01/12

Benito and Giannola Nonino started producing the exclusive grappa „monovitigno“ from the grapes of a single vine, the Picolito, changing the former “Cinderella of the most modest pubs” into the queen of the salons (1973).
The Raffles Hotel, where in 1915, in the Long Bar, its bartender Ngiam Tong Boon composed the famous Singapore Sling and the Million Dollar Cocktail, was opened (1887).

03/12

The first batch of beer was brewed in the Nošovice brewery, now better known as the Radegast Joint Stock Co. (1970).

05/12

The prohibition in the USA was abolished (1933).
The photographer Jiří Erml who in the years 1990-1994 created a collection of pictures “Collected Bars” in New York, was born in Brno (1945).

08/12

The daily Il Telegrafo published the very first advertisement for the house of F. Cinzano´s vermouths (1887).

13/12

Parson Woodford, a vicar in Norfolk, had a hard job bottling two vats of gin which he obtained early in the morning, probably from illegal sources (1794).

15/12

George Sievi, one of the most diligent presidents of the International Bartenders Association, died (1959).

16/12

Justice Danckwerts pronounced a judgement in the Champagne vintners’ dispute with the Spanish Costa Brava Wine Company concerning the use of the term “champagne” on Spanish labels. He ruled that the term had to be removed from the Spanish products within 48 hours. (1960).

Born - Lionello Stock, later founder of the company of that name in Triest. In 1921 it acquired a branch which currently produces Fernet Stock, Fernet Stock Citrus and other successful products (1866).

17/12

By a decree, the French government defined the limits of the area, from which the wine may be used in the production of champagne (1908).
For the first time in the history of the Karlovarská Becherovka Company and within one year, the five millionth litre of the famous digestive liqueur was produced (1979).

20/12

Lord Midleton sold the former textile factory buildings to the brothers James, Daniel and Jeremiah Murphy, who intended to establish a distillery for whiskey production in the object (1825).

22/12

In the chapel of the Bégin de Saint-Mandé hospital, the last farewell was bidden to Rudolf Slavík, the former head bartender of the Paris hotel George V, whose International Mixing Passport was a unique document which enabled its owner to contact distinguished bartenders on all continents (1978).

23/12

The Cork Distilleries Company was established by the will of distillers from North Mall, The Watercourse, The Green and Daly´s. The Midleton Distillery definitely became one of the two main producing centers (1867).

24/12

Pedro Chicote, author of the Spanish bartender´s manual “Mis 500 Cocktails”, passed away (1977).

26/12

Composer, singer and “Doctor Piano”, Jiří Šlitr, author of a row of intriguing sketches of bars, their visitors and interiors, perished tragically (1969).

27/12

Richard John Lloyd Price published “An Ode to Pommery 1874” in Vanity Fair, as a way of saying goodbye to the last available sip of the champagne vintage which had delighted the British palates. (1984).

29/12

After two years of reconstruction costing $ 20 million, the gates of the New York Rainbow Room Bar, whose history began in October 1934, and which witnessed –for instance- Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing on its staircase, re-opened (1987).

31/12

Before midnight, 2.4 million litres of Fernet Stock and Fernet Stock Citrus were sold in one month, which is the amount sold in 1990 during a whole year! (1999).