The Inquisitive Bartender

By Andrew Macharia

Inspired by a seventeenth-century proverb—one man’s misfortune is another man’s fortune—The Inquisitive Bartender presents your ultimate guide on the bartending landscape from fifth century through the present day.

Author Andrew Macharia relies on his encounters with the beverages of numerous cultures and his knowledge of the art of mixology to share the rich history of pioneer mixologists in the Americas and beyond. He introduces key figures, dates, periods, and events over the centuries that have influenced others and shaped the bartending scene, including the Renaissance, the industrial revolution in Britain, the American revolution, and prohibition. This versatile narrative cuts across the bartending demographic and is ideal for bartenders at all levels—old school, current, and aspiring. It will transform you into a storyteller as you sling or imbibe your favourite cocktails.

This bartender’s guide explores the history of bartending and alcohol throughout the centuries, providing both background and recipes for any bartender to use.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Dec 12, 2021
• ISBN: 9781665595094

Andrew Macharia

My name is Andrew Macharia a seasoned bartender from Kenya and currently based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. With a Diploma in Bartending from European Bartending School Phuket Thailand, I have worked for a multitude of high-end restaurants, hotels, and bars in Dubai. This has tremendously exposed me to different cultures in terms of beverages, cocktails, and the art of mixology. It is through this broad experience and my extensive research, that has enabled me to author this bartender’s masterpiece “The Inquisitive Bartender”.

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© 2021 Andrew Macharia. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

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and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-6655-9508-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6655-9509-4 (e)

Published by AuthorHouse 12/10/2021

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CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1Where It All Started

Chapter 2The Industrial Revolution in Britain, the American Revolution, and the First Cocktail (1760–1840)

Chapter 3The Year 1492, the Spanish Reconquista

Chapter 4Rum (Rhum), its Origin and Tales

Chapter 5The Gin Craze and the Emergence of the Gin and Tonic

Chapter 6The Rebirth of America, the Rise of the Cocktail Culture, and the Fall of Rum (1766–1830)

Chapter 7The Hidden Truth about the African-American Bartenders of the Nineteenth Century

Chapter 8The Great French Blight (1850–1874)

Chapter 9The Cause of Prohibition in America (1630–1920)

Chapter 10The Dark Ages after the Repeal (Post Prohibition), the 1930s

Chapter 11What Followed the Tiki Fad of the 60s?

Chapter 12The Cuban Revolution and Fidel Castro Effect

Chapter 13Dale DeGroff of the Rainbow Room (1980)

Chapter 14The Evolution of the Martini

Chapter 15St Germain, the Liqueur of the Decade (2007)

Chapter 16My Ikigai

Chapter 17Fermentation

Chapter 18Our Future Projects

Chapter 19The Game of Atoms

THE INQUISITIVE BARTENDER

This is a bartender’s guide on the bartending landscape over the centuries, pioneer mixologists in America and abroad, the genesis of the cocktail culture, as well the events and circumstances that shaped bartending into what we celebrate today.

Andrew Macharia

INTRODUCTION

Let’s unfold this mystery together.

Let’s take a minute and briefly explore these phenomenal contents and appreciate each story for the role it played in shaping our beautiful bartending culture.

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Why the Golden Eagle on My Apron?

Birds, just like human beings, act as symbols of power and possess intelligence, freedom, and transcendence. The golden eagle, in particular, is the king of all winged birds and has developed mechanisms to soar above the clouds, especially during rains and sandstorms, unlike other birds, which flock to safe haven.

I chose to associate myself with this incredible bird because I was at rock bottom when I was doing research and embarked on the journey to author this book. I used the unprecedented moment to stay resilient and create this masterpiece.

Why ‘The Inquisitive Bartender’?

My peers always told me to question everything that I learnt; my turning point towards curiosity was the Bacardi logo, ‘the fruit bat’, and the rest is magic.

Alvin Johnson, Johnson’s map of the world on Mercator’s projection (New York: Geographicus Rare Antique Maps, 1862) 6-7

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Our bartending story. Dreams come true, and, oh yeah, my European Bartending School (EBS) story is a real testament!

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In my story, I am inspired by a seventeenth-century proverb that ‘one man’s misfortune is another man’s fortune’. I focus on events and occurrences dating back to the fifth century that have, in one way or another, shaped the art of bartending into what we celebrate today.

CHAPTER 1

Where It All Started

Mesopotamia is often considered the cradle of civilization. Mesopotamia, located between the Tigress and Euphrates rivers, in modern Iraq and some parts of Syria and Turkey, is where wheat and barley were domesticated (5000–3000 BC).

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Svift, Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia

C. 1450 BC (Own Work, 2013)

The Sumerian people are said to have made the first barley beers. The earliest evidence of alcohol service can be traced to the fifth century, when the Romans met in local places to enjoy a drink, trade, and discuss politics. At the same time, wine was mostly drunk along with clay-pot-fermented fish sauce called ‘garum’. The ancient Greeks also had small taverns with refreshments for travellers. There is also some evidence that in ancient China, societies dating back 7,000 years were fermenting fruit beer and serving this in communal gatherings. This is an indication that bartending is one of the world’s oldest professionals. This would later be followed by bartenders who were house owners and the female innkeepers who brewed or distilled their own beverages and serve them to travellers staying overnight around the fifteenth century. Old records show that being an innkeeper or bar owner was an elite and highly profitable trade in Western Europe. Bar owners were considered as people with a good socioeconomic status, and this was to be passed onto to New World through the popularization of drinking inns, teahouses, and coffee halls.

The Renaissance

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Leonardo da Vinci, The Mona Lisa (Florence,

Muse’e du Louvre, 1503-05) 57,59

The Renaissance (French for rebirth) was a period of European cultural, artistic, political, and scientific rebirth. This period lasted between 1300 and 1600 extended, from the Middle Ages to the Age of Enlightenment. The Renaissance starting in Florence, Italy, in the fourteenth century after the fall of the Greek and Ottoman empires led scholars to migrate to Florence and Venice, respectively.

It was during this period that polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, with their work on paintings, literature, biology, and other disciplines, inspired the term ‘Renaissance man’. Other notable developments were the earliest writings of Dante and the paintings of Giotto in Italy. Political philosophers such as Niccolò Machiavelli also emerged around 1486, who revived the ideas of Greek and Roman thinkers in critiques of contemporary governments based on humanism combined with both intellectual and physical excellence.

In 1495, the Italian Renaissance arrived in France after King Charles VIII invaded Italy. With the invention of the printing press by a German printer Johannes Gutenberg in the fifteenth century, the Renaissance spread rapidly to other parts of Europe.

By the sixteenth century, the English Renaissance was taking place. William Shakespeare, the world’s greatest English-language writer, emerged during this period. The Renaissance would later spread to Germany, Portugal, and other European countries, and Portugal emerged as the maritime merchant headquarters.

CHAPTER 2

The Industrial Revolution in Britain,

the American Revolution, and

the First Cocktail (1760–1840)

The years from 1760 to 1840 marked a transition period in Britain. Manufacturers moved from hands to machines, ushering in the Industrial Era. This revolution was triggered by a number of factors: the scientific revolution; the development of trade through the East India Company along the Mediterranean Sea and other Asian markets; the availability of raw materials, especially iron and coal deposits; improved canals and waterways; new chemicals; and sustainable agriculture.

With all these developments, the art of mixing drinks became more established, and distilled spirits became more popular. Because of their distillation method, some spirits were harsh and fiery, requiring something extra to calm them down. One of the first popular mixed drinks made by bartenders at this time was ‘punch’, which derives its name from the Hindi word panch, meaning ‘five’. The recipe calls for spirits of any kind—usually sugarcane-based spirits such as rum, brandy, citrus juice, sugar, and spices.

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Unknown author, Hartmann Maschinenhalle

(Scan by Norbert Kaiser, 1868)

Punch and its five-ingredient recipe date back to the sixteen hundreds. It originated in England or India and from there, spread to the rest of the world by English sailors and merchants, who travelled the East Indian trade route and brought it