The Kings Behind an Early American Cocktail
Hosting a dinner party with friends is a good time to have a signature cocktail to accompany the meal. The meal featured in my last blog was paired with a Mint Julep.
I’ve always connected this drink to the Kentucky Derby. I once had this bourbon cocktail while attending an event at Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington, Kentucky.
This cocktail of muddled mint leaves with sugar and bourbon over crushed ice, is likely not a drink you would just walk into a bar and order.
As I researched to learn more about the Mint Julep, the internet took me far away from the Kentucky Derby and recipes. It took me to the bartenders behind the roots of this cocktail. The two names that kept surfacing were Cato Alexander and Tom Bullock. Both were well-known bartenders of their day with connections to the beginnings of the Mint Julep. The most intriguing fact for me was they were both black. If you know me, you know I went down a historical rabbit hole that I won't share with you today. But, at the end of this blog are links to read more details.
Cato Alexander was born into slavery in 1780. Gaining his freedom in 1799, he became a successful bartender working in many hotels and inns. Later he opened his own tavern in present day Manhattan, New York catering to a large white clientele; among them was President George Washington who is recorded as one of his regular customers. Alexander died in 1858. Historians refer to him as the first American celebrity bartender.
Then there was Tom Bullock. This son of a slave born in 1872 was a pre-prohibition era bartender working in country clubs and inns across the country including the St. Louis Country Club; recognized as one of the first 100 USGA Clubs. Bullock was the first black author of a bartending book titled “The Ideal Bartender”. Written in 1917, this book of cocktails includes an introduction from the grandfather of the late President George H.W. Bush.
Other names connected to the Mint Julep include Jasper Crouch and Othello Pollard.
As a veteran of the hospitality industry and a daughter of a woman who spent years cooking and cleaning for a white family, I felt a sense of sadness and pride reading this history. Sadness because Black Americans were relegated to roles of servitude throughout the history of America. But I felt a sense of pride because these Americans always create beauty in these roles while earning money. I’m sure along the way, many found fulfillment. I’m grateful their contributions are recorded in history and their legacy is celebrated.
I will continue to learn more about these bartenders and others who reflect the origins of the roles and positions in the American hospitality industry. This industry, which seems to have black professionals and staff as part of its beginings in America, continues to keep economies growing in many cities across this nation and the world.
Click links below to read more.
It’s Mint Julep Season- The Perfect time to Talk about the Black Bartenders who Created it
This History of Black Bartenders
The Lost African American Bartenders Who Created the Cocktail
