Harry MacElhone (1890 – 1958) was an early 20th century bartender, most famous for his role at

Harry's New York Bar Harry's New York Bar is a bar in Paris, France located at 5, Rue Daunou, between the Avenue de l'Opéra and the Rue de la Paix. The bar was acquired by former American star jockey Tod Sloan in 1911, who converted it from a bistro and renamed it ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, which he bought in 1923. MacElhone was born in

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

, Scotland, on 16 June 1890,Rob Chirico, ''Field Guide to Cocktails'' p. 66 and 189, 2005 by Quirk Productions. He began working at Ciro's Club in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and published ''Harry of Ciro's ABC of Mixing Cocktails'' in 1921. Ciro's is also where he began working on his earliest version of the

White Lady A White Lady (or woman in white) is a type of female ghost. She has long straight hair, typically dressed in a white dress or similar garment, reportedly seen in rural areas and associated with local legends of tragedy. White Lady legends ar ...

which included gin,

Crème de menthe Crème de menthe (, French for "mint cream") is a sweet, mint-flavored alcoholic beverage. It is available commercially in a colorless version (called "white") and a green version (colored by the mint leaves or by added coloring if made from extr ...

Triple sec Triple sec is an orange-flavoured liqueur that originated in France. It usually contains 20–40% alcohol by volume. Triple sec is rarely consumed neat, but is used in preparing many mixed drinks such as margaritas, cosmopolitans, sidecars, Long ...

and

lemon juice The lemon (''Citrus limon'') is a species of small evergreen trees in the flowering plant family Rutaceae, native to Asia, primarily Northeast India (Assam), Northern Myanmar or China. The tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit is used for culina ...

. He also published ''Barflies and Cocktails'', and later worked at the

Plaza Hotel The Plaza Hotel (also known as The Plaza) is a luxury hotel and condominium apartment building in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is located on the western side of Grand Army Plaza, after which it is named, just west of Fifth Avenue, a ...

in New York. He is often credited with inventing many other cocktails, including the

Bloody Mary Bloody Mary originally referred to: * Mary I of England (1516–1558), Queen of England and Ireland, so called because of her persecution of Protestants Bloody Mary may also refer to: Film * '' Urban Legends: Bloody Mary'', a 2005 horror fi ...

sidecar A sidecar is a one-wheeled device attached to the side of a motorcycle, scooter, or bicycle, making the whole a three-wheeled vehicle. A motorcycle with a sidecar is sometimes called a ''combination'', an ''outfit'', a ''rig'' or a ''hack''. ...

, the

monkey gland The Monkey Gland is a cocktail of gin, orange juice, grenadine and absinthe created in the 1920s by Harry MacElhone, owner of Harry's New York Bar in Paris, France. Some recipes substitute absinthe with pastis or Bénédictine. It is named a ...

, the boulevardier, and an early form of the French 75. As of 2022, his descendants continued to run Harry's Bar.

References

Bartenders 1890 births 1958 deaths People from Dundee Scottish emigrants to the United States Writers from New York City Scottish food writers {{Scotland-bio-stub