Tom Bullock

Tom Bullock was an American bartender and drinks writer best known for The Ideal Bartender, published in 1917. The book is widely recognized as the first cocktail recipe book by a Black author, and it remains an important record of pre-Prohibition mixology.

Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Bullock built his career in elite club bars, including work associated with the Pendennis Club and later the St. Louis Country Club. Sources describe him as a highly respected professional whose recipes were drawn from many years behind the bar.

Though little personal material survives, Bullock's reputation has lasted because of that one remarkable book. Today he is remembered not only as a skilled bartender, but also as a figure who helped secure a place for Black expertise in American culinary and hospitality history.