The Silver Rail Cocktail List (Bar Menu), Toronto, 1948 -

Toronto, 1948. Card stock, folded once. Measures 6.5 X 8.5 inches folded. Printed on both sides. Mild wear with a small smudge and faint, short crease on the front cover. A tiny amount of stain in the upper corner of the rear cover. Overall, a very nice copy of this rare cocktail menu from one of the first cocktail lounges to open in April 1947, twenty years after the repeal of Prohibition in Ontario in 1927 (dry since 1916). Some sources claim it was the first to open. On April 2, 1947, the Silver Rail was among the first seven bars to open where one could purchase a cocktail. Beer and wine had been available with food in eating establishments, but cocktails had not been served anywhere for thirty-one years. This menu is dated by its previous owner in the upper corner inside the menu, July 14, 1948. So this menu was being used a little more than a year after the Silver Rail opened, which makes it one of the earliest, if not the earliest, editions. Some of the prices for popular cocktails: Martini - $.55, Manhattan - $.60, Stinger - $.75. The menu also features Long-Tails (Tom Collins, Cuba Libre, etc.), Scotch Whiskeys (Canadian), Imported Scotch, Rye, Gins, Brandies (Imported, Rums, Liqueurs, and Sours. The back page features Egg Nogs, Champagne, Sherries, White Wines, Canadian Wines, Canadian Brandies, Port, Bottle Beer and Ale, and Soft Drinks. A rare, collectible copy of Toronto and bar ephemera..