The last part of this series is about William Schmidt. He had the revolutionary idea of combining cream with liqueur and using it as an ingredient outside of traditional thinking.
Syllabub, Posset, Eggnog, and Tom and Jerry—these “old acquaintances,” which I discussed in previous posts in this series, are found repeatedly in old bar books. They are an expression of a British tradition dating back centuries. They could be prepared with or without cream. No other cream-based drinks were mentioned in the books.
William Schmidt: The Flowing Bowl. 1882, Portrait.[2]
But then the world of bartending changed. A new perspective emerged. A significant change, I would even say a small revolution, took place. Just as vermouth found its way into bars first as an ingredient in vermouth cocktails and then in Manhattan cocktails, leading to an explosion of creativity and becoming indispensable ever since, something similar happened with cream. We owe this enrichment to none other than the “ One and Only” William Schmidt.
David Wondrich writes in the Oxford Companion—and I could hardly summarize it better myself: »Schmidt, William (1850?–1905), nicknamed “the Only William,” was the most famous American bartender of the nineteenth century. Arguably, he was also the first cocktail bartender to achieve celebrity for the artistry of his drinks rather than the force of his personality. His 1891 book, The Flowing Bowl: What and When to Drink, introduced new patterns, techniques, and ingredients to the bartender’s art and a spirit of creativity that, though anomalous in its day, has tendrils that reach deep into the mixology of today. From 1888 almost until his death he was a regular presence in the pages of the New York newspapers and hence, through the practice of syndication, in the national ones. Indeed, such was his fame that he became proverbial: the standard against which all other mixologists were measured. Schmidt was born in Heide, northwest of Hamburg, Germany. According to his death certificate, that was in 1850, although his photographs suggest a man rather older than that. In any case, he worked for a time in Hamburg before coming to America in 1868. … Schmidt’s stock in trade consisted of a theatrical but precise style of bartending, a good deal of imagination in combining ingredients and in naming the combinations, and an ability to describe what he was doing in complete paragraphs of articulate, ornamental speech. … Schmidt’s book only cemented his position. The Flowing Bowl was the most elaborate bartender’s guide to come out since Jerry Thomas’s seminal work of 1862. Unlike that work, however, which contained only a handful of drinks original to Thomas, its 229 recipes included over a hundred that were, as well as can be determined, the author’s own creations. What’s more, ingredients new to the American bar abound, including orange bitters, digestives such as Fernet Branca and Calisaya, and liqueurs such as parfait amour, kümmel, and crèmes de cacao, menthe, vanille, violette, and roses. … Ultimately, The Flowing Bowl is the first truly personalcocktail book. … Few, if any, of Schmidt’s drinks made it into the canon of drinks that a bartender was expected to know. But if his recipes have faded away, the space he opened for creativity, his expansion of the bartender’s palette, and his clever use of publicity and the media permanently changed the culture of mixed drinks.« [1-629]
One should continue to research his life biographically, but that should be done in a separate post. However, I can already say this much: he does not appear to have been born in Heide, in the district of Dithmarschen, because my review of the relevant baptismal registers revealed that no Schmidt family is listed there between 1821 and 1852. And he was not the first to use orange bitters. It can already be found in Jerry Thomas’s book from 1862, and Harry Johnson lists it as an ingredient in Back-Board in 1888.
Doch zurück zu William Schmidts revolutionärem Buch ›The Flowing Bowl‹. Was seine Rezepte auszeichnet, ist die reichliche Verwendung verschiedenster bis dahin als Zutat nicht verwendeter Liköre. Mindestens genauso wichtig ist – und das scheint noch niemandem aufgefallen zu sein: über fünf Prozent der darin enthaltenen Rezepte enthalten Sahne als Zutat! Insgesamt sind es 28, und fast alle sind etwas Neuartiges. Beispielsweise wird der Sour auch mit zusätzlicher Sahne zubereitet. Er führt viele Fizzes an, die nicht nur Eiweiß, sondern auch Sahne beinhalten. Er publiziert viele Pousse Cafés, die als oberste Schicht Sahne haben.
So ist er wohl der Erste, der Sahne und Likör in einem Getränk kombinierte. Zur Verdeutlichung möchte ich von seinen zahlreichen Kreationen eine herauspicken. Sie nennt sich Chocolate Punch: »Ein Glas mit einem Ei am Boden, ein Löffel Zucker, 2/3 Brandy, 1/3 Portwein, ein Schuss Crème de Cacao, ein Pony Sahne. Fülle das Glas mit Eis, schüttle es gut, seihe es ab und serviere es.« [2-153]
William Schmidt: The Flowing Bowl. 1882, page 153.[2-153]
– »Chocolate Punch. A glass with an egg in the bottom, a spoonful of sugar, 2/3 of brandy, 1/3 of port wine, 1 dash of creme de cocoa, 1 pony of cream. Fill your glass with ice; shake well; strain, and serve.[2-153]
At this point, it may be appropriate to mention William Schmidt’s opinion on eggs in mixed drinks. In 1888, he was quoted in a newspaper article as saying: »Drinks with soul in them. Additional pearls from the lips of William the Able. – The Egg in Drinking – William calls it the bartender’s best friend.« [3]
Through his creativity, which established cream and liqueurs as common ingredients in mixed drinks, William Schmidt laid the foundation not only for all future cream drinks.
Unfortunately, William Schmidt’s recipes did not make it into the canon of drinks. They have been forgotten. However, even though none of his drinks have made it to the present day, the foundations he laid are still our tools of the trade. It was he who established cream and liqueur as ingredients, and it is only because of this that recipes with cream or various liqueurs emerged in the following years. No one is aware of this anymore, but his creativity is still with us today.
What influence did his revolutionary book have? Books by other authors after 1892 show the old pattern again: if anything, only traditional cream drinks are known. Occasionally, however, an innovation creeps in, and cream drinks emerge off the beaten track, whether based on a sour with egg, cream and liqueur, sometimes omitting the egg, with exotic liqueurs such as crème de violette, or, of course, other mixtures. There are also many pousse cafés topped with a little cream. In books, however, cream drinks are still the exception, and only a few recipes, if any, are included.
Then Prohibition soon came along and dealt a fatal blow to the creative American bar scene. Before that happened, however, William Schmidt’s ideas had become established as the standard. This can be seen in the book ‘The Reminder’ by Jacob A. Didier. In the first edition from 1909, [8] lhe lists eleven cream drinks, while in the third edition from 1917, [9] there are a total of 39, or in other words, around 6.7 per cent of the recipes. This is clear evidence that the use of cream had become established outside of traditional patterns.
One might think that the use of cream is perhaps something typically German. After all, the Lexikon der Getränke [4] (Encyclopaedia of Beverages), published in Cologne in 1913, contains 39 cream drinks. However, on closer inspection, it becomes apparent that most of these had already been published in American books. If the use of cream were typically German, this first comprehensive collection of recipes from Germany – containing around 3,000 drinks – would contain many more recipes with cream. The other German books, such as Hegenbarth’s Getränkebuch (Hegenbarth’s Beverage Book) from 1899, [5] Der Mixologist (The Mixologist) from 1909, [6] and Rund um die Bar (Around the Bar) from 1934, [7] contain little more than a few recipes.
This is evidence that the generous use of cream must have been a personal preference and innovation of William Schmidt’s, rather than something he brought with him from his country of birth.
However, the Lexikon der Getränke (Encyclopaedia of Beverages) lists a drink that did not exist before. It bears the rather unpromising title Bach-Chor-Club: “Fill a mixing glass halfway with ice, add: 1/2 cocktail glass of crème de cacao; 1/4 cocktail glass of cognac, 1/4 cocktail glass of cream, shake, strain into a cocktail glass.” [4-21]
Hans Schönfeld & John Leybold: Lexikon der Getränke. 1913, page 21. [4-21]
Although somewhat on the chocolate liqueur side, this is already a Brandy Alexander. Unfortunately, we do not know who created it or where it originated. But one thing seems clear to me: William Schmidt laid the foundation for it.
Sources
David Wondrich & Noah Rothbaum (editor): The Oxford Companion to Spirits & Cocktails. ISBN 9780199311132. 2022.
William Schmidt: The Flowing Bowl. When and What to Drink. Full Instructions How to Prepare, Mix, and Serve Beverages. New York, Charles L. Webster & Co., 1892.
Hans Schönfeld & John Leybold: Lexikon der Getränke (circa 3000 Erklärungen von Getränken verschiedener Nationen.). 1. Auflage. Köln, Leybold & Schönfeld, 1913.
Anonymus: Hegenbarth’s Getränkebuch. Eine Sammlung zeitgemäßer Vorschriften zu Herstellung von Bowlen, Punsch u. Sonstigen Mischgetränkengetränken. Mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der in- und ausländischen Kaffeehaus- sowie der Apfel- und Fruchtwein-Getränke. Plauen Dresden, Max Hegebarth’s Verlag, 1899.
Carl A. Seutter: Der Mixologist. Illustriertes internationales Getränke-Buch. 1. Auflage. Leipzig, P.M. Blühers Verlag, 1909.
A. T. Neirath: Rund um die Bar. Ein Lehrbuch für Bartender und Mixer, mit einem Anhang einer Sammlung erprobter und international bekannter Rezepte, unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Standard-Rezepte. Dresden, (1934).
Jacob A. Didier: The Reminder. An Up-to-Date, Bartenders‘ Vest Pocket. How to Mix Drinks of the Present Time. Containing Clear and Practical Directions for Mixing the Most Popular Plain and Fancy Drinks, Such as Cocktails, Daisies, Fixes, Fizzes, Flips, Sours, Cobblers, Punches, Rickeys, High Balls, Frappes, Juleps, Hot Drinks, Etc. Etc. 3. Auflage. New York, The Outing Press, 1909.
Jacob A. Didier: The Reminder. An Up-to-Date, Bartenders‘ Vest Pocket. How to Mix Drinks of the Present Time. Containing Clear and Practical Directions for Mixing the Most Popular Plain and Fancy Drinks, Such as Cocktails, Daisies, Fixes, Fizzes, Flips, Sours, Cobblers, Punches, Rickeys, High Balls, Frappes, Juleps, Hot Drinks, Etc. Etc. 5. Auflage. Ohne Ort, 1917.
Syllabub, Posset, Eggnog, and Tom and Jerry—these “old acquaintances,” which I discussed in previous posts in this series, are found repeatedly in old bar books. They are an expression of a British tradition dating back centuries. They could be prepared with or without cream. No other cream-based drinks were mentioned in the books.
But then the world of bartending changed. A new perspective emerged. A significant change, I would even say a small revolution, took place. Just as vermouth found its way into bars first as an ingredient in vermouth cocktails and then in Manhattan cocktails, leading to an explosion of creativity and becoming indispensable ever since, something similar happened with cream. We owe this enrichment to none other than the “ One and Only” William Schmidt.
David Wondrich writes in the Oxford Companion—and I could hardly summarize it better myself: »Schmidt, William (1850?–1905), nicknamed “the Only William,” was the most famous American bartender of the nineteenth century. Arguably, he was also the first cocktail bartender to achieve celebrity for the artistry of his drinks rather than the force of his personality. His 1891 book, The Flowing Bowl: What and When to Drink, introduced new patterns, techniques, and ingredients to the bartender’s art and a spirit of creativity that, though anomalous in its day, has tendrils that reach deep into the mixology of today. From 1888 almost until his death he was a regular presence in the pages of the New York newspapers and hence, through the practice of syndication, in the national ones. Indeed, such was his fame that he became proverbial: the standard against which all other mixologists were measured. Schmidt was born in Heide, northwest of Hamburg, Germany. According to his death certificate, that was in 1850, although his photographs suggest a man rather older than that. In any case, he worked for a time in Hamburg before coming to America in 1868. … Schmidt’s stock in trade consisted of a theatrical but precise style of bartending, a good deal of imagination in combining ingredients and in naming the combinations, and an ability to describe what he was doing in complete paragraphs of articulate, ornamental speech. … Schmidt’s book only cemented his position. The Flowing Bowl was the most elaborate bartender’s guide to come out since Jerry Thomas’s seminal work of 1862. Unlike that work, however, which contained only a handful of drinks original to Thomas, its 229 recipes included over a hundred that were, as well as can be determined, the author’s own creations. What’s more, ingredients new to the American bar abound, including orange bitters, digestives such as Fernet Branca and Calisaya, and liqueurs such as parfait amour, kümmel, and crèmes de cacao, menthe, vanille, violette, and roses. … Ultimately, The Flowing Bowl is the first truly personalcocktail book. … Few, if any, of Schmidt’s drinks made it into the canon of drinks that a bartender was expected to know. But if his recipes have faded away, the space he opened for creativity, his expansion of the bartender’s palette, and his clever use of publicity and the media permanently changed the culture of mixed drinks.« [1-629]
One should continue to research his life biographically, but that should be done in a separate post. However, I can already say this much: he does not appear to have been born in Heide, in the district of Dithmarschen, because my review of the relevant baptismal registers revealed that no Schmidt family is listed there between 1821 and 1852. And he was not the first to use orange bitters. It can already be found in Jerry Thomas’s book from 1862, and Harry Johnson lists it as an ingredient in Back-Board in 1888.
Doch zurück zu William Schmidts revolutionärem Buch ›The Flowing Bowl‹. Was seine Rezepte auszeichnet, ist die reichliche Verwendung verschiedenster bis dahin als Zutat nicht verwendeter Liköre. Mindestens genauso wichtig ist – und das scheint noch niemandem aufgefallen zu sein: über fünf Prozent der darin enthaltenen Rezepte enthalten Sahne als Zutat! Insgesamt sind es 28, und fast alle sind etwas Neuartiges. Beispielsweise wird der Sour auch mit zusätzlicher Sahne zubereitet. Er führt viele Fizzes an, die nicht nur Eiweiß, sondern auch Sahne beinhalten. Er publiziert viele Pousse Cafés, die als oberste Schicht Sahne haben.
So ist er wohl der Erste, der Sahne und Likör in einem Getränk kombinierte. Zur Verdeutlichung möchte ich von seinen zahlreichen Kreationen eine herauspicken. Sie nennt sich Chocolate Punch: »Ein Glas mit einem Ei am Boden, ein Löffel Zucker, 2/3 Brandy, 1/3 Portwein, ein Schuss Crème de Cacao, ein Pony Sahne. Fülle das Glas mit Eis, schüttle es gut, seihe es ab und serviere es.« [2-153]
– »Chocolate Punch. A glass with an egg in the bottom, a spoonful of sugar, 2/3 of brandy, 1/3 of port wine, 1 dash of creme de cocoa, 1 pony of cream. Fill your glass with ice; shake well; strain, and serve. [2-153]
At this point, it may be appropriate to mention William Schmidt’s opinion on eggs in mixed drinks. In 1888, he was quoted in a newspaper article as saying: »Drinks with soul in them. Additional pearls from the lips of William the Able. – The Egg in Drinking – William calls it the bartender’s best friend.« [3]
Through his creativity, which established cream and liqueurs as common ingredients in mixed drinks, William Schmidt laid the foundation not only for all future cream drinks.
Unfortunately, William Schmidt’s recipes did not make it into the canon of drinks. They have been forgotten. However, even though none of his drinks have made it to the present day, the foundations he laid are still our tools of the trade. It was he who established cream and liqueur as ingredients, and it is only because of this that recipes with cream or various liqueurs emerged in the following years. No one is aware of this anymore, but his creativity is still with us today.
What influence did his revolutionary book have? Books by other authors after 1892 show the old pattern again: if anything, only traditional cream drinks are known. Occasionally, however, an innovation creeps in, and cream drinks emerge off the beaten track, whether based on a sour with egg, cream and liqueur, sometimes omitting the egg, with exotic liqueurs such as crème de violette, or, of course, other mixtures. There are also many pousse cafés topped with a little cream. In books, however, cream drinks are still the exception, and only a few recipes, if any, are included.
Then Prohibition soon came along and dealt a fatal blow to the creative American bar scene. Before that happened, however, William Schmidt’s ideas had become established as the standard. This can be seen in the book ‘The Reminder’ by Jacob A. Didier. In the first edition from 1909, [8] lhe lists eleven cream drinks, while in the third edition from 1917, [9] there are a total of 39, or in other words, around 6.7 per cent of the recipes. This is clear evidence that the use of cream had become established outside of traditional patterns.
One might think that the use of cream is perhaps something typically German. After all, the Lexikon der Getränke [4] (Encyclopaedia of Beverages), published in Cologne in 1913, contains 39 cream drinks. However, on closer inspection, it becomes apparent that most of these had already been published in American books. If the use of cream were typically German, this first comprehensive collection of recipes from Germany – containing around 3,000 drinks – would contain many more recipes with cream. The other German books, such as Hegenbarth’s Getränkebuch (Hegenbarth’s Beverage Book) from 1899, [5] Der Mixologist (The Mixologist) from 1909, [6] and Rund um die Bar (Around the Bar) from 1934, [7] contain little more than a few recipes.
This is evidence that the generous use of cream must have been a personal preference and innovation of William Schmidt’s, rather than something he brought with him from his country of birth.
However, the Lexikon der Getränke (Encyclopaedia of Beverages) lists a drink that did not exist before. It bears the rather unpromising title Bach-Chor-Club: “Fill a mixing glass halfway with ice, add: 1/2 cocktail glass of crème de cacao; 1/4 cocktail glass of cognac, 1/4 cocktail glass of cream, shake, strain into a cocktail glass.” [4-21]
– »Mixbecher halb voll Eis, füge hinzu: 1/2 Cocktailglas Creme de cacao; 1/4 Cocktailglas Cognac, 1/4 Cocktailglas Sahne, schütteln, in Cocktailglas seihen.« [4-21]
Although somewhat on the chocolate liqueur side, this is already a Brandy Alexander. Unfortunately, we do not know who created it or where it originated. But one thing seems clear to me: William Schmidt laid the foundation for it.
Sources
explicit capitulum
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