Cock-tail to the Old Fashioned

The Cocktail developed from the Sling. At the time, bitters claimed to cure all kinds of things: liver complaints, headache, biliousness, indigestion, loss of appetite, colds…etc. One web site thinks the cocktail was born when people started adding bitters to the Sling. Why go to the doctor when a few dashes from a self- proclaimed cure-all would set you right as rain? "Better yet, mix those harsh-tasting dashes into your morning constitutional, and you’re ready for another day. . . When you think about it, the birth of the Cocktail made perfect sense. With a couple of flicks of the wrist and a little less water, the Sling became both more healthful and more tasty. Sugar, water, spirit, and bitters. Say hello to the Cocktail and goodbye to the Sling." (https://twelvebottles.wordpress.com/).

From the same web site:

"The Cocktail
1 lump Brown (Raw) Sugar
2 dashes Bitters
1 tsp Water
2 oz Spirit

Citrus Peel garnish.
A lump or two of Ice is optional.

Place the sugar cube in the bottom of heavy, flat-bottomed glass (old-fashioned, rocks, or double glass — whatever you choose to call it). Dash the bitters over the sugar and let them absorb. Add the teaspoon of water. Muddle this all together until the sugar is as dissolved as possible. Add the spirit (the Rittenhouse is great here, but the Remy is divine). Stir.

The magic of the Cocktail lies not only in its taste (which is exquisite, if done correctly) but also in the execution and presentation. Using the lump sugar cube, dashing in the bitters, muddling and stirring — it really transports you back to a time when bartender and pharmacist were one-and-the-same. Finish off the drink with a large swathe of citrus peel (use a vegetable peeler and get as little white pith as humanly possible). Squeeze the peel over the drink to extract the oils, then rub it over the rim a few times to add an extra layer of depth and perfume. For an extra bit of dash, serve with a spoon so the lucky soul enjoying your handy work can stir in the rest of the sugar, if needed. And that, in short, is the birth of the Cocktail and, in turn, all modern mixed drinks. With its heavy reliance on spirit and calculated use of sweet and bitter, the Cocktail is a symphony in a glass. Of course, not everyone took to all that alcohol but, never ones to miss a party, our ancestors simply took to diluting the drink with vermouth — giving birth to the Martini/Manhattan family." (https://twelvebottles.wordpress.com/)

1798 - first known use of the word, "cock-tail."

On 16 March 1798, London's Morning Post and Gazetteer reported that a pub owner won a lottery and erased all his customers' debts:

A publican, in Downing-street, who had a share of the 20,000 l. prize, rubbed out all his scores, in a transport of joy: This was an humble imitation of his neighbour, who, when he drew the highest prize in the State Lottery, not only rubbed out, but actually broke scores with his old customers, and entirely forgot them.

The next week, on 20 March 1798, the Morning Post and Gazetteer satirically listed details of 17 politicians' pub debts, including the following:

Mr. Pitt,
two petit vers of "L'huile de Venus" 0 1 0

Ditto, one of "perfeit amour" 0 0 7
Ditto, "cock-tail" (vulgarly called ginger) 0 0 3/4

The fact that the "cock-tail" was one of Mr. Pitt's drinks—listed after two obviously French beverages—suggests that the word "cock-tail" might have had French origins. After all, Mr. Pitt's tenure as Premier (as the Prime Minister was called back then) was marked by the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars.

Excerpted from A Spirituous Journey: A History of Drink, Book Two by Anistatia Miller and Jared Brown

1803 - The earliest known printed use of the word "cocktail" in the US, as determined by David Wondrich in October 2005, was from "The Farmer's Cabinet", April 28, 1803, p [2]:

"Lounged to the Doctor's—found Peter—talked of the girls—smoked half a cigar—felt rather squally: Van Hogan came in—quiz'd me for looking dull—great bore.—11. Drank a glass of cocktail — excellent for the head ... Call'd at the Doct's. found Burnham — he looked very wise — drank another glass of cocktail. ... Smoked another cigar at the Doct's.—N.B. Doctor's a famous lounge."

1806

The earliest known "definition" of what a "cock tail" is was published in "The Balance and Columbian Repository" in Hudson, New York on May 13th, 1806.

Sir,

I observe in your paper of the 6th instant, in the account of a democratic candidate for a seat in the Legislature, marked under the head of Loss,'25 do. cock-tail.' Will you be so obliging as to inform me what is meant by this species of refreshment? Though a stranger to you, I believe, from your general character, you will not suppose this request to be impertinent.

I have heard of a jorum, of phlegm-cutter and fog driver, of wetting the whistle, or moistening the clay, of a fillip, a spur in the head, quenching the spark in the head, of slip, etc., but never in my life, though I have lived a good many years, did I hear of cock-tail before. Is it peculiar to this part of the country? Or is it a late invention? Is the name expressive of the effect which the drink has on a particular part of the body? Or does it signify that the democrats who take the potion are turned topsyturvy, and have their heads where their tails should be? I should think the latter to be the real solution; but am unwilling to determine finally until I receive all the information in my power. . .

A SUBSCRIBER

The editor, in responding to a query from a reader, provided the following definition (emphasis added):

"As I make it a point, never to publish anything (under my editorial head) but which I can explain, I shall not hesitate to gratify the curiosity of my inquisitive correspondent: Cock tail, then 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 any thing else."

1833 - J.E. Alexander describes the cocktail similarly in 1833, as he encountered it in New York City, as being rum, gin, or brandy, significant water, bitters, and sugar, though he includes a nutmeg garnish as well.

Transatlantic Travels, by Captain J. E. Alexander, an English tourist in America in 1833

Alexander stops by a very famous bar in New York, the City Hotel, which featured America's first celebrity bartender, a "Mr. Willard." We don't know much about Willard, because unlike like Jerry Thomas, he didn't write down his famous cocktail concoctions. But since the cocktail was considered a very American drink, Alexander took the time to record three recipes in his travel book; these are some of the earliest cocktail recipes on record.

"For the receipt-book, let the following be copied: - First, Cock-tail is composed of water, with the addition of rum, gin, or brandy, as one chooses - a third of the spirit to two-thirds of the water; add bitters, and enrich with sugar and nutmeg; in sling, the bitters are omitted. - Second, Mint Julep. Put four or five stalks of unbruised mint into a tumbler, on them place a lump of ice; add brandy, water, and sugar. - Third, Apple-toddy, says Mr. Willard, the bar-keeper of the City Hotel, who never forgets the face of a customer, is thus made: Have the fairest apples rolled in brown paper, which wet with water, and then bury them in live embers til they are thoroughly roasted and quite soft; then a fourth part of apples, a fourth part of brandy, a fourth part of water, a lump of ice, and the whole to be rich with a fourth part of sugar, makes the agreeable compound. N.B. If there is no nutmeg convenient, a scrape of two of the mudler (wooden sugar breaker) will answer the purpose."

1860s - Liqueurs added to the Cocktail & the Rise of the Old-Fashioned

By the 1860s, it was common for maraschino, orange curaçao, absinthe, and other liqueurs to be added to fancy up American cocktails. The Vermouth Cocktail, from 1869, for instance, adds bitters, maraschino, and a lemon twist to chilled vermouth. Vermouth was usually drunk as a wine.

The original Cocktail concoction (spirits, sugar, water and bitters - minus any liquers or other additions) albeit in different proportions, came back into vogue, and was referred to as "old-fashioned". The most popular of the in-vogue "old-fashioned" cocktails were made with whiskey, according to a Chicago barman, quoted in The Chicago Daily Tribune in 1882, with rye being more popular than Bourbon. The recipe he describes is a similar combination of spirits, bitters, water and sugar of seventy-six years earlier.

Traditionally, the first use of the name "Old Fashioned" for a Bourbon whiskey cocktail was said to have been, anachronistically, at the Pendennis Club, a gentlemen's club founded in 1881 in Louisville, Kentucky. The recipe was said to have been invented by a bartender at that club in honor of Colonel James E. Pepper, a prominent bourbon distiller, who brought it to the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel bar in New York City.

George Kappeler provides some of the earliest published recipes for Old Fashioned cocktails in his 1895 book, Modern American Drinks. Recipes are given for Whiskey, Brandy, Holland gin, and Old Tom gin. The Whiskey Old Fashioned recipe specifies the following (with a jigger being 2 US fluid ounces (59 ml)):

"Old Fashioned Whiskey Cocktail.

Dissolve a small lump of sugar with a little water in a whiskey-glass;
add two dashes Angostura bitters,
a small piece of ice, a piece of lemon-peel,
one jigger whiskey.
Mix with small bar-spoon and serve, leaving spoon in glass."

"Old-Fashioned Brandy Cocktail.

Crush a small lump of sugar in a whiskey-glass
with a very little water, add one lump ice, two
dashes bitters, a small piece-lemon peel, one jigger
brandy. Stir with small bar-spoon. Serve."

"Old-Fashioned Holland Gin Cocktail.

Crush a small lump of sugar in a whiskey-glass
containing a little water, add a lump of ice, two
dashes of Angostura bitters, a small piece of lemon
peel, one jigger Holland gin. Mix with small
bar-spoon. Serve."

"Old-Fashioned Tom Gin Cocktail.

Mix same as Holland Gin Old-Fashioned Cocktail,
using Old Tom gin in place of Holland."

By the 1860s, as illustrated by Jerry Thomas' 1862 book, basic cocktail recipes included Curaçao, or other liqueurs, not mentioned in the early 19th century descriptions, nor the Chicago Daily Tribune descriptions of the "Old Fashioned" cocktails of the early 1880s; it is absent from Kappeler's Old Fashioned recipes as well. The differences of the Old Fashioned cocktail recipes from the cocktail recipes of the late 19th Century are mainly preparation method, the use of sugar and water in lieu of simple or gomme syrup, and the absence of additional liqueurs. These Old Fashioned cocktail recipes are literally for cocktails done the old-fashioned way. The cherry was introduced after 1930.

Jerry Thomas' 1862 book:

"Gin Cocktail

Use small bar glass
3 or 4 dashes of gum syrup
2 do [dashes] bitters Bogart's
1 wine glass of gin
1 or 2 dashes of Curaçao
1 small piece lemon peel
fill one third full of fine ice shake well and strain in a glass"

"Old Fashioned Holland Gin Cocktail [made with gin, not whiskey]

Crush a small lump of sugar in a whiskey glass containing a little water,
add a lump of ice,
two dashes of Angostura bitters,
a small piece of lemon peel,
one jigger Holland gin.
Mix with small bar spoon.
Serve."

Late 19th Century

By the late 19th Century cocktail had come to mean any mixed drink that contains one or more kinds of spirit and one or more mixers, such as soda or fruit juice. It was a Victorian idea to mix hard liquor with soft drink and fruit, which evolved over time to include herbs & spices, honey, milk and sugar. This takes us to the more recognisable and familiar image of Cocktail drinking we are all familiar with; the golden era of the Cocktail the early 20th Century. Cocktail parties became popular in the early part of the 20th Century in America where a whole etiquette built up around the cocktail party, with drinks served before a meal, and cocktail dresses and lounge suits were worn. It was the start of the golden age of cocktails, especially seen through the glamour of the Silver Screen, where stars smoked and sipped their cocktails.

January 1, 1936

An article in the New York TImes, written by a man known only as "Old Timer," reflects on the years following the end of Prohibition. In the piece, the man gives makeshift recipes for cocktails, including one for the Old Fashioned:

"Consider, for instance, the Old-Fashioned cocktail. Time was when the affable and sympathetic bartender moisted a lump of sugar with Angostura bitter, dropped in a lump of ice, neither too large or too small, stuck in a miniature bar spoon and passed the glass to the client with a bottle of good bourbon from which said client was privileged to pour his own drink. In most places the price was 15 cents or two for a quarter. Nowadays the modern or ex-speakeasy bartender drops a spoonful of powdered sugar into a glass, adds a squirt of carbonic to aid dissolution, adds to that a dash or two of some kind of alleged bitters and a lump of ice, regardless of size. Then he proceeds to build up a fruit compote of orange, lemon, pineapple, and cherry, and himself pours in a carefully measured ounce and a half of bar whiskey, usually a blend, and gives one a glass rod to stir it with. Price, 35 to 50 cents. Profanation and extortion. There are a few old-time bartenders working now and they commit these crimes with tears in their eyes," the old-timer continued. "But they say the present generation of drinkers wants them that way, that the present customs were adopted during prohibition to disguise the horrible taste of the terrible liquor… Prohibition has much to answer for besides crime and racketeering."

How the Cocktail got its Name

FMM: There is a lot of discussion on the Internet about how the Cocktail got its name. The one noted in Sir Edward McCubbin's treatise seems the most feasible. Other stories leave too much of a gap in the logic to be convincing.

"Sir Edward's [McCubbin] treatise upon the cocktail (it was privately printed in a limited deluxe edition and I have, I believe, the only copy in America) deals at great length with the origin of the name. He says that it was first applied to a drink in the middle of the eighteenth century. The first drink to bear it was a diabolic sort of concoction of beer and brandy much affected by the officers of the Second Regiment of Royal Sussex Fusiliers, in the British Army. The men of this regiment, because they wore plumes resembling rooster feathers in their caps, were commonly called 'the cocktails' by the men of other regiments. The new drink, when it began to attain fame, took the name. No doubt much of this is true. I have seen several references to the Second Regiment's plumes in old newspapers of the period, and in at least one case the men are referred to as 'the cocktails.' But as for the rest of Sir Edward's story, there is no proof whatever. His book contains no bibliography, and he doesn't mention his authorities, and when I wrote him several years ago, asking for information, I received a reply from his secretary stating that, on account of the infirmities of age, it was impossible for him to discuss the matter."
---"History of the Cocktail: Intellectual Bartender Recalls Duel That was Responsible" Washington Post, December 20, 1908 (p. M2)

"J.A. of New Orleans writes, 'I recall reading many years ago (but made no note of it) that the cocktail originated at an English function centuries ago when someone drank to a group of soldiers who wore cock tails in their hats. In giving the toast with a mixed drink he said, 'Here's to the cock tail.' Another theory, often quoted but regarded as dubious by some informed persons, is set forth in the book "Old New Orleans,' by Stanley Arthur (published by Harmanson). In 1793, a young Frenchman, A.A. Peychaud, and his sister Lauthenie fled to New Orleans to escape an uprising on the island of San Domingo. He established an apothecary shop at 437 Royal St. Peychaud possessed a formula for making a remarkable tonic called 'bitters.' It was Peychaud's custom to serve the dram of cognac and bitters in one end of an old-fashioned double-ended eggcup. The French word for eggcup is 'coquetier,' pronounced: kaw-kuh-TYAY,' The new drink soon became known as 'coquetier,' and the pronunciation was corrupted by non-French-speaking persons to 'cock-tay.' It is thought that, in the slurred speech of those who had drunk too many of M. Peychaud's coquetiers, the word became further corrupted to 'cocktail,' which, early in the 1800s, came to be accepted as the official name of the drink."
---"Many Theories Offered on Origin of 'Cocktail,' Frank Colby, Los Angeles Times, April 3, 1949 (p. A5)