Home › At the Fountain › Claret Phosphate
Claret Phosphate
Draw 1 ounce claret syrup in a mineral glass, add dash of phosphate, fill with solid soda, stir and serve. Soda water is a veritable luxury and, when proper materials are used and the drink is scientifically dispensed, there is nothing half so delicious. At all times use "American Whole" and "Crushed Fruits," " Concentrated Fruit Syrups," "Fruit Phosphates," "Fruit Floss," etc., as they are the very best that can be obtained.
A fountain formula, written for a dispenser standing at a marble counter with a syrup rail and a two-stream draft arm. Everything in it translates, but two of the terms mean something specific.
- Acid phosphate, not phosphoric acid"Phosphate" here is acid phosphate: a dilute solution of phosphoric acid buffered with calcium, magnesium and potassium salts, which gives a dry, mineral tartness quite unlike citric acid. It is still made for the cocktail and soda trade. Do not substitute laboratory or industrial phosphoric acid concentrate.
- A dashOn the fountain, a dash was one squirt of the dash bottle; the amount varied with the bottle, but a quarter teaspoon or less is a reasonable modern reading. Start small; acid phosphate is assertive.
- "Solid soda"Fountain arms drew two streams, a coarse or "solid" stream of plain carbonated water and a fine spray used to foam a drink up. Solid soda means fill straight from the coarse stream, no foaming. A siphon or a bottle of well-chilled seltzer poured down the side of the glass does the same job.
- Mineral glassA tall straight-sided fountain glass; capacities varied, commonly in the 8 to 10 ounce range, so the finished drink is 1 ounce of syrup to several ounces of soda. Makes one.
- Claret syrupCommercial claret syrup was a flavouring syrup meant to suggest red Bordeaux with tart red fruit and a little astringency; formulas varied, some imitation and some built on actual claret. A heavy 2:1 syrup made from unsweetened black cherry or grape juice with a squeeze of lemon comes close; if you use actual claret, reduce it with sugar rather than pouring wine into the glass.
- Temperature and orderEverything must be cold. Syrup and phosphate first, soda last, and stir with a long spoon lifting from the bottom rather than beating, or the carbonation goes flat before it reaches the drinker.
- The trade pufferyThe closing sentence about "American Whole" and "Crushed Fruits" is advertising for a supplier's branded product line, not part of the method. Ignore it.
Phosphates were the soda fountain's answer to the sour: acid phosphate came into wide American use after Horsford's preparation was promoted in the later nineteenth century, and by the 1890s and 1900s a fountain rail carried a dash bottle of it beside the syrups. Claret was among the standard flavors, alongside lemon, cherry, orange and vanilla, and it is a good illustration of how fountain syrups traded on the names of alcoholic drinks while containing no alcohol, a habit that served the temperance drugstore trade well and would serve it better after national Prohibition took effect in January 1920. Books like this one were dispenser's manuals, and the closing sales pitch suggests they functioned as half formula collection and half catalogue for the syrup house that issued them. Acid phosphate largely disappeared from home use when the fountain trade collapsed mid-century and has come back only recently through bartenders reviving pre-Prohibition drinks.