Happy New Year! We figured we’d ring in 2025 with a celebratory cocktail as well as some history of bar service on railroad dining cars. We will be featuring a Manhattan (Pullman and Lucius Beebe style!), as well as beverage menus from various railroads.

Figure 1 Chicago, Burlington & Quincy menu featuring a Manhattan, 1947.

With the advent of dining cars on railroads, food and beverage services saw significant improvement. The standards for service across various railroads were remarkably high, with the Pullman Company serving as an excellent example of these elevated expectations.

Figure 2 Pullman Company Commissary Instructions, 1939. Colorado Railroad Museum Collection.

The Pullman Company’s Commissary Instructions, revised in 1939, detail the high standards for serving food and drink. They cover everything from ingredients in the dishes and cocktails, to the presentation and type of dish the items should be served in. The beverage section in the booklet is extensive. One of the first things the booklet covers is the legality of serving beverages. The Instructions note:

“The laws of the various states through which we operate MUST BE OBSERVED. The attendant must insert on face of the check, in the space provided for that purpose, the name of the state in which the sale is made.”

The Commissary Instructions also note that “liquor should not be sold to intoxicated passengers.”

Legality was not the Pullman Company’s only concern when it came to serving alcohol. Presentation was something the company prided itself on, and each beverage the company commonly served had extensive instructions. The booklet has a section on which drinks should not be stirred by the attendant, including highballs along with brandy and sodas; which drinks should be stirred, including gin fizzes, lemonades, and old fashioneds, to name a few; and to “remember only Manhattan, Martini, and Bronx Cocktails are twirled.” The booklet also made sure to note that for drinks that passengers requested not on the beverage card, the attendant should refer to Jacques Straub’s drink book “which is carried as regular equipment on every car featuring beverages.”

Figure 3 Pullman Company Commissary Instructions page showing glasses needed for a Manhattan cocktail.

Figure 4 Cover of Drinks by Jacques Straub, published in 1914.

Before we share the recipes, let’s discuss the origins of the Manhattan cocktail. The history of this classic cocktail is steeped in myth. Some sources claim that the first time this drink was mixed was for Lady Randolph Churchill, Winston Churchill’s mother in New York—though records show she wasn’t in the United States at the time of the claim and was pregnant. Other sources claim that the drink originated from a bartender known only as Black at a prestigious Manhattan Club—hence the name. Regardless, the drink did originate in the 1860s or 1870s and became a popular cocktail option.

Figure 5 Lucius Beebe, food gourmand, writer, railroad photographer.

Lucius Beebe—prolific writer, railroad photographer, and openly gay man in a time when that was not socially acceptable—provided a Manhattan cocktail recipe in the morning section of his Stork Club Bar Book. The book, first published in 1946, provided recipes for the drinks at the Stork Club in New York City. Beebe noted that the Manhattan had “unrivaled tonic qualities as a restorative and element for firming the moral fiber” and consuming it “was an almost universal rite until the end of the nineteenth century.” The book recommends using “quality bar whisky” rather than “the finest and oldest proof spirits” when making the cocktail.

Figure 6 Stork Club Bar Book, published in 1946.

For more information on Lucius Beebe and the Stork Club, see our previous post featuring a bourbon toddy here: https://coloradorailroadmuseum.org/2023/02/03/dining-on-the-rails-february-2023-bourbon-toddy/

All railroads for which the Colorado Railroad Museum has menus for in its collection, include a beverage menu. Each of these menus has a Manhattan cocktail on them. Some of the beverage menus even lay out the laws regarding the sale and consumption of alcohol in the various states along their route (see figure 7).

Figure 7 Union Pacific beverage menu featuring the liquor laws of the states on the route, 1962.

Figure 8 Interior of UP beverage menu, featuring a Manhattan, 1962.

Figure 9 Denver & Rio Grande (D&RG) menu featuring a Manhattan, 1906.

Figure 10 Santa Fe beverage menu featuring a Manhattan, 1940.

We hope you enjoyed our brief history of Pullman and dining car bar service on the railroads, as well as the history of a longstanding cocktail. If you try it, be sure to let us know in the comments below, or on our Facebook or Instagram channels! Happy New Year!

1914 Drinks By Jacques Straub Manhattan

1 dash Angostura bitters.
1/3 jigger Italian vermouth.
2/3 jigger bourbon. Stir.

Stork Club Bar Book Manhattan Cocktail

2/3 oz. rye whisky
1/3 oz. Italian vermouth

Decorate with maraschino cherry, stir, and serve in 3 oz. cocktail glass.

Pullman Commissary Instructions for a Manhattan

Arrange set-up in buffet. Place on bar tray: one individual bottle of Manhattan Cocktail, cap knife, glass (No. 4), mixing glass (No. 13) with 2 or 3 cubes ice, bar spoon, bar strainer, and paper cocktail napkin. Attendant should carry clean glass towel on his arm with fold pointing toward his hand while rendering service.
Place one red cherry on toothpick into glass (No. 4) ; proceed to passenger with above set-up.
Place bar tray with set-up on table (or etc.).
Place paper cocktail napkin on table in front of passenger.
Present individual bottle of Manhattan Cocktail to passenger, displaying label, strip tax stamp, and Goldy seal, by holding bottle on sides between index finger and thumb.
Open individual bottle of Manhattan Cocktail with cap knife in presence of passenger, pointing neck of bottle away from passenger ; wipe top of bottle with clean glass towel.
Pour contents of individual bottle of Manhattan Cocktail over ice in mixing glass (No. 13).
TWIRL WITH BAR SPOON UNTIL THOROUGHLY CHILLED. Return bar spoon to bar tray.
Insert bar strainer into mixing glass (No. 13) and strain into glass (No. 4) by holding glass (no. 4) in one hand by stem and mixing glass (No. 13) in the other hand. Return mixing glass (No. 13) to bar tray.
Place glass (No. 4) containing drink on paper cocktail napkin.
Remove bar tray with equipment not needed by passenger and return to buffet.

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Dining on the Rails January 2025: Manhattan and Dining Car Bar Service

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