Alcademics

Bartenders joke about male customers who ask for their cocktails to be served in a “man glass” - an Old Fashioned rocks glass rather than in a cocktail glass on a stem, fearful that the Martini glass will make them look gay. 

I am reading the preview of the forthcoming The Comic Book History of the Cocktail: Five Centuries of Mixing Drinks and Carrying On [amazon][bookshop] by the great David Wondrich, and it reminded me that this sentiment is nothing new. 

The original cocktail (circa 1800) became known as the Old Fashioned cocktail (circa 1880) due to customers who asked for their drink not to be a fancified modern version with all the flavorful liqueurs like Chartreuse, maraschino, and Curacao mixed in. They didn’t want any new fangled, feminized flavors!

Wondrich includes that story in a panel in his forthcoming book, with the customer requesting the drink be made with “none of that other garbage” and “not in one of those namby-pamby little cocktail glasses.”  

It’s funny (in a bad way) that toxic masculinity was a part of bar culture even in the days when women weren’t allowed in most bars. 

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Wondrich’s book comes out in September and it’s a must-read.