Bronx

History

One of the classic cocktails named after New York's five boroughs, probably more directly after the then newly opened Bronx Zoo. There are numerous variations on the recipe, but the ingredients classically comprise dry gin, dry and sweet vermouth, and orange juice.

The Bronx Zoological Park and neighbouring Gardens opened on the 8th of November 1899, and it is presumed a bartender created this eponymous cocktail after being inspired by his visit to the newly opened zoo. The first known reference appeared on 15 February 1901 in The Virginia Enterprise newspaper, which, in a list of Bartender's Association committee members, says, "J. E. O'Connor of the Waldorf-Astoria, inventor of the "Bronx cocktail.""

The committee consists of Frank Curtis of the Gilsey house, inventor of "Long Branch punch," J.E. O'Connor of The Waldorf-Astoria, inventor of the "Bronx cocktail," and William Gilbert of the Manhattan hotel, inventor of the "Clover Club Mystery.

The Virginia Enterprise, 1901

John "Curly" O'Connor was Head Barman at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel bar, and the newspaper dates the creation of the cocktail to sometime between 1899 and 1901. However, a column in the 30 December 1921 edition of The Miami News, titled "Birthplace of Bronx Cocktail Brings $10", reporting the sale of a café at 887 Brook Avenue, says the address is "said to be the place where the Bronx cocktail had its inception, although Billy Gibson's Criterion Restaurant in East 149th Street also claims that distinction."

The Bronx doesn't find its way into a cocktail recipe book until 1908, but then it appears in three. However, only the first of these, The World's Drinks and How to Mix Them by William "Cocktail" Boothby, is what we recognise as being a Bronx cocktail today, and credits the recipe to a Billy Malloy in Pittsburg, PA.

BRONX COCKTAIL.
a la Billy Malloy, Pittsburg, PA.
One-third Plymouth gin, one-third French vermouth and one-third Italian vermouth, flavoured with two dashes of Orange bitters, about a barspoonful of orange juice and a squeeze of orange peel. Serve very cold

William T. Boothby, The World's Drinks and How to Mix Them, 1908

BRONX COCKTAIL
50% Gordon gin
25% Chappaz French Vermouth
25% Ballor Vermouth
Twist of orange peel.
Fill glass with ice, shake and strain, serve.

Jacob Abraham Grohusko, Jack's Manual, 1908

Bronx Cocktail.
Equal parts of French and Italian Vermouth, piece of orange peel in a mixing glass, small drink of dry gin; frappé and strain off; use plenty of fine ice.

Charles S. Mahoney, The Hoffman House Bartender's Guide, 1908

So, at least two bartenders and three locations are credited with creating the Bronx, and it's believable that several people came up with similar cocktails, named after the zoo, around the same time. And, as the three 1908 books illustrate, there were plenty of different Bronx cocktail recipes. However, importantly, it's the recipe Boothby credits to Billy Malloy of Pittsburgh, which is the Bronx recipe that has proved an enduring classic, although John "Curly" O'Connor's recipe is not documented.

The fact that John "Curley" O'Connor is credited in that 1901 newspaper with creating the Bronx and that he worked at New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel (the Empire State Building occupies the site today) is interesting due to a testimony published in Albert Stevens Crockett's 1935 Old Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book attributing the invention to another bartender at the Waldorf-Astoria called Johnny Solon (or Solan).

However, in his 1934 What Shall We Drink book, Magnus Bredenbek states, "The Bronx Cocktail, strange to say, was invented in Philadelphia, of all places! There, it might have remained in obscurity had it not been for one Joseph Sormani, a Bronx restaurateur, who discovered it in the Quaker City in 1905." A 17th August 1947 New York Times obituary goes further, saying, "Joseph S. Sormani, retired Bronx restaurateur, who was said to have originated the Bronx cocktail, died Wednesday night in his home, 2322 Fish Avenue, the Bronx, after a brief illness. His age was 83."

We'll probably never know for certain who actually created the Bronx, but my money is on John "Curley" O'Connor at the Old Waldorf-Astoria, and Johnny Solon later took the credit.