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The rickey is a highball made from gin or bourbon whiskey, lime juice, and carbonated water. Little or no sugar is added to the rickey. It was created with bourbon in Washington, D.C., at Shoomaker's bar by bartender George A. Williamson in the 1880s, purportedly in collaboration with Democratic lobbyist Colonel Joe Rickey. Its popularity increased when made with gin a decade later.Brown, George Rothwell. Washington: A Not Too Serious History. Baltimore, 1930, pp. 366–370 A non-alcoholic version is a lime rickey.
A recipe for the rickey appeared as early as 1903 in Daly's Bartenders' Encyclopedia by Tim Daly (p. 57):
GIN RICKEY. Use a sour glass. Squeeze the juice of one lime into it. One small lump of ice. One wine glass of Plymouth gin. Fill the glass with syphon seltzer, and serve with a small bar spoon.
The American almanac, year-book, encyclopedia, and atlas: Volume 2 – Page 748 in 1903 "Rickey, Colonel Joseph Karr. at New York City, aged 61 years. Confederate veteran of the civil war; originator of the drink which bears his name April. 24."
Two days later, this was published:
The name is also attributed to Rep. William Henry Hatch and Fred Mussey, who were said to be present when the drink was created and later came in asking for a "Joe Rickey drink" or "I'll have a Joe Rickey."
However, assigning credit for the name's provenance is complicated, as a June 17, 1900 edition of the Saint Paul Globe claimed to have overheard Joe Rickey at the Waldorf-Astoria argue he never actually drank rickeys but enjoyed bourbon, carbonated water, and lemon."Col. Rickey on Mixed Drinks." The Saint Paul Globe, June 17, 1900 In the same account, Col. Joe Rickey ascribes the addition of lime to the bartenders at Shoomaker's. There are numerous other articles that describe Col. Joe Rickey's unhappiness with being ascribed authorship:
Around the corner on 14th Street was "Newspaper Row," where many of the national newspapers had their Washington bureaus between E and F Streets. The original Washington Post building from 1893 was on E Street, right in the center of Rum Row, as was the Munsey Building, home to The Washington Times. Newspaper Row and Rum Row formed a symbiotic relationship: lobbyists and politicians would drink and entertain at their favorite bars, interacting with reporters who could walk around the corner to their bureau and file a story. This system ended when the Sheppard Act closed all saloons in the District on November 1, 1917—more than two years before national Prohibition began. The newspaper bureaux have long since been razed; the only reminder from Newspaper Row's glory days is the National Press Building.
Famous writers, politicians, and political types were frequent guests at Shoomaker's, including some of the "greatest men in the country.""Cobwebs and Quality Mark Shoomaker's Wine," The Washington Times, December 30, 1906. Elbert Hubbard wrote about the clientele of Shoomaker's and the convivial nature of the place:
Shoomaker's was well known for its whiskey and wine quality, prompting Judge Cowan of Texas during an investigation by the Congressional Agricultural Committee to declare Shoomaker's "as the place where the best whiskey in Washington is to be had." Shoomaker's also distributed spirits and wine and had their own rye whiskey, commonly used in the whiskey versions of the Rickey.
Shoomaker's lack of decor was infamous. It had two nicknames: "Shoo's" and "Cobweb Hall"—the latter because it was never dusted of cobwebs at its first location. The dingy look was much revered by its customers.
October 31, 1917, was the last wet day in the District—the Sheppard Act went into effect the next day. It is reported that Shoomaker's closed at 10 p.m. on October 31 when they ran out of liquor. The guests are purported to have sung a popular song at the time, "Over There."Virginia Faulkner, "Last Days Before Prohibition," The Washington Post, December 10, 1933. Shoomaker's reopened not as a saloon but as a place serving soft drinks, but the public was not interested. It, too, closed in March 1918.
Williamson was also known as the "King of Juleps" according to The Washington Post"Water Mint Juleps Arouse Ire of City's Mixologists," The Washington Post, July 15, 1911, and called "...the most celebrated of Shoomaker's", according to a reminiscence of Joe Crowley, former president of Washington, D.C.'s Bartender's Union prior to Prohibition.Daly, John J., "The Lost Legion," The Washington Post, September 16, 1928.
George Rothwell Brown placed Williamson as the rickey's inventor in his 1930 book, Washington: A Not Too Serious History. Brown suggested that an unknown stranger discussed with Williamson how drinks were prepared in the Caribbean with half of a lime, gave Williamson some limes, and asked him to substitute rye whiskey for rum. The following morning Williamson was said to have made one for Col. Rickey, who approved.
The joke appears in 1891 in the Omaha Daily Bee, originating from the Washington Star:
By 1907, the gin rickey was of such import that an article from the Los Angeles Herald titled "Limes are on Time" stated:
However, by the 1900s, some newspapers were already noting that the scotch highball and the Mamie Taylor were overtaking the popularity of the gin rickey.
Many variations of the gin rickey exist, such as the strawberry lime gin rickey, which includes gin, strawberries, lime juice, honey, mint leaves, club soda, and sugar.
The Glenn Miller Orchestra recorded the song "Jukebox Saturday Night" (words by Albert Stillman) in which a nonalcoholic version of the drink is featured (recorded by the Glenn Miller Orchestra on July 15, 1942, with Marion Hutton and the Modernaires):
In The Simpsons episode "Burns, Baby Burns," Mr. Burns is drinking a rickey when introduced to his illegitimate son Larry. Not realizing Larry is his son, he expostulates, "How dare you interrupt my lime rickey!"
Dr. Jason Wilkes ordered a gin rickey in the Agent Carter episode "A View in the Dark".
A teenage JFK asks, "Any chance I can sneak a gin rickey?" in Season 2, Episode 5 of Timeless.
In Our Flag Means Death, set in the Golden Age of Piracy, a character named Prince Ricky claims to have invented the drink.
In Palm Royale, Robert the pool boy drinks a gin rickey in a nod to the actor who portrays him, Ricky Martin.
In 1923 (TV series), Jack Dutton orders a gin rickey from an underground speakeasy.
The gin rickey
By the 1890s, the gin rickey had supplanted the early bourbon version now known as the "Joe Rickey." George Rothwell Brown ascribed the creation of the gin rickey to the Chicago exposition of 1893, where the jinrikisha, or rickshaw, was introduced from Japan. It became a joke among travelers.
In popular culture
The gin rickey appears in Chapter 7 of F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 classic The Great Gatsby. The scene begins on a day that is "broiling, almost the last, certainly the warmest, of the summer." The narrator, Nick Carraway, describes Tom returning "preceding four gin rickeys that clicked full of ice. Gatsby took up his drink. 'They certainly look cool,' Gatsby said with visible tension. We drank in long, greedy swallows."
D.C. Craft Bartenders Guild
The D.C. Craft Bartenders Guild, an independent guild of bartenders in the District, designated July as Rickey Month and has since held annual competitions to celebrate the District's native cocktail by inviting local bartenders to compete. In 2011, the Rickey was declared the District's official native cocktail, and the month of July was declared Rickey Month in D.C.
Variations and similar cocktails
The Sheeney Rickey is a version of the gin rickey without adding the lime shell, according to The Life and Times of Henry Thomas, Mixologist.Wheeler, Charles. Life and Letters of Henry William Thomas, Mixologist. Washington, D.C., 1929. Thomas was a noted bartender from Washington, D.C., who worked at Shoomaker's and whose book was privately published in 1926 and 1929.
See also
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