THE ORIGIN OF THE WORD “COCKTAIL” HAS BEEN TRACED BACK TO 1798, WHEN IT APPEARED IN A BRITISH NEWSPAPER, "THE MORNING POST AND GAZETTEER" IN LONDON, ENGLAND ON MARCH THE 20TH. THIS CAME AS A SHOCK TO MANY PEOPLE WHO BELIEVED THE COCKTAIL TO HAVE BEEN AN AMERICAN INVENTION.
The revelation, found only a few years ago by my friends and professional drinks historians, Jared Brown and Anistatia Miller, was contained in a satirical reference to the then prime minister’s bar bill, which listed a number of drinks, including the ‘“cock-tail” (vulgarly called ginger).
But my American friends will be pleased to know that it was an American publication that first actually defined what a cocktail was. Balance and Columbian Repository, from May 13, 1806, stated:
“A ‘Cocktail’ is a stimulating liquor composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters, it is vulgarly called bittered sling …”
Certainly, over one hundred years ago, the word was an accepted description for mixed drinks and the commercially manufactured mixes that were already popular in most of the United States in the nineteenth century.
In The Cocktail Book: A Sideboard Manual for Gentlemen (John MacQueen, 1933) is the delightful legend of the “Cock’s Tail” and of a young lady, Daisy, credited with its origin. During the American Revolution, the proprietor of The Bunch of Grapes Inn, Squire Allen, was a fan of cock-fighting. One day he discovered the loss of his finest bird and was bereft. Some time later, a young lieutenant came riding into town with a fine cock under his arm. The Squire was overjoyed at his return and ordered Daisy to provide the young man with the finest refreshment. The young Daisy mixed “sundry drops of bitters and wine of roots with a dram of good Kentucky whiskey, the whole poured over some generous bits of ice and they all drank of the beverage ‘to the cock’s tail’—for Jupiter (the cockerel) had not lost a single feather.”
The gallant lieutenant swore that, in memory of the event, the drink should be known in the army as a “cock’s tail.”
And who are we to disagree?
Another version tells of a tavern owner of the same period who refused to allow his daughter Bessie to marry an American officer. His prize cockerel disappeared, causing him to offer his daughter’s hand in marriage to whoever returned the bird. There are no prizes for guessing who found the bird. The rejected officer—and Bessie’s father kept his promise. Bessie made a mixture of drinks from various bottles on the bar shelf during the celebration, which the guests thought delicious, and consequently the drinks became cocktails.
Yet another tale attributes the term to one of George Washington’s officers, who proposed a toast to the Yankee general’s feathered cap with the words:
“A toast to the cock’s tail.”
The term “cock-tailed” was racing parlance used around 1769 to describe a non-thoroughbred horse. The tails of these animals were docked, making them look like cockerel tails. Hence, a “cock-tailed” horse was one of mixed blood. This reference is listed in the Oxford English Dictionary, which also states that the word pertains to a person acting like a gentleman but not having the true breeding of one.
There is also an old expression, “cocked tail,” used to describe a horse or person of high spirits—a drink to raise people’s spirits would thus be called “a cocktail.”
Cock-ale, fed to fighting cocks in training in the eighteenth century, contained spirits. Spectators would drink a similar mixture as a toast to the cock with the most feathers left in his tail—the number of spirits was the same as the number of feathers.
The French, too, have claimed quite a few links to derivation of the word. The French word for eggcup is coquetier, and a Monsieur Antoine Peychaud, a New Orleans chemist, is reported to have served mixed drinks to his guests in eggcups. The drinks became known as coquetiers.
An old French recipe that contained a concoction of wines, coquetel, was taken to America by General Lafayette in 1777. Two years later, a Betsy Flanagan of Virginia served soldiers a drink with all the colors of a cock’s tail—and the soldiers named it “cock tail.”
Another version of the Betsy Flanagan story claims she was the widow of a Revolutionary soldier who kept a tavern visited by the French. Her neighbor was a loyalist and she purloined a few of his fowl to feed the French. The pre-dinner mixed drinks were decorated with tail feathers from these prized cocks, and the group of merry soldiers toasted her with the word: “Vive le cock-tail.”
The late and knowledgeable bartender Harry Craddock was adamant that all of the legends involving the cock’s tail as the origin of the word “cocktail” are incorrect. He believed the true origin of the word could be traced back to an incident at the beginning of the nineteenth century:
The southern branch of the U.S. Army had been in skirmishes with King Axolotl VIII of Mexico. A truce was called and both leaders agreed to meet at the king’s pavilion. King Axolotl asked the general if he would like a drink, and a young lady appeared, carrying just one cup containing a strange potion she had brewed. A hush fell over the assembled dignitaries; there was only one cup. Either the king or the general would have to drink from it first, and the other would be insulted. The young lady realized this, bowed to the gathering, and drank the drink herself. The crisis was averted. Before leaving, the general asked for the young lady’s name. The king allegedly replied that it was his daughter, Coctel. Thus Cocktel became “cocktail.”
Upon publication of this tale, Harry Craddock received a letter from one Lucas de Palacio disputing the story. According to him, English sailors went ashore at Campeche on the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, and quenched their thirst at the city’s taverns. In those days, drinks were served without mixing. Sometimes a “drac” was ordered—this was a mixture of liquors slowly stirred with (usually) a wooden spoon. In one of these taverns, a lad stirred the drinks not with a spoon but the root of a plant, called “Cola de Gallo”—in English, the cock’s tail. The sailors asked what the lad was using to stir their drinks. He replied: “Cola de Gallo.” The word became common usage in Campeche as sailors asked not for dracs, but for cocktails.
With the word came the ritual, with the mixing of (strong) liquors and the occasion of drinking (triumph over adversity) conferring an unspoken sophistication upon the drinker. A cocktail was not a mere tankard of ale, not a short shot of one pure spirit. The cocktail showed that the drinker had a refined palate and appreciated the subtle chemistry of the alcoholic ingredients.
The first cocktail book—The Bon Vivant’s Guide, or How to Mix Drinks—was published in the 1860s by legendary bartender “Professor” Jerry Thomas, and it has been followed by many others. Harry Johnson’s Illustrated Bartenders’ Manual was another landmark. Published in 1882, it featured an illustration of an ice-filled bar glass with an inverted metal cone … the precursor to what we now know as the modern cocktail shaker.
Many of the world’s favorite cocktails were invented before the twentieth century had begun—the Mint Julep, the Daiquiri, the Gin Fizz, the Corpse Reviver, and the Martini. But most owed their origins to the Roaring Twenties.
Written by Salvatore Calabrese in "Classic Cocktails", Sterling Epicure, New York, 2015. Digitized, adapted and illustrated to be posted by Leopoldo Costa.