Haigh, Ted (1956–), known in the cocktail realm as “Dr. Cocktail,” is a cocktail historian, writer, and collector of vintage spirits and cocktail arcana who was one of the midwives of the modern cocktail renaissance. See cocktail renaissance. A graphic designer and art director for motion pictures and television based in Burbank, California, Haigh is also the author of Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails, a guide to long-neglected cocktail recipes that upon its publication in 2004 helped fan the flames of the then-smoldering cocktail renaissance. A lifelong obsessive collector—in addition to vintage spirits and cocktail guides, his collections have included antique automobiles, World War II–era neckwear, and more than three thousand 78 rpm records—Haigh began diligently researching cocktails starting in the 1980s. He introduced his Dr. Cocktail persona on AOL when he began hosting the spirit boards in 1995 and has maintained it through his cocktail career: as cofounder (with Martin Doudoroff) of the CocktailDB.com database (relaunched in 2004), as a cofounder of the Museum of the American Cocktail in 2005, and as a speaker during the formative years of Tales of the Cocktail. See Museum of the American Cocktail and Tales of the Cocktail. In his 2004 book and as a regular columnist for Imbibe magazine starting in 2006, Haigh reintroduced long-obscure recipes back into the cocktail lexicon, including those for the Boulevardier and the Corpse Reviver no. 2. See Corpse Reviver.
Clarke, Paul. “Characters: Ted Haigh.” Imbibe, May 22, 2006, http://imbibemagazine.com/doctor-cocktail-ted-haigh/ (accessed February 12, 2021).
Haigh, Ted. Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails. Beverly, MA: Quarry Books, 2004.
Hodgman, John. “All Shaken Up.” New York Times, October 17, 2004, http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/17/magazine/all-shaken-up.html (accessed February 12, 2021).
By: Paul Clarke