The Modern

History

Adapted from an early 20th-century recipe recorded in Charles S. Mahoney's 1905 The Hoffman House Bartender's Guide.

Modern Cocktail.
Bar glass half full of ice.
Three dashes lemon juice, one dash orange bitters, one dash absinthe, four dashes of syrup, one-half jigger of Scotch whiskey, one-half jigger Sloe gin; mix well and strain in cocktail glass with cherry.

Charles S. Mahoney, 1905

Charlie Mahoney was the head bartender, and indeed celebrity bartender, at New York's Hoffman House Hotel.

Mahoney's inclusion of The Modern in his revered book ensured it would be picked up and made by future generations of bartender. However, he didn't create this cocktail and for decades the identity of the drink's inventor remained unknown. That was until December 2017, when Doug Stailey revealed (via his Twitter feed @LibationLegacy) that John E. Haas, a bartender from Bradford, Pennsylvania (1873-1909) was the true originator of this delicious cocktail. The evidence he'd uncovered lay in a column in the National Police Gazette, December 17, 1904. Sadly, little else is known about the life and times of John E. Haas.

Thanks Doug. And thanks to David Wondrich for bringing this to the attention of a wider audience. And special thanks to Scott Bennett, the Discerning Drinker who brought all this to our attention.