History of Cocktails
The true creation of a popular cocktail can be traced back to the nineteenth century. One early written reference to the term ‘cocktail’ (as a drink based on spirits with other spirits and additives) can be found in an American magazine ‘The Balance’, published in May 1806. It stated that a “cocktail is a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water and bitters…”

One of the first modern cocktails to be named and recognised is the ‘Martini’. Actually one can trace it back to the 1862 recipe for the ‘Martinez’. This American recipe consisted of four parts sweet red vermouth to one part gin, garnished with a cherry. It is reported that Professor Jerry Thomas who also had a hotel-bar in San Francisco made this drink for a gold miner on his way to the town of Martinez.

By 1900, the ‘Martini’ had become known nationwide and had spread to the other side of the Atlantic. This is said by some, to be the beginning of the golden age of cocktails. During this time a basic list of cocktails emerged and steadily became more and more popular.

From 1920 – 1933 in the USA was illegal to manufacture, sell, transport, import or export any liquors. Alcohol was prohibited. However still there were ways to gain access to alcohol. Cocktails at that time became popular to cover up the bad taste of some crudely produced alcoholic substances. Some of the cocktail recipes used today were invented in these days as cocktail recipes flourished in illegal bars, parties and clubs of the major American cities.

In the second half of the twentieth century, the cocktail popularity was on the increase. Both literature and film have contributed to the images of wealth and class associated with the cocktail hour.

Till this very day, new cocktails continue to be invented and some with very strange and interesting names!