Ward 8 cocktail history

As with so many cocktails, there are multiple origination stories.

Quincy House, Boston, Massachusetts

In 1929, the Boston Globe published an article regarding the sale of the bar from the Quincy House have been auctioned off for $42.50 stating, “Behind this old bar the Ward 8 cocktail famous throughout the land is believed to have been originated.”

The Quincy House was a hotel in downtown Boston located on Brattle Street (no longer in existence) near what is now City Hall Plaza at Government Center.

Ober Café, Boston, Massachusetts

In November 2006, in a special section of the Boston Globe named Gulp, Liza Weisstuch credited the Ward 8 cocktail as being created in 1898 at the Ober Café, later called Locke-Ober Café. The article loosely ties Ward 8 cocktail to an election celebration by Martin “The Mahatma” Lomasney. The article was unsourced.

In 1906, A. Lyman Phillips published A Bachelor’s Cupboard and, on page 154, it states:

Sirop de Grenadine is made from the juice of the pomegranate, and is used notably in the concoction of the “Ward Eight” of Boston’s Winter Palace Hotel, perhaps better known locally as “Frank Locke’s.”

Frank Locke purchased the Winter Palace Hotel and restaurant from Louis P. Ober in the late 1800s. A. Lyman Phillips’ account places the cocktail at the hotel around the correct time.

Santa Clara Company Ownership of Ward 8 Brand

In 1914, the Santa Clara Company of Boston posted notice that they owned and controlled the Ward 8 brand.