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Ammonia Cocktail

Two dashes of aromatic spirits of ammonia, orange syrup, and a spoonful of bicarbonate. A great bracer.

From
The American Soda Book of Receipts and Suggestions, 1905
Published
1905
Yikes Scale
Big yikes

Exactly as printed, 1905

A Great Bracer.

Aromatic Spirits of Ammonia, 2 dashes; Orange Syrup, 1 ounce; Bicarbonate of Soda, ½ teaspoonful. Plain soda to fill a mineral glass ⅔ full. Add the bicarbonate of soda last, stir with a spoon, serve quickly.


The American Soda Book of Receipts and Suggestions, 1905, 1905. Public domain; transcription unaltered.

So what happens if I make it?

Aromatic spirits of ammonia is a pharmaceutical solution of ammonium carbonate — the same class of preparation as smelling salts. Swallowed, ammonia is an irritant to the mouth, throat and stomach.

“Two dashes” is not a dose. A fountain dash was whatever came out of a shaker-top bottle, somewhere between an eighth and a quarter teaspoonful, varying with the bottle and the wrist.

Notes from the 21st century

  • It was a genuine hangover cure. Ammonia preparations were widely taken as a stimulant and “bracer,” which is exactly the market this drink is aimed at.
  • Add the soda last. The instruction is about fizz, not chemistry. It reacts with the acid in the syrup and you want that happening in the glass.
  • Smelling salts are for smelling. The inhaled use is what survives, and it is a different route entirely from drinking it.

Also in this book

  • Boiled Eggs at the Soda Fountain — Western soda fountains boiled eggs to order, between the sundaes.
  • Cherry Ferri — “The greatest nerve tonic of the age,” served hot at the fountain with optional whipped cream.
  • Coca Champagne — Seven pints of champagne syrup cut with a full pint of coca wine, over the counter.

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