Joe Gilmore

Joseph Patrick Gilmore was born on 19 May 1922 in Belfast, Northern Ireland to John Gilmore, a tobacconist, and Margaret O'Connor, a teaching assistant, originally from Wicklow, Ireland.

He was the third of nine children.

In 1938, aged 16, Gilmore moved to London looking for work and "adventure".[2] He began working as a wallpaper packer at the Arthur Sanderson & Son's factory in Perivale, London, later moving to a Lyons Corner House as a kitchen hand.[3]

Gilmore began his early bartender training at La Coquille, a French restaurant on St Martin's Lane, Covent Garden and The Olde Bell at Hurley.[3] While working at The Olde Bell he met and served Welsh millionaire steel-baron Kenneth Davies and the aviator Amy Johnston. The couple reportedly asked Gilmore for a dry martini, which he attempted unsuccessfully. Despite his attempt being enjoyed by the couple, Davies and Johnston politely demonstrated the correct way to make a dry martini. Gilmore cited this interaction as the spark that fuelled his passion of cocktail mixology.[3] After this first encounter, Davies and Gilmore became life long friends.[3]

Gilmore first began working at The Savoy as a commis waiter at The American Bar.[4] By 1940, aged 18, he was promoted to trainee barman and began his apprenticeship with Harry Craddock, earning £3.10s a week.[5][6]

In 1954, Gilmore took over as head bartender at The Savoy's, American Bar. Over the following two decades Gilmore created new cocktails, especially to honour special occasions and important guests, including Princess Diana, Prince William, Anne, The Princess Royal, The Queen Mother, Sir Winston Churchill, and American Presidents Harry S. Truman and Richard Nixon.

For much of the 20th century, The Savoy's American Bar was an exclusive meeting place for the rich and powerful of Britain and the world. In addition to serving five generations of royals at private receptions and parties, Gilmore frequently served Winston Churchill, Errol Flynn, Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chaplin, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Grace Kelly, George Bernard Shaw, Ernest Hemingway, Noël Coward, Agatha Christie, Alice Faye, Ingrid Bergman, Julie Andrews, Laurence Olivier, Joan Crawford, Judy Garland, Liza Minnelli, Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra.

During World War II, Winston Churchill frequented the American Bar regularly. He had his own entrance and kept his own large bottle of Black & White whisky behind the bar. When Gilmore created a cocktail in his honour, Churchill gave him one of his cigars.[7]

Gilmore was a goodwill ambassador for The Savoy at the time, which lead him on numerous trips throughout Europe, the United States and Canada, and regularly appeared on radio and TV chat shows.[8]

In 1969, he created one of his most famous cocktails, the "Moonwalk", to commemorate the Apollo 11 Moon landing. The cocktail is a combination of grapefruit juice, orange liqueur and rose water, topped with champagne. This was the first drink astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had upon returning to Earth.[9]

In 1975 he created the "Link-Up" to celebrate the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project, the first crewed international space mission carried out jointly by the United States and the Soviet Union. The cocktail is a shaken combination of Southern Comfort, Russian vodka, and a teaspoon of lime juice.[10] When the astronauts were told the cocktail was being flown out from London to be enjoyed upon their return, they said, "Tell Joe we want it up here".[11]

When the breathalyser was introduced in Britain, Gilmore was interviewed on NBC in New York. He was asked if the new technology had affected business, in which he responded “Not here, all our customers are chauffeur-driven”.

Frank Sinatra was a frequent guest to the American Bar whenever he was in London and insisted only Gilmore was to serve him. It is widely believed the line from Sinatra’s One For My Baby "set’em up Joe" is in reference to Gilmore.[12]

Gilmore retired from the Savoy in 1976.[2]

Gilmore married Marie Jeanne Zambelli in 1943. They had three sons, Joseph, Brian and Anthony.

During The Blitz, Gilmore took on the role as a fire warden on the roof of The Savoy.

Gilmore never returned to Ireland, but "Gilmore never forgot his Irish roots or family background and never lost his soft Belfast accent."[15] Gilmore grew up and remained a Roman Catholic throughout his whole life.

Gilmore died on 18 December 2015, aged 93.[16]

• List of cocktails

• "Joe Gilmore: Head barman of the Savoy Hotel's American Bar". The Independent. 2 February 2016. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
• "Cocktail king Joe Gilmore, Belfast's barman to the stars". The Irish News. 16 January 2016. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
• Nicholas Foulkes "Joe Gilmore and his cocktails" (2003)