectly m-
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