High-res version

National Hot Toddy Day? Call me in!!

Here are today’s five thing to know about liquor:

The first cocktail party was held for 50 house guests in St. Louis in 1917. The house still stands today….as the  residence of the Archbishop.

source1

While Prohibition resulted in a decline in alcohol it also resulted in a dramatic increase in crime as money flowed to the bad guys. Crime rose as high as 500%.

93c57b2f453cab961ce4f8fd5558d566

Calling an illegal bar a ‘speakeasy’ came from a lady barkeep who would warn her customers to “speak easy, boy, speak easy” whenever they became loud enough to attract police.

giphy18

Prior to Prohibition, America was enjoying its first golden age of mixology. Once liquor became illegal, ‘rum runners” brought it in by boat but watered down their blends so they could ship less and make more.

giphy19

At the same time, gin and vodka replaced rum and whiskey as cocktail ingredients because they didn’t require as much aging and were easier to make illegally.

giphy20

Today’s Food History

  • 1874 Gail Borden died. Borden was the Inventor of the process for making condensed milk, and founder of New York Condensed Milk Co., later to become the Borden Co. (
  • 1917 The French government regulated the price of Gruyere cheese as a war rationing method.
  • 1949 The first recorded snowfall in Los Angeles, California.
  • 1963 The ‘Whisky A Go-Go’ opens in Los Angeles – the first disco in the U.S.