Illustration by Britt Spencer
As much as we enjoy our beer and spirits—especially around the holidays—it wouldn’t surprise me. Hang around local bars long enough, and you’re bound to hear that certain drinks originated here: the Bloody Mary, the martini, the Tom Collins…
But alas, all of those recipes were almost certainly first mixed, shaken, and poured elsewhere.
Take the confusion surrounding the Tom Collins. It might be laid at the feet of the drink’s creator, “Professor” Jerry Thomas, who was head bartender at the legendary Planter’s House Hotel, which once stood downtown on Fourth Street, just north of the Old Courthouse. According to Cameron Collins (no relation), an amateur drink historian who authors the popular Distilled History blog, the name comes from a 19th-century barroom prank. Someone would walk into an establishment and tell a patron that a man named Tom Collins was speaking ill of him and raring for a fight and that Collins was last seen at another bar. The provoked patron would then hurry over to the new place, looking to defend his honor against the bully Collins. What he would find instead was the bartender, waiting with a glass of gin, lemon juice, simple syrup, and soda.
Cameron looked into the legend and found that the first mention of the ruse was in New York in 1874, but it spread relatively quickly to gin joints across the country. Though no one really knows exactly when or for how long in the mid-19th century Thomas tended bar at the historic Planter’s House, the book of recipes that made him world famous, The Bar-Tender’s Guide: How to Mix Drinks or the Bon Vivant’s Companion, was first published in 1862. The Tom Collins did not appear until the second edition, in 1876, by which time Thomas had opened his own bar in New York. “If he had invented the drink while in St. Louis, why wouldn’t it have been in that first edition?” reasons Cameron.
The one cocktail that is generally attributed to Thomas’ time in St. Louis is Planter’s Punch. The drink’s base of rum and frequent inclusion of exotic fruit, says Cameron, might mislead some people to believe that it has a more tropical heritage.
And if you’re looking for another (probably) authentic indigenous drink, there’s the Tom & Jerry, a spicy treat that was likely created by Thomas while at the Planter’s House.
