Bartender Dale DeGroff is often credited with revitalizing cocktails in the late ’80s and early ’90s by reintroducing fresh ingredients and classic technique. From behind the bar at New York’s Rainbow Room, DeGroff lifted cocktails from the miasma of premade mixes and swampy-tinis, and returned quality and craft back to the glass. His gourmet approach was inspired by his rediscovery of Jerry Thomas’s early bartender’s guide, The Bon Vivant’s Companion, from the late nineteenth century.
By the turn of the twenty-first century, a full-blown craft cocktail movement exploded and craft-centric bars appeared featuring ice programs, quality liquor, fresh ingredients, and bartenders with retro mustaches. New York establishments such as Milk & Honey (2000), Employees Only (2004), and Pegu Club (2005) fomented a forward push that then spread across the country. It didn’t hurt that a swing dancing and lounge music revival had prepared the way. On the West Coast, Seattle’s Vessel opened in ’06, along with San Francisco’s Bourbon & Branch. In Chicago, the Violet Hour opened in ’07. As the movement grew, there was an explosion of creativity. It was the dawn of the cocktail’s second Golden Age.
The modern creations in this chapter have been hugely influential and are now considered classics in their own right. In most of these recipes, the specific brands called for are the original selections of the bartender who created the cocktail.