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Partly cloudyMagazine
A history of cocktails
BY ANGELA KELLY22/12/2006
EXACTLY how cocktails first came into being is cloudy but one
explanation that persists comes from 18th century America and the
War of Independence.
The story goes that Betsy Flanagan, owner of a New York guest
house, served her speciality drink Betsy's Bracers.
The bar was visited by American soldiers and one night they were
celebrating as Betsy prepared them a meal made from chickens.
They decorated their glasses with feathers and toasted Betsy's
drink: "Here's to the divine liquor which is as delicious to the
palate as the cocks' tails are beautiful to the eye."
To which one officer replied: "Vive le cocktail!"
Less glamorous origins include the fact that in England horses of
mixed origin would have their tails docked to distinguish them from
thoroughbreds and these were known as "cocktailed" horses. Familiar
with this term, Dr Johnson (inventor of the dictionary) mixed his
friend Boswell a drink of wine laced with gin, telling him "... to
mix spirits to wine smacks of our alcoholic hyperbole. It would be
a veritable cocktail of a drink."
But perhaps a more likely suggestion is that cocktails were
developed during Prohibition in 1920s America to hide the taste of
the low-grade, illegal spirits which were being produced in the
hills and in basements across the country.
Cocktails became fashionable in Europe where eventually fine
spirits were brought in to give a whole new dimension in taste and
purpose.
Great early American bartenders included Jerry Thomas and Harry
Johnson, with pioneering classic cocktails like the Blazer, the
Collins, the Julep, the Fizz, the Flip, the Old-fashioned, the
Martini and the Punch.
"By the mid-20th century, most the world was catching up,"
explained Rob Jones, head mixologist at Manchester's Obsidian bar,
"and many beautiful drinks we enjoy today, such as the Daiquiri,
the Mojito and the Margarita, were born.
"Ironically, even though here in the UK we have had access to the
best cocktail ingredients in the form of liqueurs, fruits, spirits
and bitters for many years, it was not until the last 20 years that
cocktails here have really taken off on a large scale.
"The English have always enjoyed a gin and tonic and perhaps a
Martini if we are feeling adventurous.
"However, our normally reserved nature is finally relenting to the
vast array of choice in terms of spirits and mixed drinks that has
become available."
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