"But they were the progenitors of the cocktail, which made its official debut in print in 1806, in a publication called The Balance and Columbian Repository. In a letter to the editor, a reader had queried the meaning of a new word, cocktail. The editor wrote back:
'Cocktail is a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water and bitters. 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... It is said also, to be of great use to a Democratic candidate because, a person having swallowed a glass of it, is ready to swallow anything else.'"
"The Craft of the Cocktail" by Dale Degroff.
And there you have it.
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2 comments:
During our year in DC I worked with one of Degroff's students, head of the bar program at the upscale restaurant, and had to memorize just such information to entice patrons into trying $14 cocktails.
Fun to know! Good to hear from you, by the way. :-)
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