Dive deeper
Ah, the cherished "cocktail"...grab a glass, sit back, and let me mix up some tales of humor with a twist of fun and a dash of history.
If you've been wondering exactly where the Sam hell the name “cocktail” originated, well truth be told, there are several competing origin stories, each more absurd and entertaining than the last. Here are some of the more entertaining ones that I've come across in my travels:
We mangle our French here...
One version dates all the way back to the American Revolutionary War. Picture it: rowdy soldiers in taverns, tired from fighting off Redcoats and in need of a drink that could lift their spirits and numb their wounds. The bartenders (perhaps early versions of us) would serve drinks in egg cups, also called "coquetiers" in French. After a few rounds of these, our soldiers, with their drunken shouts, mangled the word into "cocktail." It’s as if they invented the first drunken game of telephone!
My horse is a mut...so is this drink!
Then there’s the tale involving the English. Apparently, back in the 18th century, a "cock-tailed" horse referred to a mixed-breed racehorse, its tail docked to distinguish it from the purebreds. Someone clearly had one too many and decided that drinks made from a "mix" of spirits should also be called "cocktails". I guess a bastard would have just confused a lot of people, especially after a few drinks too many!
Don't ask where the garnish comes from
But my personal favorite? It involves a barmaid in the 1800s with a fondness for decorating drinks with rooster feathers. Yep, the image of her plucking a feather from a rooster's tail and sticking it in a glass seems a bit far-fetched, but who can resist a good bar story? Apparently, these "cock-tailed" drinks became famous—though I wouldn’t recommend adding feathers to your garnish lineup unless you're willing to get a visit from the health inspector.
Yes, there are more...but you don't have forever
At the end of the day the truth behind a cocktail's name is probably somewhere between a rooster feather and a soldier's slur. But hey, the next time someone asks you for the history of a "cocktail," you’ve got a few wild tales to toss in with the gin and bitters. Cheers!