Welcome back to another "A Sin and A Secret." Mix yourself a drink based on a colonial recipe and then curl with a completely true, completely salacious story. Enjoy a new #ASinAndASecret post every week. Read more in the series here.
Isabella Arena and Elizabeth Kelly
Residents of Anne Arundel County were no strangers to disruptive women in taverns. In November of 1747, an Annapolis tavern keeper named Elizabeth Kelly found herself embroiled in a court case with a woman named Isabella Arena.
Isabella charged her with an assault, saying Kelly ādid beat, wound, and evilly treat [me] so that [my] life it was despaired.ā
Elizabeth remembered a very different version of events. She recalled that Isabella āwas drunk with drinking strong liquors and did with force and arms come into the dwelling house.ā Upon discovering Isabella to be drunk, Elizabeth told her to leave, which Isabella āaltogether refused to do.ā Elizabeth then āgently put her hand upon the aforesaid Isabella to cause herā¦ to go out of the dwelling house.ā
Elizabeth claimed that any injury done to Isabella was due to Isabellaās drunkenness, not an assault.
The court decided in Elizabethās favor and ordered Isabella to pay 456 to Elizabeth for court costs and damages.
In honor of this belligerent encounter, we have paired this story with a modern cocktail with plenty of alcohol.
Long Island Iced Tea
Ā· 3/4 oz Vodka
Ā· 3/4 oz White rum
Ā· 3/4 oz Silver tequila
Ā· 3/4 oz Gin
Ā· 3/4 oz Triple sec
Ā· 3/4 oz Simple Syrup
Ā· 3/4 oz Fresh lemon juice
Ā· Cola, to top
Ā· Garnish: Lemon wedge
1. To a cocktail shaker full of ice, add all ingredients MINUS the cola and shake until cold.
2. Strain into serving glass full of ice, top with cola for color and garnish with lemon wedge.
3. Enjoy responsibly!
Select Drink Recipe Sources for the Series:
Alderman, Clifford Lindsey, "Of Drinks & Drinkers," Early American Life, December 1975, pgs 87-88, 91 - 93
Bullock, Helen, The Williamsburg Art of Cookery or Accomplished Gentlewoman's Companion: Being a Collection of Upwards of Five Hundred of the Most Ancient and Approv'd Recipes in Virginia Cookery, Colonial Williamsburg and Dietz Press: Richmond, VA, 1938
Carr, Eve, "Home-Grown Treats," Mid-Atlantic Country, December, 1986 pgs. 34 - 35, 58
Gaspee Days Committee, www.gaspee.org/colonialrecipes.html
Mackin, Jeanne, "Flowing Bowl," Americana, pgs. 39 - 41
Stief, Frederick Philip, Eat, Drink, & Be Merry in Maryland, Johns Hopkins Press: Baltimore, MD, 1932
Tilp, Frederick, "Tips on Tippling from Tidewater Maryland," Maryland Magazine, 1978, pgs. 14 - 17
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