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A cocktail is an alcoholic drink that combines one or more spirits with other ingredients, such as bitters, juices, syrups, or tonic water. Concocting one can be as simple as blending gin and tonic water over ice and adding a wedge of lime, or it can be a splashier, more involved affair, such as the Ale Flip.  The idea of cocktails was inspired by punch that combined spirits, fruit juices, spices and other ingredients chiefly from India to create alcoholic beverages that were then served in large bowls to party guests. In a world once dominated by beer and wine, these diverse and flavorful punches were a novelty, and the trend took off.

The word “cocktail” was first used to describe a mixed drink in 1803 in a newspaper called The Farmer’s Cabinet.  The term seems to be a mispronunciation of the French word for egg cup, “coquetier,” which was used as a drinking vessel by some apothecaries who served medicinal bitters and began mixing these bitters to make them more palatable. A bitters (plural also bitters) is traditionally an alcoholic preparation flavored with botanical matter for a bitter or bittersweet flavor. Numerous bitters were developed as patent medicines or digestifs.  Another theory is that the name comes from mixing the dregs of spirit barrels, known as “tailings,” and selling them at an inflated price (ie cocking them up).

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