Celebrating World Cocktail Day!
John Dunlop
The common myth is that cocktails originated in New Orleans in the 1830’s. The story goes that Antoine Peychaud ran an apothecary shop in the French Quarter, and sold his own homemade bitters. After a time, he recognized that his bitters tasted especially good mixed with cognac, sugar and water. And, since he measured out this concoction with an egg cup, know as a "coquetier" in French, the “cocktail” was born.
However, World Cocktail Day is a global celebration of cocktails, marking the publication date of the first definition of a cocktail on May 13 in 1806. The New York tabloid The Balance and Columbian Repository defined a cocktail as "a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water and bitters". It was written by editor Harry Croswell in response to a reader’s inquiry.
Whether you believe cocktails originated sometime before 1806 or sometime in the 1830s in New Orleans, I’m just thankful someone created them! Cheers!
