garniture

This anecdote strikes me as a great example of early bar myth-building — the pre-Prohibition equivalent of drinks that change color or have an elaborate scaffolding of garniture on top.

An Old-Fashioned bar with all the bitters and garniture and sweeteners at hand will accomplish a number of goals: It allows guests to make their own drinks with pleasure, so you can focus on making sure your cousin’s attempt to deep-fry a turkey doesn’t create a fiery avian projectile, or sneak away from your family to the tender embrace of your phone.

An Old-Fashioned bar with all the bitters and garniture and sweeteners at hand will accomplish a number of goals: It allows guests to make their own drinks with pleasure, so you can focus on making sure your cousin’s attempt to deep-fry a turkey doesn’t create a fiery avian projectile, or you can sneak away from your family to the tender embrace of your phone.

I find it difficult to imagine that this is actually a grave concern for anyone—I thought that the culture had reached a very beautiful concordance about the idea of containing all of our grooming routines within the home, for the love of everything sweet and holy!—but the idea that a modern woman can simultaneously care about public garniture and the spiritual future of the United States is an essential tenet of contemporary feminism.

In 1921, The Times ran a remarkable article by its ace diplomatic reporter, Anne O’Hare McCormick, in which she described the secret efforts by the French government to persuade couturiers to drop hems and add side panels and other garniture.