A little slice of History (muddy, debatable history…)

I love a good drink. Actually, I love many, many good drinks. Not a week goes by where I’m not inserting a new recipe into the hallowed shelf of my “top ten” cocktails, which seemingly hasn’t stopped at ten and can only be quantified with a difficult mathematical equation involving the absolute number of Pi and fried pork products.

But, what is a cocktail? Where did the name originate? Many stories exist claiming to hold the truth behind this namesake libation that has seen many highs (Pre-prohibition creativity, New Orleans cultural recognition, the current cocktail renaissance) and several lows (the temperance movement and prohibition, that bastard sour apple pucker, any drink featured on Sex in the City), but what story do I buy into?

Surveying the murky waters of history can be a dirty task, indeed. Through painstaking, backbreaking, exhaustive research that other people have done (hey, I’m a drinker, not a researcher!) I’ve come to the story of Betsy Flanagan, a Tavern owner during the American revolution that started a revolution of her own, when a group of American officers raided a British commissary and apprehended a few large roosters, only to bring them back to Betsy to have her roast them. Freshly plucked and in the oven, Betsy went about mixing drinks for the brave American boys and garnished each glass with a tail feather of their, now naked and juicy, spoils. As one of the officers raised his glass in toast he remarked, “Here’s to Betsy and her marvelous drink. It offers to the palate the same delightful sensation as the cock’s tail feathers offer to the eye!” To wit a French officer in the room felt compelled to add “Vive le Cocktail!” And there at that moment, born from the spoils of war, came the ubiquitous words uttered after the end of every work shift around the world. “Man, I could use a cocktail”….

I first read of this story in the beautiful cocktail book, The Art of the Bar from the boys at Absinthe Brasserie in San Francisco. I recommend this gorgeous read to all my friends as a great introduction to a serious home bar. Go buy it. Now.