Tom Bullock (1872–1964) was an American bartender in the pre- Prohibition era. He was an African-American person.
He was born in Louisville, Kentucky, on October 18, 1872, [1] one of at least three children of Thomas Bullock, his father, a former slave who fought for the Union Army, according to US Census records. [1]
Bullock was a bartender at the Pendennis Club, the Kenton Club, on a railway car bar, [2] and most notably the St. Louis Country Club, and is the first known African-American author to publish a cocktail manual, The Ideal Bartender. [3] [4] His book is notable as one of the last cocktail manuals published before Prohibition, providing a rare view onto pre-Prohibition cocktail recipes and drinking culture in America. Some writers believe that he appears to have ceased bartending with the onset of Prohibition; [5] others believe that he continued to tend bar at the St. Louis Country Club or other private settings despite the legal prohibition. [6]
Bullock was known to be a bartender and friend to George Herbert Walker, who wrote an introduction to his cocktail manual, writing "It is a genuine privilege to be permitted to testify to his qualifications for such a work." [7] In 1913, he was involved in a libel case when ex-President Theodore Roosevelt sued for alleged libel regarding his drinking habits, and asserted he had only had a few sips of a mint julep cocktail made by Bullock. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch disputed Roosevelt's claim, asserting that no one could fail to finish one of Bullock's cocktails. [8]
Bullock died in 1964. [9]
Cocktail historian David Wondrich believes that Bullock may have been one of the first bartenders to create a variant of the gimlet, [3] the Stone Sour. [10]
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cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
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Tom Bullock (1872–1964) was an American bartender in the pre- Prohibition era. He was an African-American person.
He was born in Louisville, Kentucky, on October 18, 1872, [1] one of at least three children of Thomas Bullock, his father, a former slave who fought for the Union Army, according to US Census records. [1]
Bullock was a bartender at the Pendennis Club, the Kenton Club, on a railway car bar, [2] and most notably the St. Louis Country Club, and is the first known African-American author to publish a cocktail manual, The Ideal Bartender. [3] [4] His book is notable as one of the last cocktail manuals published before Prohibition, providing a rare view onto pre-Prohibition cocktail recipes and drinking culture in America. Some writers believe that he appears to have ceased bartending with the onset of Prohibition; [5] others believe that he continued to tend bar at the St. Louis Country Club or other private settings despite the legal prohibition. [6]
Bullock was known to be a bartender and friend to George Herbert Walker, who wrote an introduction to his cocktail manual, writing "It is a genuine privilege to be permitted to testify to his qualifications for such a work." [7] In 1913, he was involved in a libel case when ex-President Theodore Roosevelt sued for alleged libel regarding his drinking habits, and asserted he had only had a few sips of a mint julep cocktail made by Bullock. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch disputed Roosevelt's claim, asserting that no one could fail to finish one of Bullock's cocktails. [8]
Bullock died in 1964. [9]
Cocktail historian David Wondrich believes that Bullock may have been one of the first bartenders to create a variant of the gimlet, [3] the Stone Sour. [10]
{{
cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link)