The surprising history of the cocktails

The cocktail may be considered an American concoction, but its roots stretch back to 18th century London. The origin of the cocktail (and the name itself) is an interesting and sordid tale and no one really knows the truth. Read about the various tales of the cocktail and how the mixed drink got its start in America.

Ask any American. They will tell you, in no uncertain terms, that the cocktail was an entirely American invention. But exactly what, beyond the ice, is so American about a drink of British gin and Italian or French vermouth mixed by an Irish or German immigrant? The evidence mounts in favour of the cocktail having far more British roots than previously imagined.

Though fermented beverages had dominated for centuries, in the 17th century London turned from drinking ale and cider practically overnight. When King William of Orange was enthroned in 1688, he was faced with an enviable dilemma. Years of good harvests left the nation with a grain surplus, driving down prices. To take advantage of this bounty — and “for the health of the nation” — he reduced taxes on distillation. British distillers produced around 500,000 gallons of neutral grain spirit the following year.

The official definition of a "cocktail" according to the modern Merriam-Webster Dictionary is "an iced drink of wine or distilled liquor mixed with flavoring ingredients." That's a pretty broad definition, but reflects the modern practice of referring to almost any mixed drink as a cocktail.

People have been mixing drinks for centuries, but it wasn't until the 17th and 18th centuries that the precursors of the cocktail (the Slings, Fizzes, Toddies and Juleps) became popular enough to be recorded in the history books. It is unclear where, who, and what went into the creation of the original cocktail, but it seems to be a specific drink rather than a category of mixed drinks during that time.

The first published definition of the Cocktail appeared in an editorial response in The Balance and Columbian Repository of 1806. This read: "Cocktail is a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water and bitters." It is this definition of ingredients that we continue to use when referring to the 'ideal' cocktail. 

There are as many stories behind the origin of the name cocktail as there are behind the creation of the first Margarita or the Martini. As always, some are preposterous, some believable and who knows, one may be the truth. None the less, the stories are interesting.

• A popular story behind the cocktail name refers to a rooster's tail (or cock tail) being used as a Colonial drink garnish. There are no formal references in written recipes to such a garnish.
• In the story in The Spy (James Fenimore Cooper, 1821) the character "Betty Flanagan" invented the cocktail during the Revolution. "Betty" may have referred to a real-life innkeeper at Four Corners north of New York City by the name of Catherine "Kitty" Hustler. Betty took on another non-fiction face, that of Betsy Flanagan. Betsy was likely not a real woman, but the story says she was a tavern keeper who served French soldiers a drink in 1779 garnished with tail feathers of her neighbor's rooster. We can assume that Kitty inspired Betty and Betty inspired Betsy, but whether or not one of the three are responsible for the cocktail is a mystery.
• The British publication, Bartender, published a story in 1936 of English sailors, of decades before, being served mixed drinks in Mexico. The drinks were stirred with a Cola de Gallo (cock's tail), a long root of similar shape to the bird's tail.
• The word Cocktail may be a distant derivation of the name for the Aztec goddess, Xochitl. Xochitl was also the name of a Mexican princess who served drinks to American soldiers.

Like the telephone and the television, the cocktail is clearly another invention whose origins are not as clear as generations of American choruses would have the world believe. But then, the United States as we know it was invented by a group of Europeans—Brits mostly.

xoxo LLD