# David A. Embury

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/David_A._Embury
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/David_A._Embury.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_A._Embury
> Source revision: 1353761951
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{short description|American attorney and cocktail author}}
{{use mdy dates|date=June 2022}}
{{use American English|date=June 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = David A. Embury
| birth_name         = David Augustus Embury
| birth_date         = November 3, 1886
| birth_place        = [Pine Woods, New York](/source/Eaton%2C_New_York), U.S.
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1960|7|6|1886|11|3}}
| death_place        = [New Rochelle, New York](/source/New_Rochelle%2C_New_York), U.S.
| education          = [Cornell University](/source/Cornell_University), 1908<br>[Columbia Law School](/source/Columbia_Law_School), 1916
| occupation         = {{hlist|Tax attorney|author|mixologist}}
| notable_works      = [The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks](/source/The_Fine_Art_of_Mixing_Drinks) (1948)
}}

'''David Augustus Embury''' (November 3, 1886 &nbsp;&ndash; July 6, 1960)<ref name="acacia">{{Cite book|last=Fraternity|first=Acacia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dXTorvYplfsC&q=david+a+embury+pine+woods&pg=PA88|title=The Acacia Journal|date=1921|pages=88|language=en}}</ref> was an American tax attorney, [mixologist](/source/mixologist) and author of ''[The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks](/source/The_Fine_Art_of_Mixing_Drinks)'' (1948), an encyclopedia of the 20th century [cocktail](/source/cocktail).<ref>{{cite web | last=Fleming | first=Amy | title=The science of mixing mind-blowing cocktails | website=[The Guardian](/source/The_Guardian) | date=19 August 2014 | url=http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2014/aug/19/science-mixing-mind-blowing-cocktails-mixologists | access-date=24 January 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=The Bigot Who Wrote a Cocktail Bible | website=The Daily Beast | date=3 August 2017 | url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-bigot-who-wrote-a-cocktail-bible | access-date=24 January 2020}}</ref>

== Life and career ==
David Augustus Embury was born in Pine Woods, New York on November 3, 1886.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Fifield|first=James Clark|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bgw8AQAAIAAJ&q=david+a+embury+pine+woods|title=The American Bar|date=1957|publisher=J.C. Fifield Company|pages=919|language=en}}</ref> Embury graduated from [Cornell University](/source/Cornell_University) in 1908 and taught high school for five years. He enrolled in [Columbia Law School](/source/Columbia_Law_School) in 1912, graduating in 1916. He enlisted in the photographic branch of the [United States Army Air Service](/source/United_States_Army_Air_Service) in 1917, attaining the rank of sergeant first class before being demoted to private, and later commissioned as a [second lieutenant](/source/second_lieutenant).<ref name="acacia" />

He was a senior tax partner with the Manhattan law firm of [Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle](/source/Curtis%2C_Mallet-Prevost%2C_Colt_%26_Mosle).<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Donohue|first=Kathleen G.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jeYwp2tWOdUC&q=david+a+embury+tax+attorney&pg=PA220|title=Liberty and Justice for All?: Rethinking Politics in Cold War America|date=2012|publisher=Univ of Massachusetts Press|isbn=978-1-55849-913-3|pages=220|language=en}}</ref> He became a member of the [Acacia](/source/Acacia_Fraternity) fraternity at Columbia Law School on January 17, 1914. He was also a member of [Phi Alpha Delta](/source/Phi_Alpha_Delta) Law Fraternity. He was the first Acacian to become chairman of the [North American Interfraternity Conference](/source/North_American_Interfraternity_Conference). He served as chairman of the National Interfraternity Conference from November 29, 1946, to November 28, 1947. During this time he vocally opposed desegregation, believing it to be the work of communists.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news|last=Curtis|first=Wayne|date=2017-08-03|title=The Bigot Who Wrote a Cocktail Bible|language=en|work=The Daily Beast|url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-bigot-who-wrote-a-cocktail-bible|access-date=2020-11-15}}</ref>

==''The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks''==
{{main|The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks}}

Embury decided to pursue his love of bartending in the late 1940s, authoring the book ''The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks'' in 1948.<ref>{{Cite web|title=David Embury and the Fine Art of Mixing Drinks|url=https://www.shakestir.com/features/id/562/david-embury-and-the-fine-art-of-mixing-drinks|access-date=2020-11-15|website=www.shakestir.com}}</ref> The book is noteworthy for its highly opinionated, witty and conversational tone, as well as its categorization of cocktails and its categorization of ingredients. It also contains sections on glassware, bar equipment, a discussion of several different types of bitters, and much other minutiae. He includes in the book a recipe for a cocktail called an "Acacia", referencing the Acacia fraternity.

Embury had "never been engaged in any of the manifold branches of the liquor business" and was experienced "entirely as a consumer and as a shaker-upper of drinks for the delectation of my guests".<ref>{{cite book |last=Embury |first=David |author-link=David A. Embury |others= illustrated by Nathan Gluck |title=The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks |orig-year=1948 |edition=New rev. |year=1958 |publisher=Doubleday |location=Garden City, N.Y |id= {{LCC| TX951 .E55 1958}} |pages=9–10}}</ref>

==References==

<references/>

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Embury, David A.}}
Category:1886 births
Category:1960 deaths
Category:20th-century American lawyers
Category:American food writers
Category:Cornell University alumni
Category:Lawyers from New Rochelle, New York
Category:American cookbook writers
Category:American male non-fiction writers
Category:Columbia Law School alumni
Category:20th-century American male writers
Category:20th-century food writers

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [David A. Embury](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_A._Embury) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_A._Embury?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.