Cocktail Museum in New Haven’s Ordinary looks at city’s spirited past

Tim Cabral, co-owner of Ordinary bar, the former Richter's and Taft Hotel Tap Room bar on Chapel Street in New Haven, left, and Colin Caplan, an architectural designer and author who has specialized in writing books about New Haven, right. Ordinary is one of the winners on the New Haven Register’s 2019 Best of Reader’s poll in the Best Cocktail category. less Tim Cabral, co-owner of Ordinary bar, the former Richter's and Taft Hotel Tap Room bar on Chapel Street in New Haven, left, and Colin Caplan, an architectural designer and author who has specialized in writing ... more Photo: Peter Hvizdak / Hearst Connecticut Media Buy photo Photo: Peter Hvizdak / Hearst Connecticut Media Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Cocktail Museum in New Haven’s Ordinary looks at city’s spirited past 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

NEW HAVEN — The city now has another historic figure it can call its own: Jerry Thomas.

Colin Caplan, an entrepreneur and historian of all things New Haven, has enlightened residents about the architectural treasures here, as well as the importance of pizza, but as Caplan said in a recent interview, “don’t forget our booze connections.”

Caplan and Tim Cabral, manager and co-owner of Ordinary, a local bar with a high pedigree of historic importance, have created a New Haven Cocktail Museum at the drinking establishment located in a portion of the former Hotel Taft.

New Haven’s place in the annals of liquor stories from rum-runners to police raids to speakeasies, as well as testaments to it “medicinal” qualities, can now be found framed just inside the entrance to Ordinary at 990 Chapel St.

“It shows how much booze was going through New Haven,” Caplan said.

Alcohol, whether it was bootlegged, brought in or made here, “was actually considered a very important product, more so than how we think of it today,” Cabral said of the history of the young American nation. “It was considered cleaner than water.”

It was used to calm an upset stomach after eating a large meal. During Prohibition, you could get a doctor’s prescription for it, Cabral said. It was one way to get rid of the large inventory of liquor when the law went into effect.

At the museum, there are artifacts as well and a long history devoted to Thomas, a New Haven native, “the godfather of cocktails,” who traveled the world perfecting his craft, according to Cabral.

“He became one of the more iconic bartenders ever. There is a rich history to what goes on in the industry,” Cabral said. “It has a lot of ties to New Haven.”

On the shelves and in glass cases, there are old drink menus; the first recipe recorded on how to make a Bloody Mary; a copy of “The Cocktail Guide and Ladies Companion,” written in 1937.

There is a 1826 cartoon titled, “the Drunkards Progress,” which demonstrates the downfall of drinking which eventually leads to losing your family and ending up penniless.

After Prohibition, there were ads in the local papers offering alcohol. “Hoppy Days are Here Again,” one read.

Caplan and Cabral are celebrating the opening of the tiny museum, emphasis on tiny, Thursday from 6 to 9 p.m., which is located in the foyer of Ordinary.

They are featuring a Wild Turkey bourbon tasting and hors d’oeuvers from Ordinary’s kitchen. To keep the museum running, they need sponsors — Wild Turkey is the first — which will rotate and be featured as part of museum events.

The foyer originally was the entrance to the men’s tap room at the Taft, which was revamped in 1935 in the current English-style bar and lounge, with Ordinary as the latest proprietor. Before that, it was most recently Richter’s.

The staircase to the left as you enter the foyer led to the basement grill room, where there was a restaurant, known as the Rathskellar Grill room, and a barber shop.

“If you stayed at the hotel, you had all the amenities. You didn’t have to go outside,” Cabral said.

“It was almost like a mall,” Caplan said of the wide-open basement with its tunnel connections to other parts of downtown. This is not open to the public, but part of the history.

Cabral is convinced there was a speakeasy down there during Prohibition, which ran from 1920 to 1933, although Caplan said he has not found evidence that this was the entrance to it.

Other historical footnotes on alcohol and New Haven: Benedict Arnold, who lived here, was a rum-runner at one point in his life, Cabral said.

Cabral and Caplan have modified the entrance to the bar itself at the end of the short foyer, by putting a bookcase on the door, which leaves you staring at it, trying to figure out how to get in.

“It’s a mystery. We have created the speakeasy,” Caplan said, or at least the illusion you are entering one.

The website for Ordinary is one long research piece on the history of the property near the corner of College and Chapel streets.

It notes visits to the various iterations of a hotel and bar in that space from George Washington, who actually stayed there in 1775, to Abraham Lincoln, who was reported to have entered a hotel on that site in 1860. The Taft was built after that in 1910 and designed by Henry Austin.

Educating the public to what came before has always been important to the pair, and to Ordinary’s co-owner, Jason Sobocinski.

The timeline in the hallway outside the restrooms, with reams of copy expounding on interesting events, that are attached to the walls, attests to that.

Given that bar-hopping often necessitates many trips to the restroom, “It gives you something to read while you are waiting,” Caplan said.

Cabral said opening the small museum continues its tradition of respecting the space and this was the logical extension of what they have already done.

“When we opened, we wanted it to be a place for conversation. We didn’t put in TVs for that reason. We wanted people to talk. We wanted to respect the space, the corner, the product, the technique,” Cabral said of his cocktail expertise.

This is something new to talk about.

mary.oleary@hearstmediact.com; 203-641-2577