01/08

The former first producer of sparkling wines outside French territory, founded by one of Napoleon’s soldiers in 1825 in what was then Pressburg (currently Bratislava), will become the Hubert J.E. Sereď joint stock company (1995).

06/08

In a letter from Ireland to his family in England, Samuel Lumsden wrote: “The murder of Norton Butler of Grouse Hall, Carndonagh, has its roots in his efforts to stop illegal distilling.” (1816).
The ship Athenia brought 250 cartons of Ballantines to Ontario (1937).

07/08

The city council of Brno consented that everyone permanently living in Brno may buy about 100 hectolitres of wine outside the city bounds, of which four fifths may be sold in barrels and one fifth served at Easter (1520).

10/08

The United States Patent Office issued a certificate of registration for the trade mark “Imported Original Bohemia Budweiser Beer from Budweis City” in the USA for the Czech Joint Stock Brewery in České Budějovice (1937).

13/08

Princess Charlotte Elisabeth of Bavaria, mother of the French regent, the duke of Orleans, wrote: “When my son starts drinking, its never potent drinks or liquors but pure wine from Champagne.” (1716).

20/08

After an eighteen year pause, the Round Robin Bar at the Washington DC Willard Inter-Continental Hotel, where the renowned American politician Henry Clay in 1850 first mixed the Mint Julep in the US capital, reopened (1986).

22/08

T.S. Elliot’s play, The Cocktail Party, with Sir Alec Guinness in the title role, opened the Edinburgh Theater Festival. Gourmets were intrigued by the mysterious character’s, Sir Henry Harcourt-Reilly’s request for gin and water. A combination known as Gin Twist Half & Half (1949).

25/08

Ernest Hemingway “liberated” the Paris Ritz, and once again sat down in the Cambon Bar to drink his Martini (1944).
The Cambon Bar of the Paris Ritz opened under the new name, the Hemingway Bar; the bartender Colin offers a special POSTE RESTANTE service for journalists, writers and poets: their mail is kept in a special cabinet and delivered to them during their next visit (1994).

28/08

Swiss laborer Jean Lonfray, under the influence of absinth, murdered his pregnant wife and two daughters and attempted suicide (1905).

30/08

The American National Standard Safety Code and Requirements for Dry Martinis, a witty fake document with all the due attributes of the American National Standards Institute, Inc. was, “approved.” (1974).