Exploring Drinks of the 30's in Just Cocktails

Vintage cocktail guides are fun to collect but few have the whimsy and character of my newest find. In 1939 W.C. Whitfield put together a collection of popular cocktails from the Post-Prohibition era back to what he refers to as "The Gay Nineties" (1890's) called Just Cocktails. This bar guide looks small (with just 50 pages) but it includes over 300 cocktails, all of which follow the trends of the day. You mostly see gin, brandy and whiskey recipes (rum making a comeback), a lot vermouth and bitters being used, and quite a few with absinthe (which at that time was already illegal, but Whitfield swears such as Pernod will be "just as good").

As we still see today, a bartending guide would not be the same if it did not include standards like the Martini, Manhattan, Old-fashioned, Bronx, Whiskey Sour and Champagne Cocktail, but that section is minuscule in comparison to the "unknowns." The Abbey, Golden Dawn, Club Cocktail and Income Tax Cocktail all make an appearance and, even more obscure are the likes of the Journalist, Washington and Dempsey. Little nuances such as adding rum to a Sazerac for a Zazarac and a Yale Cocktail that has it's signature blue hue thanks to creme de yvette (instead of our modern favorite blue curacao) add an interesting twist.

Many of the recipes are illustrated with 30's style cartoons that play off of the drink's name so you're not just seeing ingredient list after ingredient list and, as simple as they are, round off the book's wood-cover charm. My favorite illustration finishes the book: a man who is clearly sloshed lays face first below a table with bottles of booze, glasses, a shaker and a bar spoon tossed about (the epitome of drinking oneself "under the table") with a caption that says "That's All." It is the perfect finishing touch.