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John Applegreen

c. 1870–unknown

Wrote the first professional pocket reference for mixology

Applegreen was a bartender from Chicago (or who got his start there), and worked for a time at H. M. Kinsley’s, Chicago’s top restaurant in the 1890s (often described as, “The Chicago Delmonico’s”). Applegreen appears to have also worked in New York, before or after, and claims to have worked at the Hoffman House. His excellent “Bar Book” pocket reference was published in Chicago by The Hotel Monthly Press in four (mildly updated) editions between 1904 and 1913.

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