TIL: THE FIRST COCKTAIL EVER MADE WAS…

First I want to define the cocktail:

It is any: spirit (the booze), water, sugar and bitters mixed together.


Today I learned...

Now, lets get to the first cocktail ever invented… It is a widely held belief (and agreed upon by your most staunch bar men or women) that the first cocktail was invented in.., where else.., New Orleans - THE SAZERAC!

In the 1830 (maybe 1838) Antoine Peychaud used to mix the family secret bitters with his favorite French brandy, Sazerac-de Forge et fils, with sugar and water. He served this concoction in a large end of an egg-cup known as a coquetier… Crude Americans, not being able to pronounce the word coquetier properly, started calling it a "cocktail."

Original Ingredients and recipe:

• 1 1/2 oz French Brandy, Sazerac-de Forge et fils
• splash of water
• 1 sugar cube
• 3 dashes Peychaud Bitters
  
  As you can see it has all the ingredients that make-up a cocktail: spirit, water, sugar and bitters. In 1912 absinthe was added to the cocktail by Leon Lamothe.

Todays Sazerac Ingredients and Preparation:

• 2 oz of Rye Whiskey (Preferably Sazerac Brand)
• 1/4 oz Absinthe (or Herbsaint -- an anagram of absinthe) used when absinthe was outlawed.
• 3-4 dashes Peychaud Bitters
• 1 sugar cube
• splash of water

Preparation:

• Ice a rocks glass (bucket / old fashioned glass) to the top and put aside
• In a different rocks glass add 1 sugar cube 3-4 dashes of Peychaud Bitters
• Splash of water
• Muddle ingredients until it is a syrup texture
• Add ice
• Add Rye Whiskey (stir about 1 minute max)
• Now take that rocks glass you have chilling and dump out the ice
• Add absinthe and swirl it around the glass, coating the inside of the glass (called a rinse)
• Dump out absinthe
• Fill with ice
• Now strain ingredients from 2nd rocks glass into your chilled rocks glass
• Take a lemon peel an rub it around the lip of the glass and throw away

You now have a perfectly made Sazerac!

Back in the day, old-school bartenders would put the absinthe in the glass and to dump it, they throw the glass up in the air and YELL OUT SAZERAC.., adding a little flair to the cocktail.


Today I also learned...

Of course, there are some that dispute that the Sazerac was the first cocktail ever made… Some say, as far back as James Ashley, who ran a Punch House in London in 1731 was the originator of the first cocktail.., but that was before the the word cocktail had even been defined… So yes, James Ashley invented the first Punch.., but not the first cocktail, as it is defined!

Others say it was the El Draque.., dating back to 1586 when sir Francis Drake was stranded near Havana… After stealing a whole bunch of gold the crew was too sick sail or fight -- this created a big problem for him, considering all the natives wanted their gold back…

Legend has Drake took rum (soaked in tree bark), lime, mint and cane sugar to make it drinkable and used it to treat the sick sailors… They drank it out of a long spoon with a cock tail handle -- hence the term cocktail. Maybe a bit of a stretch…

I see nothing useful in arguing over who invented the first cocktail… The important thing is -- it was invented and now we all get to enjoy (maybe a little too much, sometimes) many fine cocktails from all over the world. CHEERS!

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