01. Aperitif - Hail New Orleans that for more than a century has been the home of civilized drinking. From the time of its settlement by the French, through the domination of the Spanish, and occupation by the Americana after the Louisiana Purchase, the flowing bowl and the adept mixing of what went in it has constituted as high an art in this Creole city as the incomparable cooking for which it is famed.

02. Birth of Cocktail - The most popular alcoholic beverage in the world today is that high-powered mixture known as the Cocktail.

For a century and beyond this stimulating drink has served to elevate dejected spirits. Born, nurtured, and christened on this side of the Atlantic, it has overflowed its original boundaries, especially since the World War, and today even staid British taste, long wedded to historic brandy and soda, is begin­ning to find satisfaction—and something else—in the Yankee mixed drink.

03. Whiskey Drinks - Whiskey is a potent drink and whiskey is a potent word—perhaps because both are of Irish extraction. The English pronunciation of the word in use today is based upon a word the ancient Gaels applied to the product of their stills, for it appears they were the original whiskey-makers.

The name they gave the distilled spirit was sing­ularly fitting—they called it uisgebeatha.

04. Juleps - The word Julep is an old and honored one and can be traced as far back as A. D. 1400—long before we ever heard of the Southern States of these United States, where the julep is popularly supposed to be indigenous.

For centuries the julep has been described as "something to cool or assuage the heat of passion," and "a sweet drink prepared in different ways." We know nothing of the first definition but will confirm the second statement that it can be made in different ways.

05. Absinthe Drinks - According to some authorities, absinthe as a drink originated in Algeria, and French soldiers serving in the Franco-Algerian war (1830-47) introduced the green spirits to Paris upon their return from the North African country where the drink found strong favor along the boulevards. In time the spectacle of bearded men and demi-mondes dripping their ab­sinthes became one of the sights of Paris.

06. Gin Drinks - Of all popular alcoholics, gin probably leads in favor, especially in tropic and sub-tropic countries. To go high hat with the language, gin is an aroma­tized potable with a characteristic flavor derived from the juniper berry. The word "gin" is merely a shortening of the liquor's original name, geneva, taken from an old Dutch word, genever, a name for the juniper berry.

07. Rum Drinks From time immemorial rum has been distilled as a by-product of the manufacture of sugar in all coun­tries where sugar cane is grown. As a liquor it be­came the accepted beverage practically everywhere that strong drink was in demand, and with the spread of its popularity all lusty liquors, regardless of origin, were termed "rum."

08. Pousse Cafes - There are two schools of thought regarding the naming and spelling of a Pousse Cafe, but only one regarding its goodness. Properly made it becomes a drink with more rings than an old-fashioned Barnum & Bailey circus. Here we have a post-prandial drink made of layers of variously colored cordials—the heaviest poured first into the serving glass and the following layers gently and skillfully achieved one ring at a time with the aid of a spoon. The lightest liqueur, usually cognac, is poured on last.

09. Brandy Drinks - The name brandy comes from Old Dutch Brand-wijn, meaning "burnt (i.e. distilled) wine," and to the end of the 17th century the old original form, "brandy-wine" was used. Properly, brandy is an ardent spirit distilled from wine, although similar liquors distilled from fermented juice of peaches, cherries, apples, or other fruits, are also called bran­dies . . . such as peach brandy.

10. Cafe Brulot - 1 cup cognac brandy 45 pieces loaf sugar 50 whole cloves

3 pieces stick cinnamon broken in bits

½orange peel cut thin

1 small piece lemon peel cut thin

1 quart strong New Orleans dripped coffee Combine the ingredients in advance. In a brulot bowl pour a cup (½ pint) of cognac brandy. Add the sugar, cloves, stick of cinnamon broken in bits, thinly cut orange peel, and sliced lemon rind.

11. Flips - The Flip was at one time a hot drink served in an earthenware mug, much favored in England and America before tea and coffee came into common use. The drink was composed of ale, egg, nutmeg, sugar, ginger, and brandy or rum. It was made sizzling hot by heating an iron loggerhead, or flip-dog, in the fire until it was red-hot and thrusting the heated end into the mug of mixed liquor, whence a sound like "Sz-z-z-t!" resulted, and a vapor like heaven arose.

12. Slings - A Sling, so we are told by long-ago writers, is "an American drink composed of brandy, rum, or other spirit, and water, sweetened and flavored," and had nothing to do with "the slings and arrows of out­rageous fortune," so feelingly bespoken by Hamlet in his morose soliloquy.

As long ago as 1788 a certain shipwrecked scribe recorded that he and his mates found "a case-bottle filled with Holland's [gin], of which each of us took a sling."

13. Swizzle - The name Swizzle has been applied to variously compounded drinks, and while it is said the origin of the word is unknown it appears to be just another way of pronouncing Switchel, a drink made of mo­lasses and water, sometime with the addition of vinegar, gin, and rum. Also applied to strong drinks sweetened and flavored with bitters.

To make a Swizzle a swizzle-stick is necessary—a round wooden stick or dowel with swollen bottom end from which protrude five smaller sticks like the spokes of a wheel.

14. Punches - Punch is the ideal beverage to serve at large gather­ings and many are the kinds from which to choose when you are preparing to entertain in a big way.

The Punch Bowl, or Bowl O'Punch, as our English cousins call it, has long been a feature of Christmas and holiday festivities. The word punch comes from India, and is derived from the Hindu panch, mean­ing five, the original beverage being composed of five ingredients, viz.: spirits, water or milk, lemon, sugar, spice or cordial.

15. Wassail Bowl - The Wassail Bowl contained liquor in which healths were drunk in the long ago, the favorite content being the spiced ale used in Christmas eve and Twelfth-night celebrations. The custom of brewing a Wassail bowl has fallen into disuse and is revived only rarely.

The word "Wassail" used of old when presenting a cup of wine, or drinking a comrade's health, car­ried the same meaning as "hail" and "farewell.

16. Eggsnogs - As long ago as in the period when Shakespeare wrote his plays we find chronicled: "Nog is a kind of strong beer brewed in East Anglia." In writings two hundred years later we find records of such a brew as "egg-nog" in which "the white and yolk of eggs are stirred with hot beer, cider, wine, or spirits."

In 1825 New Yorkers read in a newspaper called Brother Jonathan, that the "egg-nog had gone about rather freely" at a certain party.

17. White Ribbon Punch - (FOR 12)

2 cups sugar

2 cups water

2 cups orange juice

2 cups grape juice

1 cup lemon juice

8 cups iced water

4 cups iced tea

Boil sugar and water 4 minutes. Cool. Add rest of Ingre­dients. Serve in glasses half filled with cracked ice. Top with mint leaves.

What! no liquor? Skip it if you feel that way about it, but we had to think of the fellows who have been ordered off the alcohol, and the ladies who are giving a party for the preacher.

18. The Contradiction - 1 barspoon sugar

½ lemon —juice only

1 jigger rye whiskey

Mix in a barglass. Fill with cracked ice. Clap on the shaker and shake vigorously before straining into cocktail glass.

This is the drink a Frenchman had in mind when he walked into a New Orleans cocktail lounge and said to the man behind the bar:

"Mix for me, s'il vous plait, a contradictions." "A which?" demanded the puzzled barkeep. "Zee great American drink—a contradictions." "Never heard of it, mister . . . how's it made?"

THE END