Mr. Boston Official Bartender's Guide

The Ward Eight was invented in 1898 by bartender Tom Hussion at the Locke-Ober Café in Boston. Many of his customers were members of a political club called the Hendrick's Club, run by one Martin Lomasney. Lomasney ran for public office that year in Boston's Eighth Ward—now Roxbury and the South End—and one of the club members asked Hussion to create a drink to toast his victory. Hussion obliged and whipped up this little concoction for his patrons. The funny thing is that Lomasney was actually a staunch prohibitionist and would later close the bar that had invented this cocktail in celebration of his victory.