Culinary Chronicles

Bar Days in the Speakeasy Craze
Published in 1931, prior to the end of Prohibition (1920-1933), and the same year the new Waldorf Astoria Towers were built, Old Waldorf Bar Days longs not just for the return of the legal consumption of alcohol, but rather for the return of lavish bars, elaborate cocktails, and the opportunity to be seen consuming them. Prohibition had intended to create a completely dry United States: this was largely unsuccessful. Instead, it exacerbated the stratified consumption of booze between social classes, while limiting the “leisure class” from flaunting their economic and cultural capital through the purchase of illustrious beverages served across the polished brass rails at the old Waldorf. Albert Crockett recommends all recipe testing be done in another country, but the target audience of this book would likely have access to all the prescribed liquors; the limiting factor would be an audience who wouldn’t report any drinks to the Prohibition Bureau.

Drinking During Prohibition (1920-1933)
Thirteen years of alcohol raids lowered the average quality of alcohol but made very little impact on its supply and inevitable demand. A steady flow of liquor ran across the United States: both from its exterior borders and the internal industrial alcohol industry. The black market was often the source of expensive imported spirits, while domestic bootlegged alcohol was a cheap but dangerous process; denatured solvent strength alcohol would be renatured, flavored with essential oils, and diluted to acceptable strength to create the infamous bathtub gin. Hundreds died from what likely was methanol or isopropanol poisoning. The source of any booze sold at a speakeasy was often unknown to customers, but when quality could be determined consumption rates of different sources of alcohol often aligned with class divides. The working and middle class often could only access these adulterated drinks at best, while the upper class was more likely to purchase imported liquor. While sometimes swindled by local suppliers, the upper class had access to two sources of alcohol well beyond the means of the middle class. Alcohol owned (often in huge collections) by the upper class was grandfathered into Prohibition’s small collection of legal alcohols alongside medication, and presidents Wilson and Harding both were noted to transfer their liquor collection out of and into the White House, respectively. Additionally, some of the first international American airlines were supported by the upper class escaping to Caribbean islands for inebriated vacations; they had both the time and the money to spare for a few drinks.

Leisurely Drinking and the Leisure Class
Escaping, whether literally or into the warm embrace of alcohol’s neurologically depressing effects, became a core tenet of the leisure class. Escapism and the engrossing activities that enabled it, while universal in modern American life, were relatively new concepts to Americans in the late 19th century. The growing upper class, with enough money to now have free time from work, transformed into the “leisure class”; drinking after a short day at work became a strong identifier of social class, especially to those actively working to serve the requested drinks. Luxury alcohol, the film and radio industries, and later the television industry all catered to and benefitted greatly from occupying the leisure class’s time. The Old Waldorf bar, with its illustrious list of patrons, existed as a transformative space capable of both promoting business within but also capable of signaling that business has concluded for the day. 
Prohibition saw the partitioning of the Old Waldorf’s bar into humidors, coat closets, and typists’ rooms. The destruction of such a space cannot be understated; ornate hand carved wood, vaulted ceilings, fluted pillars, and chandeliers all framed a beautiful and magnificent room around its most important aspect: the guest. An airy bar of this nature was designed for maximum visibility. This was another critical component of living in the leisure class. The commodification of life encouraged the decline of social interactions towards the shorthand identification of having or appearing to have a commodity; the sighting of anyone at the Waldorf could connote higher social standing, wealth, and desirable connections which may or may not truly be present. Similarly, consuming liquors and beverages from around the globe could imply a worldly and well-traveled man. While powerful assumptions, they hinged on being seen. Prohibition forced alcohol consumption behind closed doors, either into private households or dimly lit basement speakeasies.  Popular pre-Prohibition drinks including St. Croix rum sours, Klondike coolers, Normandies, and all three Honolulu cocktails lost much of their purpose and disappeared during Prohibition.

Fancy Potations and Changing Tastes
While connections to the name and reputation of the Waldorf-Astoria hotel convey refined excellence with a dash of pageantry, one must ask why Albert Crockett defines cocktails such as those found in “Fancy Potations and Otherwise” as fancier then those from other bars. Heritage certainly is one argument in their favor, and a menu would be enlightening to show their cost and thereby their ascribed value, but much can be learned through the ingredients these cocktails request. Gin makes the most frequent appearance here; its connotation with fine taste has shifted far more than many other beverage. First a cheaper drink than beer for the poor in the 17th century with England’s adoption of “gen” from the Dutch, gin’s heavy usage from 1890-1910 during the golden age of cocktails propelled it into vogue just prior to the United States banning its sale. While bootleg gin aggressively tarnished the greater gin family’s reputation, Old Waldorf Bar Days is very clear to call for specific brands or styles that theoretically could not be replicated by bootleggers: a new habit from Prohibition.
Aged spirits are also a strong indicator for fancy and expensive creations. For all the advancement that humanity has made in the beverage industry, time and aging have been very difficult to imitate or accelerate. Even modern aged spirits are comparatively expensive, and each year of aging can cost exponentially more. Sherry, brandy, whiskey, port, and madeira are all common examples of these consistently expensive beverages listed at the Old Waldorf, and they show up with impressive consistency for an era thought to be dominated by gin.

For Further Research:
Crockett, Albert Stevens. Old Waldorf Bar Days; with the Cognomina and Composition of Four Hundred and Ninety-One Appealing Appetizers and Salutary Potations Long Known, Admired and Served at the Famous Big Brass Rail; Also, a Glossary for the Use of Antiquarians and Students of American Mores; by Albert Stevens Crockett; with Illustrations by Leighton Budd. Aventine Press, 1931. 

Secondary Sources
Hands, Thora. “The drinking cultures of the higher classes.” Drinking in Victorian and Edwardian Britain, 2018, pp. 145–157. 
Järvinen, Margaretha, et al. “Drinking successfully: Alcohol consumption, taste and social status.” Journal of Consumer Culture, vol. 14, no. 3, 19 June 2013, pp. 384–405. 
Okrent, Daniel. Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition. Scribner, 2014. 
Seaton, Anthony V. “Cocktail culture in the 1920s and 1930s: Prefiguring the Postmodern.” Hospitality Research Journal, vol. 18, no. 2, Feb. 1994, pp. 35–52.