The Queen of Cocktail Mixers🍸

Plus soccer, cake picnics and babies!

Happy Wednesday, my dear readers!

This week’s newsletter is packed with knowledge, it’s the equivalent of a deep-fried double-stuffed Oreo! Thank you to all the folks who send me cool things to feature + my anxiety pressuring me to scour the internet at all hours.

Our feature this week was inspired by my dear colleague, Jill! She sent me this book (see below), which is a mix of cocktail recipes and summaries of amazing women from history and today. The book got me thinking… who is a cool woman bartender I could feature? Pop on your best outfit, we’re off to the Savoy Hotel bar in London! Cheerio!

A hand holding a copy of “Drinking Like Ladies: 75 Modern Cocktails from the World’s Leading Female Bartenders, Includes Toasts to Extraordinary Women in History” by Kirsten Amann and Misty Kalkofen

Ada Coleman

Ada Coleman, affectionately referred to as ‘Coley,’ was a bartending trailblazer. But it’s not clear if that was always her plan. Ada got into bartending because her father was a steward at Rupert D’Oyly Carte’s golf course. When her father died, she was offered a job at one of Rupert’s hotels behind the bar. At 24, Ada barely made the age requirement to be a “barmaid” as women over 25 were told not to apply. The first drink she made? A Manhattan!

Ada Coleman smiles at the camera while she pours a drink from a shaker into a glass. She is wearing a black dress with a patterned collar.

At the time (early 1900s), there was a campaign to prohibit women from being barmaids (female version of bartender) because of the perception that the jobs were “immoral” for women (🤮), general hemming and hawing about women working (🙄), and concern over taking men’s jobs (🤬). If you want to read about this fight in the States, you should read my post from a few years ago!

Ada managed to break those stereotypes as she was both talented and beloved by the customers.

“The kindness and energy displayed by Miss Coleman was marvelous and she was so nice, and so kind and so full of life and energy.” -The Earl of Lonsdale

“Not only was Coley...a woman in the world of male bartenders," he said, "it was she who made the bar famous.” Ted Hughes, cocktail historian

In 1903, four years after she started at the Savoy, she became the head bartender. There’s some debate about whether she was the first female head bartender (another woman, Ruth Burgess, who also worked behind the bar), but she was one of the first.

Coleman’s signature cocktail was a sweet martini called The Hanky Panky. She was known for her mixologist talent, and she created this drink for comedic actor Sir Charles Hawtrey. It is said that she experimented for days to get the combination right, and the first time she served it to Hawtrey, he drank it all in one big gulp and exclaimed, “By Jove! This is the real hanky panky!”

Ada Coleman stands in a white dress with an apron. She has a shaker above her head, pouring into a glass below her waist.

Ada had famous clientele, including Mark Twain, the Prince of Wales, Marlene Dietrich, and Charlie Chaplin. Off the clock, she held top-notch parties for theatre people filled with booze, music, and fun!

While Ada was beloved, there are a few accounts that there was beef between Ada and the other female bartender, Ruth. Although they worked together for twenty years, they never worked the same shift. Customers would ask for Ada’s specialty cocktails when she wasn’t behind the bar, so Ruth asked Ada for her recipes, but she refused to provide them 😬. This is a lesson in why we shouldn’t create situations where women must fight each other for recognition and respect!

If you’d like to pay tribute to Ada, you can still order the Hanky Panky at the Savoy! If London is a bit far, you can head to Hudson Yards in New York City to go to Ada’s Place, a cocktail bar named after Ada Coleman.

Ada Coleman is referred to as one of the bartending greats, and the staff at the Savoy speaks highly of her and her talents. So, think of Ava next time you grab a cocktail or mocktail!

Ada Coleman Project🍸

The Ada Coleman Project is a rotating global database of women and non-binary people in the drinks industry. The website provides educational content, health and well-being support, industry news, trends, techniques, and opportunities in the field. They seek to promote diversity and equity in the hospitality industry through cultivating a more inclusive environment while empowering their members.

🧵Bits and Bobs🧵

⚽️ An innovative French soccer ad from 2023. That’s all I can say without spoiling it! 🤐

An awesome picture from my friend Katie! You can read more about the background here!

A picture of a mural on the side of a building. The mural has a quote: “If blood is on my shirt, I’m a hero. But if I bleed through my shorts, it’s a different story.” It also has a picture of Beth Mead from Arsenal (it is her quote).

🎂 A podcast interview with the founder of Cake Picnics (yes…it’s picnics with hundreds of cakes), Elisa Sunga.

👶🏻 An article about Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and her baby Mira joining her on the job.

🗳 Reader poll: I’d love to hear from you all… who would you like to read about next week?

That’s all for this week! Byeeee!

Citations

https://revelry.tours/cocktails/hanky-panky/

https://www.diffordsguide.com/encyclopedia/2857/people/ada-coleman

https://www.thrillist.com/drink/nation/women-who-changed-bar-industry-female-bartenders

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_Coleman