Scofflaw

Rye, dry vermouth, lemon, and grenadine — created at Harry's Bar, Paris, 1924, to toast the Prohibition-era word 'scofflaw' for those who drank despite the ban.

The Scofflaw was created at Harry's New York Bar on Rue Daunou in Paris in 1924, specifically to honor a new word that had recently entered the American lexicon. In January 1924, the Boston Herald ran a competition seeking a word to describe those who flouted Prohibition by continuing to drink alcohol illegally. Delcevare King, a wealthy Prohibitionist from Quincy, Massachusetts, submitted the word scofflaw — a compound of scoff (to mock or treat with contempt) and law — and shared the $200 prize with Kate Butler, who submitted the same word independently. The word spread internationally within weeks, appearing in newspapers across Britain and Europe. Harry MacElhone at Harry's New York Bar — the establishment on Rue Daunou that had become the gathering place for American expatriates, journalists, and tourists avoiding Prohibition — marked the word's debut by creating a cocktail of the same name, credited to a bartender named Jock. The formula — rye whiskey, dry vermouth, fresh lemon juice, and grenadine — is a sour-adjacent stirred cocktail whose sweet-tart balance and amber color reflect the Prohibition-era American bar culture that Parisian establishments served for American customers throughout the 1920s.