The First Cocktail in London by Tom Conrad

The word cocktail, according to the Oxford English dictionary, lists the word originating in the US, and although commonly viewed as an iconically American invention, there are centuries-old British origins stretching back to 17th Century London.

Image courtesy of Imperial War Museum, 1942. Illustration of Royal Navy grog rations being served on board ship. Image courtesy of Australian National Maritime Museum. Punch, also popular amongst the British Navy by the end of the 17th Century, was a concoction of five ingredients (Panch means “five” in Hindi) – including liquor, citrus juice, tea (or other spice), water and sugar. Grog was served by the British Navy well into the 20th Century. The British Navy encouraged their sailors to drink grog in the 17th century, which was a mixture of rum and water, as a way of getting sailors to drink water. Evidence for the mixing of drinks can be cited to many millennia ago South Americans stored mixed liquids in primitive vessels, which would have led to fermentation and thus a mixed alcoholic drink five thousand year old Mesopotamian earthenware was discovered from the banks of the Tigris containing traces of tartaric acid, honey, apple juice and barley, as often Egyptians mixed spices and other ingredients to hand with fermented drinks to make them more palatable, and Emperor Lucius Aurelius, in Roman times, was prescribed a mixed wine-based drink by his physician the drink posca was originally a medicinal mixture used in ancient Greece which was very popular with the Roman army, and survived as late as the Byzantine period. There is almost a mythology associated with mixology, the art of mixing drinks, and the very origin of such concoctions can, without firm evidence, be the stuff of legend. The origin of the term cocktail is disputed. Either way, the evolution of the cocktail as an iconic part of our shared culture is a fascinating one. There is a surprisingly long, hazy (well we are talking cocktails here!) and intriguing history when it comes to cocktails, from fermenting jars of honey and spiced concoctions, to cock & bull tales and Cock Ales in 16th Century Britain. Are you a purist scientifically measuring and decanting, carefully studying the recipe? Or are you more relaxed guesstimating a slug and hoping for the best? Or do you pretend to be ‘Bond, James Bond stipulating the well-documented procedure behind your chosen tipple? Whichever you are, few can resist the old-fashioned charm of a stylish cocktail shaker, complete with measuring jigger and iconic martini glass, taking you back to the silver screen glamour of early 20th Century Hollywood.

The First Cocktail in London by Tom Conrad