Raising the Bar.

Simple, taverns or inns frequented by the labourers after long hard day,were said to have barricade their fragile products against vandalism from the frequently brawling alcohol consumer; hence the word bar.

Around 1800,Salon came into common use for the establishment probably the the derivation from the Italian word. The customers were primarily male and no respectable woman would have been seen in there.

Nearing 19th century,the word bar started to open its wings and to be seen in the better hotels in prosperous cities,rapidly becoming the expression of new attitude of life. In between American Revolution and Prohibition(1920-1933), the art of bartending was born and started to spread its wings...

The first bar book ,"The bartender's guide" was published in 1862 containing the rules of the conduct for the bartender and handy selections of recipes including punches, cobblers, flips, fix, juleps, sangaree, sour, shrub, crusta, pousse-café ...etc by Jerry P.Thomas.

In 1856,Knickerbocker Magazine ,Charles G. Leland had referred bartender as mixologist of tipulars fixings ...

who can forget the contribution of hotel bars in the history of cocktail making...like Sidecar from The Ritz Carlton (Paris);The Monteleone(New Orleans) for Vieux carre;The St.Regis (NYC) , King Cole bar for Red Snapper /bloody Mary.The St,Regis -King Cole bar claims their french bartender Fernand Petiot invented the Red Snapper known as Bloody Mary in 1934 but Harry's New York bar (Paris) also claims to have invented the drink.The Waldrof -Astoria-(Nyc)-for Rob Roy..and The Great Savoy with numerous libations..