John George Vennigerholtz

1815–1877

Helped introduce the more sophisticated, elaborate German sensibility to the American Bar

John Vennigerholtz was a German immigrant and early celebrity bartender. From his bar in Natchez, Mississippi, he became known as “The Julep King of the Mississippi River” in the 1840s. Vennigerholtz helped introduce a more extravagent and sophisticated “German” style of mixology to America that inherited from European cultural sensibilities: blended bases and elaborated presentations that made each drink a more special extravaganza. After the Civil War, Vennigerholtz somehow found his way to the Pacific Northwest, and is buried in Mountain View Cemetery, Walla Walla, Washington.