Contemporary straw photo courtesy of Stone Straw, Ltd.
During the late 19th century, some American ladies began engaging in truly shocking behavior. They went to ice cream saloons unescorted. Instead of ordering an innocent dish of ice cream, they ordered the latest cocktail -- a Sherry Cobbler. And they sipped it through a straw.
Of all three acts, the latter was the most risqué activity. At the time, sipping or sucking was considered altogether too sensuous an act to be performed in public. French chef Charles Elme Francatelli called the practice "vulgar" and said it could shock genteel persons. However, he justified it by noting that "the very act of imbibition through a straw prevents the gluttonous absorption of large and baneful quantities of drink."
A cobbler was basically a liquor shaken up with sugar, citrus fruit, and lots of ice, garnished with more fruit or berries, and served with a straw. There were many different cobbler drinks -- whiskey, run, Champagne -- but the Sherry Cobbler was the hands-down favorite. Apparently, it was so good it warranted risking one's reputation. The drink was all the rage in America. Newspaper and magazine articles reported on it, and it was praised in novels. Recipes appeared in cookbooks as well as bar guides, and nearly all of them called for it to be drunk through a straw. One specified "a straw, or stick of maccaroni." At the time, a straw was usually a hollow reed, occasionally a glass tube. The paper straw was not yet widely available.
England fell for the Sherry Cobbler after Martin Chuzzlewit, the Dickens character, praised it to the skies in the novel named for him. The drink was one of the very few things he warmed to in America. Since the Sherry Cobbler was typically served with lots of ice, it did wonders for London's nascent ice business.
And it made the straw a success. When Marvin Stone, an American manufacturer of cigarette papers, patented a process to produce waxed paper straws in 1888, his business skyrocketed. Within two years, he was producing more straws than cigarette papers. The company is still in business, producing an array of straws and other products.
The straw became ubiquitous, and it became proper. The popular song lyric, "The prettiest girl I ever saw was sippin' soda through a straw," testifies to the innocence of the practice by the mid-20th century.
Today, unescorted women go everywhere without raising eyebrows, and they sip all sorts of drinks through straws. But not Sherry Cobblers. Why not?
I tried making a Sherry Cobbler using Jerry Thomas's recipe, since he was the most famous American bartender of the 19th century. I made it with an oloroso sherry. Next time, I'll skip the sugar, but it's a very nice drink especially when you sip it through a straw.
Sherry Cobbler
(Use large bar-glass.)
Take 1 table-spoonful of fine white sugar.
1 slice of orange, cut up into quarters.
2 small pieces of pineapple.
Fill the glass nearly full of shaved ice, then fill it up with sherry wine. Shake up, ornament the top with berries in season, and serve with a straw. -- Jerry Thomas' Bartender's Guide, Jerry Thomas, 1862.
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