Notes On A Cocktail Or Put Down That Liquid Nonsense And Pick Up A REAL Drink, For Chrissakes!

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The current economic wet blanket has spurred a curious upshot: a renewed appreciation of the classics. Pick a genre, any genre—fashion, movies, literature—and there’s a sort of “looking back” that’s prevalent. My recent chat with a top-notch mixologist confirmed that the realm of cocktails is no exception. Tough times call for spirited (pun intended) drinkable classics. Be it a drink, a film, or a pair of platform pumps, there’s something reassuring about things that have stood the test of time.

Though much has been written, the cocktail’s history and etymology remain murky. The lack of cold hard facts and dates make for an excellent mystery, and mysteries make great topics of debate. And debates are great while imbibing. One of the earliest recorded mentions is from the Farmer’s Cabinet of 1803. Though context made it clear that a cocktail was a beverage, not much else was revealed, until this was printed three years later in The Balance and Columbian Repository: "Cock tail, then, is a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters—it is vulgarly called a bittered sling…it renders the heart stout and bold, at the same time it fuddles the head." The similarity of ingredients could lead one the suspect that this vintage cocktail was the precursor of The Old Fashioned. And who can’t use a “stout” heart from time to time?

Enter the Martini. It’s origins steeped in myth and legend, this century-old refresher evolved into a dry, slightly salty delight. I’ve had apple martinis, chocolate martinis, tea martinis, fruity martinis, you name it, but none compares to the Zen-like perfection of the original. And make mine extra dirty. With the help of Ian Fleming’s James Bond stories, the ‘tini has become a sort of archetypal cocktail. Why did James, like his creator, prefer “shaken, not stirred”? Perhaps, he liked how shaking “bruised” the gin, and made the drink colder and slightly more bitter. How fitting, Mr. Bond.

There’s nothing better than a dose of repression to bring out the devil in us. The Prohibition Act of 1919 made alcohol manufacture, sales, and consumption illegal across the nation. Though it’s pietistic supporters wanted to “dry out” the country, their efforts did more for the popularity of cocktails than any modern Madison Avenue ad campaign could hope to. As with any forbidden delight, an underground market emerged, filled with bootleggers, speakeasies, and rotgut hooch. Hooch (slang for cheaply made, inferior quality spirits) could be so unpleasant that creative mixes were concocted to hide its taste. When President Roosevelt lifted the ban on spirits in 1933, avenues opened for better variety and quality. But to this day, there are still towns and counties with prohibitive liquor laws.

If you’re looking for some new-old refreshments to bring in the new year, try one of these masterpieces:

The Old Fashioned: quite possibly the original cocktail, it never gets old and is never out of fashion.

The Manhattan: named for its birthplace. Traditionalists prefer rye whiskey, modernists prefer Canadian whiskey.

Tom Collins: immortalized in the late 1800s by Jerry Thomas. Try cousins John or Juan.

Sidecar: emerged at the close of World War I, robust and very French.

Deauville: born in New Orleans in the 1930s, a sweet-sour brandy bracer.

Pimm’s Cup: a U.K. favorite that’s crisp and clean, but don’t let the freshness slip up on you!

Life is a lot like a good cocktail: a bit sweet, a tinge dry, sometimes bubbly, always interesting, sometimes knocking you on your ass. May your holiday season (raises Pimm’s Cup in a toast) be agreeably mischievous. Here’s to you!

Yours in spirits,

Ella de la Luna