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Constitution Breezes
Shaved ice, ½ glassful; solution acid phosphate, 1 dram; comp. tr. cardamom, 1 dram; vanilla syrup, 1½ ounces; plain soda, Cool Breeze. One-half ounce limeade syrup, ½ ounce orange syrup, ½ ounce red cherry syrup, ½ ounce pineapple syrup, 3 dashes lime juice. soda, two-thirds cracked ice with straws.
Two drinks have been run together in this entry: the acid phosphate and cardamom formula, and a separate all-fruit-syrup drink called "Cool Breeze." Treat them as two builds rather than one glass, and read the fragmented punctuation accordingly.
- A dramIn a dispensing pharmacy this is the fluid dram, one-eighth of a fluid ounce, or a shade under 4 mL. A bar teaspoon is close enough for both the acid phosphate and the cardamom.
- Acid phosphateA dilute solution of phosphoric acid with calcium, magnesium and potassium salts, sold as a soda-fountain souring agent when citrus was seasonal. It is still made for the cocktail trade. It adds tartness without fruit flavour, so lemon juice is not a substitute for it, only a replacement of it.
- Compound tincture of cardamomA pharmacy preparation of cardamom with cinnamon, caraway and often cochineal in dilute alcohol and glycerin. It is not the same as a modern cardamom extract, which is stronger and flatter; if using extract, start with a few drops rather than a full dram.
- Plain sodaCarbonated water drawn from the fountain under pressure, generally served well chilled. Draw it against the side of the glass.
- The 12-ounce glassThe glass -- The recipe does not state a glass size; it calls only for half a glassful of shaved ice and enough soda to fill. Each formula makes one drink.
- The Cool Breeze buildFour half-ounce fruit syrups come to two full ounces of sugar syrup, plus three dashes of lime juice, which is sweet by current taste. Cut each syrup to a quarter ounce if the drink is to be sipped rather than swallowed cold and fast.
- Ice orderThe recipe lists the cracked ice after the soda, not before. Serve immediately with straws.
Acid phosphate drinks belong to the period when the soda fountain sat inside the drugstore and the man mixing them was a pharmacist working from formulae, which is why the measurements here are in drams and the flavourings are tinctures off the dispensary shelf. Compound tincture of cardamom was a carminative, prescribed for indigestion, and its appearance in a fountain drink shows how thin the line was between a tonic and a treat in American pharmacy practice around 1900. Names like "Constitution Breezes" and "Cool Breeze" were house inventions, and fountain books of the era carried many of them, most differing only in the combination of syrups. Phosphates faded from fountain menus as bottled soft drinks took over, and acid phosphate itself all but disappeared from retail before craft bartenders revived it.