Claret and Ice

Bartender's Manual by Theodore Proulx (1888, p.18) — Theodore Proulx 1888

1. Put two or three pieces of ice into a strained punch glass.
2. Fill with claret.
3. Add sugar only if the customer requests it.

Ice: 2 or 3 pieces

Summary

A plain-service wine drink where customer choice is part of the service logic.

This is important because it preserves plain chilled wine service as meaningful bar knowledge rather than treating it as beneath recipe history.

Proulx's note about optional sugar is useful evidence that bartenders were expected to adjust plain service to customer taste in real time.

Compared with the cobbler and punch forms, this is almost stripped to its minimum viable service grammar.

The Up-to-Date Bartender's Guide by Harry Montague (1913, p.16)

1. Put the ice in a thin whiskey sour glass.
2. Fill up with claret and serve.

Ice: Ice

The Ideal Bartender by Tom Bullock (1917, p.31) — Bullock 1917

1. Place four lumps of ice in a medium-size mineral-water glass.
2. Fill with claret and serve.

Ice: 4 lumps ice

This matters because Bullock still treats plain wine-over-ice service as meaningful bar practice in its own right.

The simplicity is the point; this is a service form, not an unfinished recipe.