If you appreciate a well made mixed drink, there’s a good chance you’ve visited a cocktail bar or two… or three. Spend any amount of time at these establishments and you will notice something familiar. It’s rarely the aesthetic, but more about how they operate; quality drinks, high standards of service and how you’re made to feel as a customer.
We begin by exploring the history of alcohol and its consumption in pubs and saloons. Historically, such places have always served a meeting spot, a hub where members of a community could gather socially.
Interestingly, drinking establishments were not exclusively taverns; they were also pharmacies and drug stores. The pharmacy was a busy store.
What began as a functional meeting point became a social one. Pharmacies stocked everyday essentials plus tonics for common ailments. Most prescriptions were prepared by hand. It took careful precision to measure the ingredients and blend them into the proper formulas. Quite often these cure-alls were served dissolved in liquid.
Compare the two pictures above; one is a 1920’s drug store recreated in North Carolina. The other is a modern day cocktail bar.
There are noticeable similarities:
Consider why these classic drug stores were designed in this way. Which medicine or product did they sell that warranted such a layout?
Your answer: soda fountains.
A soda fountain is a device that dispenses carbonated liquids in either unflavoured or flavoured forms. The soda fountain was an attempt to recreate the natural mineral waters that came up from the Earth. For centuries people believed that these waters could cure ailments and disease. Many early pioneering scientists tried to recreate this natural occurrence, finally succeeding in the late 18th Century when Joseph Priestley published a pamphlet with Directions for Impregnating Water with Fixed Air (1772). The design of this device was refined over many years as the soda fountain began to be used in Europe. Its success was cemented when its usage moved over to the United States.
Recognised for their medicinal properties, these dispensing units were found in drug stores across the country. Chemists would combine various herbs and spices to make a syrup that could be mixed with this newly invented ‘soda’ water. The most renowned of these being Caleb Bradham who in 1893 created a fountain drink in his North Carolina drug store. Hoping to appeal to a wide market, his drink claimed to aid digestion and boost energy. Originally known as Brad’s Drink, it was later renamed Pepsi-Cola as a hyphenated contraction of the words ‘dyspepsia’ and the ‘kola’ nuts used in the recipe.
Caleb was not the only one creating new and wonderful drinks, and more importantly, flavours. Each chemist had their own recipes and flavour combinations, much like modern day cocktail bartenders. With this increasing selection of flavours, popularity grew. People began enjoying the taste of these drinks over their supposed medicinal properties. This led to people frequenting the drug stores in a more social manner.
Drug stores quickly adapted to this new trend and catered for the masses by having a range of different sodas that would appeal to all tastes. The people serving behind the counter were known as ‘Soda Jerks’. Soda jerks were in control of dispensing these flavoursome drinks and serving them at optimal temperatures. This is before mechanical refrigeration was used to cool drinks, so ice cubes were carved from huge blocks cut from frozen lakes and ponds in the winter.
In the pictures, we can see the design of a 1920’s soda station and that of a modern day cocktail bar station.
Drug stores went on to become soda bars and it’s clear to see what influence the idea of being a social and enterprising establishment can have. Quality drinks, in a variety of flavours, expertly dispensed, using ice to chill the drink. The popularity of soda fountains eventually tailed off in the 1970s, but the learning continued. Modern cocktail bars have developed exponentially in terms of technology and materials, but the desire for efficiency and quality remains unchanged.
Operational similarities aside, the draw of these places throughout the decades is people. These venues continue to provide a social space for neighbourhoods and communities. That’s what keeps them alive.
References:
Fountain Speciality co, Chicago IL. Soda Fountains, 1920, page 49, Counter interior no 833
IMC Bar System - Cocktail Station 2000 lovetiki.com
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