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Creme de Menthe Julip
One ounce crême de menthe syrup, ½ ounce lemon syrup, ½ ounce claret syrup. Serve with sundae cherry in 8-ounce mineral glass.
A fountain drink, not a cocktail: every one of these syrups is a non-alcoholic flavouring sold by the gallon to soda dispensers. The recipe assumes the fountain man knows to fill the glass with carbonated water, which is why no liquid is listed.
- The missing stepDraw the three syrups into the glass, then fill with cold carbonated water. Period fountain manuals describe using the coarse stream first and finishing with the fine stream so the foam builds without flooding; the recipe itself gives no method. Stir only enough to marry the syrups.
- Crème de menthe syrupGreen peppermint syrup, coloured but not spirituous. Modern mint syrups run sweeter and often taste of spearmint rather than peppermint; peppermint is closer to the period flavour.
- Claret syrupA red syrup flavoured to suggest claret wine. Period formulas vary: some are fruit-based imitations, others were made with real claret, so it should not be assumed alcohol-free. Grenadine or a tart grape syrup is the nearest thing on a modern shelf.
- Lemon syrupFountain lemon syrup was sugar syrup with lemon oil and citric acid, sharper than lemonade concentrate. Its job here is acid — without it the mint and claret read as flat candy.
- Sundae cherryA maraschino, drained. The original article was marasca cherries preserved in liqueur, but imitation, brined and dyed cherries were already widespread at soda fountains; today's are brined and dyed, so rinse the syrup off before dropping it in.
- The 8-ounce mineral glassA straight-sided, thick-walled fountain tumbler. Two ounces of syrup in an eight-ounce glass leaves roughly six ounces for carbonated water and whatever ice is used, so something in the order of one part syrup to three parts water.
- YieldOne glass. Scaling up is pointless: carbonation is lost the moment it stands, so build each drink to order.
Fountain "julips" borrowed the name and the look of the bar julep — mint, ice, a garnish — and they multiplied in American drugstores through the temperance years and then through Prohibition. The soda dispenser's whole craft lay in bottled syrups: the flavours on the rail could be combined into a wide range of named drinks, which is why a book of this kind reads as a list of proportions rather than a list of ingredients. Claret, sherry, and "wine" syrups were an established part of that rail — some period versions did contain wine — and the practice is a good measure of how closely the drugstore fountain shadowed the bar.