Screenshot images are from Wayback Machine.
The First Bar and Cocktail Websites
The Early Days of Cocktails Online
I built my first website the old-fashioned way: I learned HTML code and uploaded the pages to a free web host called Angelfire. There were no drag-and-drop templates, no social media, and certainly no AI asking if I wanted it to build the whole thing for me.
Back then, the World Wide Web was still a bit like the Wild West. There weren't many one-stop resources for bartenders and cocktail lovers, and finding good information often meant stumbling across a website or joining a webring—a group of like-minded websites that linked to one another.
So I started collecting every useful cocktail-related website I could find and putting the links on my own site. My goal was to create a “one-stop cocktail resource” where bartenders and cocktail enthusiasts could find recipes, bar products, flair sites, industry information, books, and other people who shared their interests.
None of what I just wrote will make much sense unless you were around for the early days of the Internet. 😂
The language alone was a different world: World Wide Web, Netscape Navigator, AOL, dial-up, virtual, surfing the Web, splash pages, cyber, webrings, link pages, guestbooks, GeoCities, Yahoo!, banner exchanges, JavaScript, Angelfire, CompuServe, and Shockwave.
And getting online was an event. Your dial-up modem screeched and squawked for what felt like forever while it connected. A webpage containing several photographs could take ages to load. And because your computer used the household telephone line, nobody could make or receive a phone call while you were online.
Eventually someone in the house would yell:
“Are you still on the Internet? I need the phone!”
For a wonderful trip back to this era, visit the Wayback Machine, enter an old (or new) website address, and see whether archived versions survive. It's about as close as we have to a time machine for the early Web.
And below are some of the bartenders, cocktail enthusiasts, writers, companies, and wonderfully strange little websites I found while surfing the Web in those early years.
Welcome back to the Internet before Google knew everything.
1991
Bottlesup.com is the first known cocktail-related website on the World Wide Web (Internet), created by Chuck Rohm. He sold the first flair bartending video online.
1994
Bits Media Group, Inc. trademarked five domain names: CocktailClub.com, eDrink.com, HyperDrink.com, CocktailMail.com, and Cocktail Club International.com. As of 2018, Cocktail Club International is live using the domain CocktailClub.
1995
Barproducts.com | Mark Hastings launched barproducts.com.
Barnonedrinks.com | Dan & Carine Hutchinson and Jason Birch launched barnonedrinks.com.
Bartending.com | Master School of Bartending
Cocktail.com (defunct) | As of 2018, the domain is still owned by someone, but they are not using it.
MartiniPlace.com | Jared Brown and Anistatia Miller launched martiniplace.com (defunct) on Halloween. It was also called Shaken Not Stirred. Their second website is mixellany.com.
The Thistle & Joe Virtual Scottish Pub
Sallys-Place.com (defunct) | Sally Bernstein's food, beverage, and travel website that, as of 2018, is still around. She just uses the domain sallybernstein.com. Check out her about page because she has accomplished a lot.
Webtender.com | Pål Løberg created Webtender, the first cocktail recipe database on the internet. As of 2018, he has never changed the original default grey design. It was a school project for him back then.
WorldofBeer.com | Renowned author and veteran beer writer Steven Beaumont's website. It appears he sold it around 2017 and is starting a new site called beaumontdrinks.com.
1996
Adam's Cocktail Lounge | Created by Adam Parker, living in Adelaide, South Australia, who was a student working at a local hotel with a hobby of cocktails.
Bacardi.com | They called it Bacardi Club on the site.
Barmedia.com | Author and beverage consultant Robert Plotkin launched barmedia.com (defunct).
Bartender.com | Ray Foley published Bartender Magazine in 1979 and, in 1996, began an online presence with Bartender.com. As of 2018, he also owns the domain mixologist.com.
Bartenderonline.com | Bobby McGee launched the first bartender school website, bartenderonline.com. He started by selling books and CD-ROMs, then advanced from there.
BeerHunter.com | Famed beer expert Michael Jackson's website. The site is still active as of 2018 even though he died in 2007.
MalibuRum.com & Malibu-Rum.com| In 2013, they added MalibuRumDrinks.com
Martiniclub.com | Michelle Hunt and Laura Panter launched Martiniclub.com.
Skyy.com | They put out an under-construction page and finally launched in the summer of 1997.
Stone Gate Tavern | A site by David Birkhead.
Tamboo.com | A club was formed in Minneapolis, MN, called King Kini's Club Velvet. The website domain Tamboo.com has remained the same as of 2018; it looks the same.
Top Friends Cocktail Club | Stéphane Grialet was French and put out an English and French website. It started in 1989 as a band of friends in Toulouse, then when the Internet came around, she posted online to share with the world.
SouthernComfort.com
Stoli.com | Stolichnaya® Vodka launched Stoli.com.
Ultralounge.com (defunct) | Capitol Records created this cool-looking website. It advertised a series of swing revival albums with sounds of the 1950s and 1960s in genres such as exotica, space age, mambo, and lounge.
1997
BarCar.com | This site is still live as of 2018 and looks exactly the same. The entire site is not about cocktails, but their menu bar has cocktails and it shows some railroad "bar cars".
Bardrinks.com | Their splash page site is still up and as of 2018, and it looks the same.
Barmagic.com | Tobin Ellis's barmagic.com was a Flair Bartending site and as of 2018, it is a hospitality design specialist site. The company started in 1994 as “Behind Bars Ltd,” then rebranded as barmagic.com in 1997.
Maraschino's Motor City Cocktail Bar
Nemesis' Cyber Bar by Sherri Kidner. The tagline was "The Most Fascinating Site On The Web."
Smirnoff.com
The Bartend.com | The Bartender's Joke of the Day, a.k.a. thebartend.com.
Worldwidedrinks.com | Bruce Tomlinson launched worldwidedrinks.com.
1998
Absolutvodka.com
Ardentspirits.com. Gary Regan launched ardentspirits.com (defunct). His second site is gazregan.com (defunct). Gary passed away in 2018, but his Facebook page is still active.
barasterie.com
barflair.org | Flair Bartenders Association (FBA) was launched by Jim Allison.
Barmeister.com (defunct) was launched.
Charmingbartricks.com | Miss Charming's Bar Hopping City. Later in 2000, I changed to miss-charming.com, misscharming.com, and cherylcharming.com.
Paul Harrington a.k.a. “The Alchemist” of cocktailtime.com (defunct) via www.hotwired.com (defunct) put out a beautiful color cocktail section of classic cocktails complete with history and notes. It was a game-changer and led to a published book.
Drinkboy.com. Robert Hess launched Drinkboy.com. Robert helped many cocktail people with their websites, including Gary Regan and me.
Joebeer.com (defunct). Launched by a guy from Virginia named Joe.
Kingcocktail.com. Dale DeGroff launched kingcocktail.com with the help of his wife, Jill.
Midori.com | In 2004, they changed it to Midori-World.com.
nycbp.com | Kevin Fitzpatrick launched nycbp.com (New York City Bar Pals). He kept a long, updated list of bars and mostly female bartenders across the city, starting in 1998.
Speedpour.com.au | Founded by Jason Jelicich out of a need for real-world, practical front-line staff training, Speedpour has since played an integral role in the resurgence of cocktails and drinking culture in Australia and around the world.
The Bar | Donald Chase launched his corner of the web called The Bar.
1999
CaptainMorgan.com
Cocktails.about.com
Extremebartending.com | Scott Young
Flairbar.com | Rob Husted launched Flairbar.com.
Flairco.com | Dean Serneels
LAbartenders.com | James Bartholet
Magicbar.com
Partyschool.com | The owner called himself the Party Master and built this site for college students.
Unknown Dates up to 2000
Adobe Deli
Aftershock.com (defunct)
Americanbar.de | German bartender site
Annie's Irish Pub
Bargeek.com
Barlogic.com
Barsrus.com | Cantina Bar Products from Tampa, FL
Bartendersonly.com
Bartending.20m.com | Italian flair bartending site
Barzone.com
Chinabartender.com
Counselor's Lounge
Crazy Joe's Surf Lounge
Cuervo.com
Cybartender.it | Spanish and English bartender site
digitalbartender.com (defunct)
Dog's Irish Pub
Fantasia's Virtual Bar
Finlandia.com
Giveitup's Lounge
Goldschlager.com
GrandMarnier.com
Happy Hour at Shannon's | Shannon's Web Pub is inviting you to come visit her in Chana, Illinois.
Hey Bartender / Kathy Hamlin, who went on to the Cocktails Guide at About.com.
Kahlua.com
KetelOne.com
JackDaniels.com
Jager.com
Jagermeister.com
jbscotch.com
Jeffery's Tropical Bar
JimBeam.com
JoseCuervo.com
Laphroaig.com
Last Call | John Cutler created a bartender game in 1996 and it launched in 2000. The game's goal is to earn tips. To earn tips, you must mix drinks quickly and accurately and deal with your customers. Drinks ranged from easy to challenging, and the twenty patrons each had distinct personalities and quirks. The site was CutlerCreative, LLC.
Latinbar.net
Mic's Mobile Observatory and Cocktail Lounge. Michael Horn, a software engineer in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, had two hobbies: cocktails and astronomy, so he combined both.
Mixed-drink.com | This site never had an about or contact page, but I liked the graphics. I think it was a school project.
Mmmartini Lounge
netbartender.com (defunct)
PartySchool.com (defunct)
Pavlock's Virtual Bar & Grill / John Pavlock
Silver Monkey's Virtual Bar
Spike's World Famous Margaritas
Swish's Back Street Tavern
The 19th Hole Sports Club
The Booze Zone
The Dancing Master Virtual Pub / Richard McLaughlin
The Hub Pub / Mike Heffernan
The Pink Otter Virtual Pub
The Virtual Bar
Vik's Space Age Lounge
zigysmartinilounge.com (defunct)
Zima.com
The Way Most Sites Looked
Some of the website images above look pretty good, but don't be fooled, most websites on the World Wide Web looked like these below.
MissCharming.com Website's Through Time
The site you're looking at today is the fifth redesign since it first launched in 1998.
It began with a generic Angelfire web address before quickly moving to charmingbartricks.com, where it was known as Miss Charming's Cyber Bar Hopping City. I came up with the idea while bartending at Anthony's HomePort Waterfront Restaurant in Olympia, Washington.
I remember telling one of the other bartenders about my new website, and he looked at me and asked, "What's the World Wide Web?" 🤣
A few years later, I changed the domain to miss-charming.com because misscharming.com had already been registered by an Asian beauty company. Years later, when the domain finally became available, I grabbed it. Today, I own both misscharming.com and cherylcharming.com,
and they've become home to decades of cocktail history, bar knowledge, and hospitality resources.
The Wayback Machine still has my Flash intro. Click on the first image below to view it. After loading, it will take you to the penthouse bar. There are linked items around the bar to enter the website. Check it out! Or check out any website in the Wayback Machine.
