Jerry Thomas and the classic cocktail resurgence

It’s safe to say that classic cocktails are now an official trend and I don’t mean just with mixologists and Rachel Maddow.

In addition to new bars with old-school drinks like The Phoenix Jazz Club and Firefly Lounge recently opening, publishers are now getting in the act.

The God of classic cocktails was a 19th Century bartender named Jerry Thomas, better known as the Professor. He’s the person on the cover and at the heart of David Wondrich’s book Imbibe which I mentioned a week ago in a post about Tom Collins.

While Thomas was known as a flashy bartender — “the Jupiter Olympus of the bar,” Wondrich calls him — he became a nationally known figure for publishing several books, including the first book on cocktail recipes published in America: 1862’s How to Mix Drinks or The Bon Vivant’s Companion: The Bartender’s Guide was a bombshell.