Cocktail Class – Prohibition-Era Cocktails

The erroneous story that cocktails took hold during prohibition as Americans tried to cover the flavors of moonshine and other substandard hooch has been hard to dislodge from the imagination of drinkers everywhere. By the passage of the 18th Amendment, America had a vibrant and sophisticated cocktail scene, and prohibition did much to harm the quality of cocktails for generations to come. However, certain bright spots did emerge from this dark chapter of national deprivation. Imbibers across the country, bereft of their previous saloons, took to making drinks at home. Speakeasies flouted laws and let the drinks flow, sometimes with clever new formulas, alluding to the legal situation. And a flood of expat bartenders spread the gospel of American cocktails all around the world.

In this class, Evan Christie will mix up drinks originally formulated in the prohibition era (or close to, given the accuracy of the historical record on cocktails). Expect drinks whose very names poked fun at the ultimately unsuccessful national experiment with enforced sobriety as well as drinks invented in the many destinations where Americans flocked to tipple in more amiable climates. Expect some true and forgotten classics, present with a heaping dash of history.

See also

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