Cocktail - wikipedia Cocktail This article is about a mixed drink containing alcohol. For other uses, see Cocktail ( disambiguation ). A typical cocktail, served in a cocktail glass. When used to refer to any generic alcoholic mixed drink, cocktail may mean any beverage that contains two or more ingredients if at least one of those ingredients contains alcohol. Contents 1 Usage and related terms 2 Etymology 3 Development 4 See also 5 References 6 External links Usage and related terms When a mixed drink contains only a distilled spirit and a mixer, such as soda or fruit juice, it is a highball ; many of the International Bartenders Association Official Cocktails are highballs. When a cocktail contains only a distilled spirit and a liqueur, it is a duo and when it adds a mixer, it is a trio. Additional ingredients may be sugar, honey, milk, cream, and various herbs. Etymology The origin of the word cocktail is disputed. The first recorded use of cocktail not referring to a horse is found in The Morning Post and Gazetteer in London, England, March 20, 1798 : Mr. Pitt, two petit vers of `` L'huile de Venus '' Ditto, one of `` perfeit amour '' Ditto, `` cock - tail '' ( vulgarly called ginger ) The Oxford English Dictionary cites the word as originating in the U.S. The first recorded use of cocktail as a beverage ( possibly non-alcoholic ) in the United States appears in The Farmer 's Cabinet, April 28, 1803 : 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. The first definition of a Cocktail by Harry Croswell The first definition of cocktail known to be an alcoholic beverage appeared in The Balance and Columbian Repository ( Hudson, New York ) May 13, 1806 ; editor Harry Croswell answered the question, `` What is a cocktail ? '' : Cock - tail is a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters -- it is vulgarly called bittered sling, and is supposed to be an excellent electioneering potion, in as much 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. Etymologist Anatoly Liberman endorses as `` highly probable '' the theory advanced by Låftman ( 1946 ), which Liberman summarizes as follows : It was customary to dock the tails of horses that were not thoroughbred... They were called cocktailed horses, later simply cocktails. By extension, the word cocktail was applied to a vulgar, ill - bred person raised above his station, assuming the position of a gentleman but deficient in gentlemanly breeding... Of importance ( in the 1806 citation above ) is... the mention of water as an ingredient... Låftman concluded that cocktail was an acceptable alcoholic drink, but diluted, not a `` purebred '', a thing `` raised above its station ''. Hence the highly appropriate slang word used earlier about inferior horses and sham gentlemen. Several authors have theorized that cocktail may be a corruption of cock ale. In his Imbibe ! ( 2007 ) David Wondrich also speculates that cocktail is a reference to a practice for perking up an old horse by means of a ginger suppository so that the animal would `` cock its tail up and be frisky. '' Development There is a lack of clarity on the origins of cocktails. Traditionally cocktails were a mixture of spirits, sugar, water, and bitters. But by the 1860s, a cocktail frequently included a liqueur. The first publication of a bartenders ' guide which included cocktail recipes was in 1862 -- How to Mix Drinks ; or, The Bon Vivant 's Companion, by `` Professor '' Jerry Thomas. In addition to recipes for punches, sours, slings, cobblers, shrubs, toddies, flips, and a variety of other mixed drinks were 10 recipes for `` cocktails ''. A key ingredient differentiating cocktails from other drinks in this compendium was the use of bitters. Mixed drinks popular today that conform to this original meaning of `` cocktail '' include the Old Fashioned whiskey cocktail, the Sazerac cocktail, and the Manhattan cocktail. Flaming cocktails The ingredients listed ( spirits, sugar, water, and bitters ) match the ingredients of an Old Fashioned, which originated as a term used by late 19th century bar patrons to distinguish cocktails made the `` old - fashioned '' way from newer, more complex cocktails. The term highball appears during the 1890s to distinguish a drink composed only of a distilled spirit and a mixer. The first `` cocktail party '' ever thrown was allegedly by Mrs. Julius S. Walsh Jr. of St. Louis, Missouri, in May 1917. Mrs. Walsh invited 50 guests to her home at noon on a Sunday. The party lasted an hour, until lunch was served at 1 pm. The site of this first cocktail party still stands. In 1924, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis bought the Walsh mansion at 4510 Lindell Boulevard, and it has served as the local archbishop 's residence ever since. During Prohibition in the United States ( 1919 -- 1933 ), when alcoholic beverages were illegal, cocktails were still consumed illegally in establishments known as speakeasies. The quality of liquor available during Prohibition was much worse than previously. There was a shift from whiskey to gin, which does not require aging and is therefore easier to produce illicitly. Honey, fruit juices, and other flavorings served to mask the foul taste of the inferior liquors. Sweet cocktails were easier to drink quickly, an important consideration when the establishment might be raided at any moment. Cocktails became less popular in the late 1960s and through the 1970s, until resurging in the 1980s with vodka often substituting the original gin in drinks such as the martini. Traditional cocktails began to make a comeback in the 2000s, and by the mid-2000s there was a renaissance of cocktail culture in a style typically referred to as mixology that draws on traditional cocktails for inspiration but utilizes novel ingredients and often complex flavors. Cocktails See also Liquor portal Drink portal William `` Cocktail '' Boothby, early San Francisco publisher of cocktail recipes Lists List of cocktails IBA Official Cocktail List of duo and trio cocktails List of beverages Flaming beverage Devices for producing and imbibing Cocktail glass Cocktail party Cocktail shaker The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks -- A classic cocktail book Media Cocktail ( 1988 film ) Cocktail ( 2010 film ) Cocktail ( 2012 film ) References Jump up ^ DeGroff, Dale ( 2002 ). The Craft of the Cocktail. Potter. Jump up ^ Jared Brown & Anistatia Miller ( 2009 ). Spirituous Journey : A History of Drink, Book Two. Mixellany Limited. ISBN 0 - 9760937 - 9 - 0. Jump up ^ `` cocktail - definition of cocktail in English - Oxford Dictionaries ''. Retrieved 25 December 2016. Jump up ^ David Wondrich ( 2007 ). Imbibe ! : From Absinthe Cocktail to Whiskey Smash, a Salute in Stories and Drinks to `` Professor '' Jerry Thomas, Pioneer of the American Bar. Perigee Trade. ISBN 0 - 399 - 53287 - 0. Jump up ^ The Balance and Columbian Repository Archived 2014 - 07 - 13 at the Wayback Machine., May 13, 1806, No. 19, Vol. V, page 146 Jump up ^ Liberman, Anatoly. `` The State of English Etymology '', in Cloutier, Robert A. et al. ( ed. ) ( 2010 ). Studies in the History of the English Language V : Variation and Change in English Grammar and Lexicon : Contemporary Approaches. Berlin, New York : Walter de Gruyter. pp. 161 -- 185. ISBN 3110220334. CS1 maint : Extra text : authors list ( link ) Jump up ^ cocktail, n. and adj. ( Third ed. ), oed.com, June 2011 ( 2005 ), ( Subscription required ( help ) ) Jump up ^ Chrysti ( 2004 ), Verbivore 's feast : a banquet of word & phrase origins, Helena, MT : Farcountry Press, p. 68, ISBN 1 - 56037 - 265 - 6 Jump up ^ * Powers, Madelon, Faces along the bar : lore and order in the workingman 's saloon, 1870 - 1920, Chicago : University of Chicago Press, pp. 272 -- 273 Jump up ^ `` The Origin of `` Cocktail '' Is Not What You Think ``. Liquor.com. Retrieved 2015 - 11 - 15. Jump up ^ `` The surprising history of the cocktail ''. telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 13 December 2012. Jump up ^ Thomas, Jerry ( 1862 ). How To Mix Drinks. Jump up ^ `` The Democracy in Trouble ''. Chicago Daily Tribune. 1880 : 4. Feb 15, 1880. Retrieved June 26, 2014. Jump up ^ Thomas ( 1862 ). How to mix drinks : or, The bon - vivant 's companion... Jump up ^ Kappeler ( 1895 ). Modern American Drinks : How to Mix and Serve All Kinds of Cups and Drinks. Jump up ^ Wondrich, David ( 2007 ). Imbibe ! From Absinthe Cocktail to Whiskey Smash, a Salute in Stories and Drinks to ' Professor ' Jerry Thomas, Pioneer of the American Bar. Perigee. ISBN 978 - 0 - 399 - 53287 - 0. Jump up ^ `` High Ball Etymology ''. Etymonline.com. Retrieved June 26, 2014. Jump up ^ Felten, Eric ( October 6, 2007 ). `` St. Louis -- Party Central ''. The Wall Street Journal. Jump up ^ Regan, Gary ( 2003 ). The Joy of Mixology. Potter. Jump up ^ Eric Felton ( November 28, 2008 ). `` Celebrating Cinco de Drinko ''. The Wall Street Journal. Jump up ^ Anthony Dias Blue ( 2004 ). The Complete Book of Spirits. Harper Collins. p. 58. Jump up ^ Jared Brown ( 2007 ). Mixologist : The Journal of the American Cocktail. Ready Writers Publishing Company. External links Wikibooks has a book on the topic of : Bartending / Cocktails Media related to Cocktail ( category ) at Wikimedia Commons Wikibooks Cookbook Cocktails List of cocktails Absinthe Corpse Reviver # 2 Death in the Afternoon Earthquake Green Russians The Modernista Moloko Plus Sazerac Beer Black and Tan Black Velvet Boilermaker Hangman 's Blood Irish Car Bomb Michelada Porchcrawler Sake Bomb Shandy Snakebite U-Boot Brandy or cognac B & B The Blenheim Brandy Manhattan Brandy Sour ( Cyprus ) Brandy Sour / Brandy Daisy Chicago Cocktail Curacao Punch Four Score Hennchata Incredible Hulk Jack Rose Nikolaschka Orgasm Panama Savoy Affair Savoy Corpse Reviver Tom and Jerry Zombie Cachaça Batida Caju Amigo Leite de Onça Quentão Rabo - de-galo Royce Champagne Black Velvet Buck 's Fizz Kir Royal Gin 20th Century Alexander Bijou Bloodhound Bronx Gibson Gimlet Gin and tonic Gin buck ( a Buck variant ) Gin pahit Gin Sour Hanky - Panky Joker The Last Word Lime Rickey Lorraine Mickey Slim My Fair Lady Old Etonian Paradise Pegu Pimm 's Cup ( incl. Nos. 1, 3, 6, and variants ) Pink Gin Pink Lady Royal Arrival Salty Dog Shirley Temple Black Tom Collins White Lady or Delilah Wolfram Ouzo Ouzini Rum Blue Hawaii Brass Monkey Bumbo ( also called a Bombo or Bumboo ) Bushwacker Caribou Lou Cojito Corn N ' Oil Culto A La Vida El Presidente Fish House Punch Flaming Dr Pepper Flaming Volcano Fluffy Critter The Goldeneye Grog Gunfire Havana Cooler Hurricane Jagertee Macuá Painkiller Royal Bermuda Cocktail Rum Swizzle Staten Island Ferry Sundowner Ti ' Punch Tom and Jerry Tschunk Yellow Bird Zombie Sake Ginza Mary Sake Bomb Tamagozake Tequila Bananarita Bloody Aztec Chimayó Cocktail El Toro Loco Patron and Redbull Juan Collins Matador Paloma Slammer Royale or Tequila Slammer Tequila and Tonic Tequila Mockingbird Tequila Sour Torito Tequila Cocktail Two kids in A Cup Vodka Agent Orange Apple Martini or Appletini Astro pop Batida Bay Breeze BLT cocktail Blue Lagoon Bull Shot Caesar Caipivodka Cape Cod Chi - Chi Colombia Fizzy apple cocktail Flirtini Gimlet The Goldeneye Greyhound Harrogate Nights Hi - fi Ice Pick Kensington Court Special Kremlin Colonel Lemon Drop Lime Rickey Link Up Mudslide Orange Tundra Paralyzer Red Lotus Red Russian Rose Kennedy Cocktail Salmiakki Koskenkorva Salty Dog Vodka Gimlet Vodka Martini or Kangaroo. Vodka McGovern Vodka Sundowner Vodka Sunrise Wassa World White Russian Woo Woo Yorsh Whisky Amber Moon Blue Blazer Bobby Burns Bourbon Lancer Brooklyn Churchill Farnell Four Horsemen Jack and Coke Jungle Juice Lynchburg Lemonade Missouri Mule Nixon Rob Roy Seven and Seven Three Wise Men Ward 8 Whisky Mac See also Cocktail glass Cocktail party Cocktail shaker Dale DeGroff Flaming beverage Highball List of duo and trio cocktails List of IBA official cocktails Mixed drink The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks Liquor portal International Bartenders Association Official Cocktails List of IBA official cocktails Unforgettables Alexander Americano Angel Face Aviation Bacardi cocktail Between the Sheets Casino Clover Club Daiquiri Derby Dry Martini Gin Fizz John Collins Manhattan Mary Pickford Monkey Gland Negroni Old Fashioned Paradise Planter 's Punch Porto flip Ramos Fizz Rusty Nail Sazerac Screwdriver Sidecar Stinger Tuxedo Whiskey Sour White Lady Contemporary classics Bellini Black Russian Bloody Mary Caipirinha Champagne cocktail Cosmopolitan Cuba Libre French Connection French 75 Godfather Godmother Golden Dream Grasshopper Harvey Wallbanger Hemingway Special Horse 's Neck Irish coffee Kir Long Island Iced Tea Mai Tai Margarita Mimosa Mint julep Mojito Moscow mule Piña colada Rose Sea Breeze Sex on the Beach Singapore Sling Tequila Sunrise New era drinks Barracuda Bramble B - 52 Dark ' N ' Stormy Dirty Martini Espresso Martini French Martini Kamikaze Lemon Drop Martini Pisco Sour Russian Spring Punch Spritz Veneziano Tommy 's Margarita Vampiro Vesper Yellow Bird See also List of cocktails Classic cocktails Liquor portal Wine cocktails Fortified wine Port wine : Cheeky Vimto, Portbuka Wine cocktails Agua de Valencia Black Velvet Death in the Afternoon Flirtini Prince of Wales Sangria Sparkling wine Aperol Spritz Bellini IBA Rossini Spritz IBA Champagne Buck 's Fizz Kir Royal Mimosa IBA Ruby Dutchess Red wine Kalimotxo Mulled wine Old Spanish Tinto de Verano Zurracapote White wine Kir IBA Spritzer Miscellaneous List of cocktails Wine portal Alcoholic drinks History and production History of alcohol History of alcoholic beverages History of beer History of wine History of Bordeaux wine History of Champagne History of Chianti History of French wine History of Portuguese wine History of Rioja wine History of Sherry History of South African wine Production Alcohol industry Brewing Distillation Drinking establishments Fermentation Winemaking Alcoholic drinks Fermented drink Beer Cider Mead Rice wine Sake Wine Other fermented drinks Distilled drink Brandy Gin Liqueur Rum Tequila Vodka Whisky Other distilled drinks Fortified wine Madeira wine Marsala wine Port wine Sherry Vermouth Other fortified wines Distilled drinks by ingredients Fruit Apple Applejack Calvados Cashew apple Feni Coconut Arrack Fig Boukha Grape Armagnac Brandy Cognac Pisco Plum Slivovitz Țuică Pomace Chacha Grappa Marc Orujo Tsikoudia Tsipouro Zivania Various fruits Eau de vie Himbeergeist Kirschwasser Marillenschnaps Nalewka Pálinka Rakia Schnaps Cereals Barley Irish whiskey Japanese whisky Scotch whisky Maize Bourbon whiskey Corn whiskey Tennessee whiskey Rice Awamori Cheongju Rice baijiu Shōchū Soju Rye Korn Rye whiskey Starka Sorghum Baijiu ( Kaoliang ) Multiple grains American whiskey Canadian whisky Other Agave Mezcal Tequila Buckwheat Buckwheat whisky Shōchū Sugarcane or molasses Aguardiente Cachaça Clairin Guaro Rum Seco Herrerano Tharra Various starches Akvavit Horilka Poitín Shōchū Vodka Liqueurs and infused distilled drinks by ingredients Almond Amaretto Crème de Noyaux Anise Absinthe Arak Hierbas Herbs de Majorca Ouzo Pastis Rakı Sambuca Blackthorn shrub Patxaran Chocolate Chocolate liqueur Cinnamon Tentura Cloudberry Lakka Coconut Malibu Coffee Kahlúa Tia Maria Egg Advocaat Hazelnut Frangelico Herbs Aquavit Bénédictine Brennivín Crème de menthe Metaxa Honey Bärenjäger Drambuie Glayva Krupnik Juniper Gin Jenever Orange Campari Cedratine Curaçao Triple sec Peppers Pertsivka Star anise Sassolino Sugarcane / molasses Charanda Various fruits Crème de banane Crème de cassis Limoncello Schnapps Sloe gin Portals Liquor Beer Drink Wine WikiProjects Beer Spirits Wine GND : 4010342 - 0 NDL : 00564768 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cocktail&oldid=795556552 '' Categories : Cocktails Hidden categories : Webarchive template wayback links CS1 maint : Extra text : authors list Pages containing links to subscription - only content Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Talk Contents About Wikipedia Afrikaans Azərbaycanca Bosanski Català Čeština Cymraeg Dansk Deutsch Eesti Ελληνικά Esperanto Euskara فارسی Français Gaeilge Galego 한국어 Hrvatski Bahasa Indonesia Íslenska Italiano עברית ಕನ್ನಡ ქართული Қазақша Lëtzebuergesch Lietuvių Македонски മലയാളം Монгол Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Polski Português Română Shqip Simple English Slovenčina Slovenščina Српски / srpski Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska Tagalog தமிழ் ไทย Türkçe Українська Tiếng Việt ייִדיש 粵語 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 15 August 2017, at 00 : 24. 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Question: where does the word cocktail come from wikipedia
Answer: origin of the word cocktail is disputed