Jack’s Manual is justly renowned, if for nothing more, for the first appearance of the Brooklyn Cocktail, and thus Jack for its invention. David Wondrich discusses this here. In addition, an interesting analysis of drinking culture in Jack’s milieu is provided by Mr. Wondrich here.
Regarding the author of our Manual: Jack Grohusko was born to Russian-Jewish immigrants in England in the late 19th c., from whence he came to the States at a young age. He lived in Hoboken, New Jersey, and by the time of his publication was occupied as bartender at Barraca’s Italian restaurant in Lower Manhattan (the building was demolished in the 1970s to make way for the enormous 85 Broad building, but much of the old neighborhood around has been variously restored and gentrified). He later opened his “own” place, apparently adjoining the back of the restaurant on a now-defunct part of Stone Street, which because of the 85 Broad project ends abruptly at Coenties Alley.
As evidenced from Jack’s Manual, which went through at least five editions, Jack Grohusko was very interested in the proper preservation and presentation of wines and liquors, and prided himself to some extent in the precision of his recipes, especially in the proportions of liquors (notably, he uses percentages rather than jiggers and ponies in his later editions). This is a marked distinction from earlier books, like that of the Waldorf-Astoria, which influenced him, and hangers-on, like Jacques Straub, who cribbed Jack Grohusko’s book almost entire (erring or departing e.g. on the kind of Vermouth to be used for Jack’s own Brooklyn Cocktail). This brings up another distinction to note: vermouths are identified in our later, post-Prohibition 1933 edition as Regular or Dry / French. Regular thus means sweet. In earlier pre-Prohibition editions, Ballor is mentioned, which seems to have been a heavier Italian Vermouth leaning toward the Torino chinato style; then Martini & Rossi gets its turn. The dry vermouth of the early days was Chappaz. Later editions feature advertisements for Noilly Prat. My own approach to ingredients will be a little loose and exploratory, but it is my intent to use nothing too out of the ordinary here. A few ingredients now unavailable or too different from their original recipe will be replaced with decent surrogates (first of note is Calisaya, of which the newest product by Elixir is not yet available in Tennessee; likewise, Amer Picon, for which I use Amaro CioCiaro).
There is a notable evolution also in the attention to the classes of mixed drinks, which in 1916 were finally separated more or less into proper categories (cobblers, cocktails, coolers, punches, smashes, &c.), though even the Cocktails are not all properly such. My intent currently is to examine only the Cocktails, and perhaps the Miscellaneous section, which includes several drinks that might be described as cocktails. It is hoped that in the progress through this ample array of beverages, some greater appreciation for the earlier cocktail repertoire, and for Grohusko’s methods and inventions.
But enough for now. Let us begin our jaunt with Jack. — “Very Truly, the Editor.”
Nota Bene. Some kind folks have provided for free public use scans of our three primary editions. They can be found here:
Jack’s Manual (1908) - (1916) - (1933)
And here is a 1906 Menu & Wine List from Victor Baracca’s Eating-house, where Jack worked prior to publishing his Manual.
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