Behind the Bar Postcard Views of the Men and Women Who Mix, Shake and Serve Cocktails

[@donnamartin4299]

Good morning to the Witchita Postcard Club. I am an English collector and historian. I hope the following will be of interest to Diane Lapis and your group: Ref. The Postcard of 'Keen's Chophouse' in Manhattan, described as having a collection of 'Churchwarden's pipes' on display. If you look carefully, you can see these displayed along the left hand wall and ceiling of the room. The pipes on display are actually 'clay pipes' known as 'Churchwarden's pipes' and were popular in the nineteenth century with stems up to around 16" long. The clay pipe was manufactured for smoking tobacco from the seventeenth century. Long stems cooled the very harsh taste of the tobacco. The pipe bowl was very small due to the high cost of tobacco. The photo Diane uses to illustrate the pipe is of a later non-clay variety.

[@donnamartin4299]

I omitted to explain. The Old English word 'cock' means to 'raise' ie. 'Cock' a trigger; 'Cock-up' bridge - a river bridge that raises on a mechanism to let barges through. Therefore, 'docking' a horses/dogs tail raises it up to stop it getting snagged during hunting. I hope these comments have been informative.

[@donnamartin4299]

Second comment. The origins of the word 'Cocktail' are thought to come from the French word 'coquetier' for an 'egg cup' - something American's are not familiar with. These are small bowls not unlike shot glasses, and used to serve 'boiled eggs'. It is thought that Antoine Amedee Peychaud, the inventor of 'Peychaud's bitters', a French Creole, therefore, french speaking, first mixed his drink in an 'egg cup'. He toured New Orleans and Louisiana c. 1793. His 'Aperitivo' was distributed as Peychaud's bitters by the Sazerac Company from c.1849 when it becomes a popular mixer. The name 'cocktail' a derivative of coquetier stuck! A 'cocktail', in English, is a 'pick me up', similar to Anne's comment, but refers to the tail of a good hunting horse being 'docked' - to 'pick up' its tail. Cocktails were exotic and only drank by the upper classes; hence 'cocktail hour' before dinner as a 'pick me up'.