The Master Distiller's Book Club - The Deans of Drink, Episode 3

In episode six of the Master Distiller’s Book Club, we’re charting the life and times of Harry Craddock, author of The Savoy Cocktail Book. In their 2013 publication, Deans of Drink, Jared Brown and Anistatia Miller unearthed the missing pieces of Harry's life, including his birthplace, final resting spot, and how he came to be the head bartender at The Savoy's American Bar.

Anistatia traced Harry’s final resting spot to Gunnersbury Cemetery. Along with Erik Lorincz, she organised for his lacklustre cemetery marker to be replaced with something more deserving of Harry’s legacy - a gravestone. Further research dispelled the widely held belief that Harry was born in the USA. ‘His birth certificate didn't exist in the US, and there's a good reason for that. His passport says that he was an American citizen; he even had a draft card for the First World War as an American citizen, but his birth certificate was found in England. Harry was born in Stroud, Gloucestershire, to a family of weavers.’ says Anistatia.

In America, Harry made a name for himself at the Knickerbocker, which, as Jared explains, ‘was the premier destination for anybody who was anybody.’ In 1920 he moved to London, working in the service well at The Savoy hotel’s American Bar, with Ada Coleman and Ruth Burgess at the helm. ‘When prohibition happened, a lot of Americans started arriving in London because they were getting really thirsty, they couldn't get any over there, so they came over to London to get some. One little minor bit of prejudice, American men did not like the idea of being served by barmaids’ says Jared, and in 1922  Harry was promoted to Head Bartender.

Eleven years later, Harry published The Savoy Cocktail Book, an impressive tome of around 1400 cocktails. One of the most critical and revolutionary cocktail books ever written, it contains some of the first English drinks made using Tequila and Cuban rum and would go on to cement Harry’s place as one of the world’s most influential bartenders.