Inside The Savoy Cocktail Book, the bartender’s bible
Penned by Harry Craddock, inventor of the White Lady, this text has never been out of print since its first publication in 1930. As a rare signed copy comes to auction, Craddock’s successor at the London hotel’s American Bar shares a favourite recipe
Recipes for the Self-Starter and Seventh Heaven cocktails from The Savoy Cocktail Book. Shannon Tebay, the first American to be head bartender at the American Bar at the Savoy in London, shares a favourite recipe in the short film above
There can’t be many other books from the past century that have brought people as much joy and laughter — and headaches, too — as The Savoy Cocktail Book by Harry Craddock.
Take the legendary bartender’s famous invention, the Corpse Reviver No. 2. Composed of equal parts lemon juice, Kina Lillet (a French liqueur sadly no longer made), Cointreau and dry gin, topped with a dash of absinthe, the bright-green potion was designed to be consumed first thing in the morning in order to get the juices flowing.
The author recommends drinking four in quick succession for the ultimate effect.
Harry Craddock (1876-1963), The Savoy Cocktail Book, 1930. Sold for £3,250 on 15 December 2021 at Christie’s in London
Craddock first published his compendium of 750 ‘cocktails, rickeys, daisies, slings, shrubs, smashes, fizzes, juleps, cobblers, fixes and other drinks’ in 1930, after rising to the role of head bartender of the American Bar at The Savoy hotel in London.
In the 91 years since it first appeared, The Savoy Cocktail Book has never been out of print.
In 1927 Harry Craddock buried a cocktail shaker containing a White Lady — his most famous creation — in a wall of the American Bar at the Savoy
The American Bar at the Savoy in 1931, following an Art Deco refurbishment
Craddock, born in Stroud in England in 1875, perfected his craft at the Knickerbocker Hotel in New York, but returned to his native country in 1920 after the introduction of Prohibition in the US made his profession obsolete.
‘Nobody in London really knew what a cocktail was at the time,’ explains Christie’s Books and Manuscripts specialist Julian Wilson. ‘But then along came the Roaring Twenties and jazz and Art Deco, and Craddock’s new American-style cocktails at The Savoy captured the spirit of all that.’
Between the recipes Craddock filled his pages with ‘sundry notes of amusement’, such as how to most appropriately ask for a glass of port, whether at the local pub or a royal residence, and witty verse that celebrates the pleasures of alcohol.
The book also includes boldly coloured Modernist cartoons of flapper girls and speeding automobiles by the illustrator Gilbert Rumbold.
Craddock’s inscription to his friend John Probert, possibly a patron of the American Bar at the Savoy
This copy of The Savoy Cocktail Book is from a rare limited edition, numbered 52 from a special print run of probably just 100.
Inside, Craddock has penned a message to the recipient John Probert, stating that he hopes ‘he will derive pleasure in reading and drinking’ the gift.
The exterior of the book — covered with a limited-edition red and green binding — bears a single ring-mark from the base of a martini glass. ‘Surely, this is the only book where such a defect increases its charm,’ suggests Wilson.
The cover of The Savoy Cocktail Book bears a single ring-mark from the base of a martini glass
In the above short film Shannon Tebay, the first American to become head bartender at the American Bar — the oldest surviving cocktail bar in Britain — mixes up one of her favourite drinks from the book: the Thistle. One of Craddock’s many inventions — the most famous of which perhaps is the White Lady — it contains Italian vermouth, blended Scotch whisky and Angostura bitters.
‘The Thistle cocktail is very easy to make,’ explains Tebay. ‘Anyone at home can do this if you just have a few key ingredients and a couple of very basic tools.’
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Tebay adds words of wisdom imparted by her predecessor: ‘Shake the shaker as hard as you can. You are trying to wake it up, not send it to sleep!’
But once the cocktail has been poured into its chilled glass, what then is the best way to drink it? According to Craddock’s legendary handbook, the answer is, ‘Quickly, while it’s laughing at you!’