Event Detail

Back to Events

History of the Cocktail: The Golden Age of Cocktails

• Date: Saturday, June 27, 2015
• Time: 7:00 pm
• Location: National Archives Museum, Washington, DC

With the publishing of the first bartenders guide in 1862 by Jerry Thomas, we mark a new era of creativity and invention with the cocktail. The act of bartending becomes more theatrical and the cocktails of their time more elaborate. This era is when some of the most enduring and iconic cocktails are born such as the Martini, Manhattan and Daiquiri. But it is also during a time when new immigrants and industrialization are shaping the Nation and those forces similarly shape food and drink, leading into the politics of Prohibition and the expansion of “American bars” throughout Europe and Asia.

Moderated by Svetlana Legetic of Brightest Young Things, panelists include Sean Kenyon, Colin Appiah, and Robert Hess.

This seminar will include a tasting of specialty cocktails. Must be 21+ to attend.

This program is part of a series on the history of spirits and cocktails in America, curated by Derek Brown and presented by the National Archives Foundation in conjunction with the National Archives Museum exhibit “Spirited Republic: Alcohol in American History,” on display in the Lawrence F. O’Brien Gallery through January 10, 2016.