People had been drinking mixtures of alcoholic beverages and various other substances such as fruit juices for thousands of years, but the actual process of having a cocktail mixed up in a tavern by a bartender began after the middle of the nineteenth century.
Most people agree that it’s an American invention. Other people describe that cocktails as America’s first culinary tradition.
The very first known mention of the word cocktail was found in an early American newspaper, the Farmer’s Cabinet, in April 28, 1803. It read, “Drink a glass of cocktail – excellent for the head. Call’d at the Doct’s.”
In May 6, 1806, New York newspaper, The Balance and Columbia Repository use of the term as a political stab against Democrats.
The editor received many questions about the new term, present in a concession speech from a losing political candidate, and here was his response:
“Cock tail, then is a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water and butters – it is vulgarly called a bittered sling, and is supposed to be an excellent electioneering potion inasmuch as it renders the heart stout and bold at the same time that it fuddles the head.”
A popular history suggested that the drink originated at the Manhattan Club in New York City in the early 1870s, where it was invented for a banquet hosted by Jennie Jerome (Winston mother) in honor of presidential candidate Samuel J. Tilden.
The success of the banquet made the drink fashionable, later prompting several people to request the drink by referring the name of the club where it originated – the Manhattan cocktail.
The origin of the word cocktail will probably never be known because there are many stories of where it came from. Rumor also has it that early in American history, bartenders used to pour remnants of drinks and almost empty barrels into single container, selling swigs from this mixture to patrons at a reduced price. ‘Cock’ was another name for spigot and ‘tailing’ is the last bit of alcohol, so his drink was called ‘cock tailing,’ quickly shortened to ‘cocktail’.
After the first cocktails sprang up in the American Northeast and have been evolving ever since. The cocktail moved west and then abroad. But regardless of where the cocktail was served, in bars, saloon or lounges, it became the icon of neighborhood gathering places and instant brotherhood.
Until Prohibition, the American saloon keeper was a prominent member of society and bartending was an honorable profession.
In 1862, Jerry Thomas, the first celebrity bartender, published the first drink recipe book to contain cocktails, How to Mix Drinks.
Initially, cocktails were drinks that men imbibed in the morning, at breakfast, to get their circulation going.
Later in the nineteenth century. Cocktails became more festive and were served as a aperitif, before-dinner drinks.
History of Cocktail