History of Cocktail
Cocktails are blended alcoholic beverages. Cocktails are often made with one or more spirits blended with tonic water, fruit juice, flavoured syrup, or cream, or with a combination of spirits. Cocktails differ greatly between different parts of the world, and many websites post both unique recipes and their own takes on more traditional and well-known cocktails.
There is disagreement over the word cocktail’s etymology. The Farmers Cabinet, a book published in the United States in 1803, had the first written reference to cocktail as a beverage. Three years later, on May 13, 1806, The Balance and Columbian Repository (Hudson, New York), published the first definition of a cocktail as an alcoholic beverage.
Contrary to popular belief, cocktails were at least partially inspired by British punches, large bowls of distilled alcohol blended with fruit juice, spices, and other ingredients that were drank in punch houses in the 18th century.
In order to create a cocktail, a distilled liquor (such as arrack, brandy, cachaça, gin, rum, tequila, vodka, or whiskey) is often used as the foundation ingredient, which is then combined with additional ingredients or garnishes. Beer, wine, or liqueurs that have been sweetened may also be used as the foundation or added.
Thomas in particular is largely responsible for the development of the actual art of bartending. The Bartender’s Guide (or How to Mix Beverages), essentially an encyclopaedia of mixed drinks that became a standard-bearer for bartenders, was written by Jerry, alias “Professor” Thomas, a Connecticut-born, prolific American bartender who worked all across America and Europe.
Jerry Thomas wrote How to Mix Drinks; or, The Bon Vivant’s Companion in 1862. It had 10 cocktail recipes that used bitters to set them apart from other beverages like punches and cobblers. Throughout the 1900s, cocktails developed and became more and more popular. In 1917, the phrase “cocktail party” was first used.
Types of Cocktails
| Whiskey based | Beer Based | Gin Based | Vodka Based | Rum Based | Wine Based | Tequila Based | Brandy Based |
Whisky Based
The world of whiskey is enormous and growing all the time. The number of fantastic whiskey cocktails also keeps expanding. To create a well-rounded whiskey experience, there are a few tried-and-true recipes that are necessary.
These libations demonstrate whiskey’s adaptability. They are some of the most well-known whiskey concoctions that fans have long adored (or far longer). It is the ideal list for someone who is just learning about whiskey and wants to try everything.
Cocktails made with whiskey are popular. There are numerous different whiskey (or whisky, if you’re in Scotland or Canada) styles, and each one gives mixed beverages a distinctive flavour. Given that whiskey mixes well with a variety of mixers, it makes natural that some well-known drinks contain it.
Beer Based
Many people mistake a beer cocktail for nothing more than a shandy, but as beer and cocktails gain popularity, it is not surprising that the two are combining more frequently.
Beer-based cocktails from all around the world are becoming more and more popular, from Mexico’s Michelada to London’s Shandy Gaff. Along with these hip classics, inventive bartenders are getting new libation ideas from beer, including regional brews, foreign lagers, lambics, and more. Additionally, “beer-tails” are a means for businesses without a complete liquor licence to diversify their drink menu.
Gin Based
The captain and surgeon of the HMS Hercules is credited with creating the likely first gin drink, which consisted of mixing the star of the show with Angustora Bitters in the early 1800s. It was then used in the still-favorite Pimms in the middle of the 19th century. I
George Cleghorn, a Scottish physician, discovered quinine’s ability to treat malaria in the 1700s. By the 1800s, British troops stationed in India were consuming gin (or any other alcoholic beverage that was readily accessible) and tonic to acquire their daily dose of quinine, the tonic’s active ingredient, to prevent malaria. Winston Churchill once claimed, “The Gin and Tonic cocktail has saved more Englishmen’s lives, and minds, than all the doctors in the Empire.”
Vodka Based
Vodka is best known for tis use in easy sipping drinks, but can also shine more complex pairings. One of the most adaptable alcoholic beverages, vodka is ideal for highlighting additional components. Although Tony Cecchini is frequently credited as the drink’s creator, the real origin of the cosmopolitan is hotly contested. According to the legend, a bartender who was 25 years old at the time was working at The Odeon in New York City when he made the decision to modernise a cocktail that was popular on the West Coast and called for well vodka, Rose’s grenadine, and lime cordial. Cecchini made an expensive drink out of Ocean Spray cranberry juice, Cointreau, Absolut Citron, and fresh lime. His interpretation of this flirtatious pink beverage is now the benchmark.
Rum Based
Long before the name “cocktail” was even used, rum cocktails naturally developed. Rum was originally combined with water when it was first produced in the Caribbean since it was normally bottled at a very high strength. After that, fresh lime juice was added to the rum mixture along with coconut water to further mellow the spirit. Even now, rum-producing countries still love this straightforward cocktail.
Wine Based
The past of the wine spritzer is hazy, as it is with most alcoholic beverages. It most definitely appeared somewhere in Eastern Europe around that century, while it may have started in Hungary in the middle of the 1800s. Similar to a genuine cocktail, a wine cocktail is a mixed beverage. It is primarily created with wine (including Champagne and Prosecco), distilled alcohol, and another beverage mixer. A spritz is a beverage that includes Prosecco.
The proportions of the various alcohols make a wine cocktail different from a cocktail that also contains wine. In a wine cocktail, the wine product—rather than distilled alcohol or mixer—is the main alcohol by volume.
Tequila Based
Tequila beverages have actually had a relatively brief history. Only a few recipes comprised the category prior to the recent cocktalian movement.
Its founder was Danny Herrera, proprietor of a bar in Rancho la Gloria. Legend has it that he invented the Margarita in the 1930s for movie star and showgirl Marjorie King. Additionally, David Wondrich, an award-winning author and member of the Liquor.com advisory board, claims the cocktail was a mistake.
Brandy Based
In many traditional drinks, brandy serves as the main ingredient. The best brandy beverages continue to be popular among cocktail aficionados today, despite the fact that some have been lost to time and the pages of stale bartending manuals. Brandy is frequently thought of as a beverage to enjoy neat after dinner or possibly with a cigar. You’ve probably seen the stereotypes of old guys smoking in their jackets while swilling whiskey in drawing rooms. However, this robust spirit can also compete in a range of cocktails, from stiff stirred drinks to cool sours.
What are the 21 most popular cocktails?
Bloody Marry, Black Russian, Blue Lagoon, Amaretto Sour, Americano, Aperol Spritz, Aviation Cocktail, Bamboo Cocktail, Bellini, Caipirinha, Caipiroska, White Lady, Cosmopolitan, Daiquiri, Ees Kness, Espresso Martini, Long Island Iced Tea, Mai Tai, Moscow Mule, Pina Colada
What are the 7 classic cocktails?
Old Fashioned, Manhattan, Diaquiri, Nergroni, Margarita, Sidecar, Martini
