COCKTAILS
History
Types
Recipes
HISTORY
•
•
•
The History of the Cocktail
•
•
1860 to 1920 – California: The Birthplace of the First Cocktails
The cocktail's fragmented history begins in the nineteenth century. One of the first
modern cocktails to be named and recognized is the martini. It can be traced back to
an 1862 recipe for the Martinez. This American recipe consisted of four parts sweet
red vermouth to one part gin, garnished with a cherry. "Professor" Jerry Thomas
tended the bar of the old Occidental Hotel in San Francisco and reputedly made the
drink for a gold miner on his way to the town of Martinez, which lay forty miles to the
east. The recipe for the Martinez in Thomas' 1887 bartender's guide called for Old
Tom gin, sweet vermouth, a dash of maraschino and bitters, as well as a slice of
lemon and two dashes of gum syrup.
•
•
The true creation of a popular cocktail can be traced to the nineteenth century. One
early written reference to the term "cocktail" (as a drink based on spirits with other
spirits and additives) can be found in an American magazine, The Balance,
published in May 1806. It stated that a "Cocktail is a stimulating liquor, composed of
spirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters..."
What we do know is that by 1900, the martini had become known nationwide and had
spread to the other side of the Atlantic. This is said by some to be the beginning of
the golden age of cocktails. During this time a basic list of cocktails emerged and
steadily became more and more popular.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
A popular story behind the Cocktail name refers to a rooster's tail (or cock tail) being
used as a Colonial drink garnish. There are no formal references in recipe to such a
garnish.
The rooster theory is also said to have been influenced by the colors of the mixed
ingredients, which may resemble the colors of the cock's tail. This would be a good
tale today given our colorful array of ingredients, but at the time spirits were visually
bland.
The British publication, Bartender, published a story in 1936 of English sailors, of
decades before, being served mixed drinks in Mexico. The drinks were stirred with a
Cola de Gallo (Cock's tail), a long root of similar shape to the bird’s tail.
Cocktail may have derived from the French term for egg cup, coquetel.
The word Cocktail may be a distant derivation of the name for the Aztec goddess,
Xochitl. Xochitl was also the name of a Mexican princess who served drinks to
American soldiers.
Another horse tail supposes the influence of breeders term for a mix breed horse, or
cock-tails. Both racing and drinking were popular among the majority of Americans at
the time and it’s possible the term transferred from mixed breeds to mixed drinks.
There's a quirky story of an American tavern keeper who stored alcohol in a ceramic,
rooster-shaped container. When patrons wanted another round they tapped the
rooster’s tail.
In George Bishop’s The Booze Reader: A Soggy Saga of Man in His Cups (1965) he
says, "The word itself stems from the English cock-tail which, in the middle 1800’s,
referred to a woman of easy virtue who was desirable but impure…and applied to the
newly acquired American habit of bastardizing good British Gin with foreign matter,
including ice
COCKTAILS
• It is a mixed drink consisting of two or more
ingredients
• Usually a spirit base and a flavouring, colouring
ingredient or a ‘modifier’.
• Cocktails maybe short or long
• Can be served before dinner or after dinner
• Pre dinner cocktails are Whisky Sour,
Manhattan, Martini etc
• After dinner cocktails are usually sweet and
creamy – frappes, Alexanders etc
COCKTAILS
•
1.
2.
3.
Measures for cocktails:
Tot – 30 ml
Dash – just a few drops
A Split - a small drink bottle( about 285
ml) that is used for cocktails mainly as
bigger bottles can go flat
RULES FOR MAKING COCKTAILS
 Keep it simple
 Follow formula – one base spirit plus one
or two liqueurs and one or more non
alcoholic ingredients
 Do not make cocktails with more than 3
spirits
 Present it well
METHODS OF MIXING COCKTAILS
• SHAKING – Put all ingredients together with plenty of ice in a
cocktail shaker and shake them till the shaker is ‘frosty’unless recipe states, always strain and serve – NEVER Shake
fizzy ingredients such as champagne or post mix – always
add fizzy drink later
• A traditional shaker has three parts – the based, strainer and
the lid – not common in bars now
• Boston Shaker – Two halves – one fitting over other
• American Shaker – Two halves, one is glass and other is
metal
• Hawthorne Strainer – is designed to strain mixed drinks
– the prong fit over the side of the mixing glass to hold it.
The wire coil can be removed to clean
• STIRRING – Clear drinks are stirred with ice, not
shaken. Clear drinks do not contain any milk, fruit juice
or cream. Put all ingredients in a mixing glass, stir with a
long handled bar spoon, strain and serve
• BLEND – usually done in an electric blender – used
with fresh fruit, fruit pieces, cream – Key is to use little
ice as it will dilute the cocktail. Carbonated drink if any
used in recipe is always added after the ingredients are
blended and at the end.
• BUILDING – Put ice in glass first and other ingredients,
stirred and garnish added. Usually a stirrer or swizzle
stick is added.
LAYERING –These drinks are built in the glass, NOT
STIRRED.
Drinks are poured over end of a bar spoon to minimise
disturbing
the drink. Usually the most thick liquid at the bottom
followed
by less thick etc – Eg Shooters
•
•
•
MUDDLING –Refers to drinks that are crushed
using a ‘muddle stick’ in a mixing glass –
Most popular cocktails today Eg. Mojito
• SHOOTERS – Served in a shot glass.
Layered drinks – pour on the side and
start to bring glass upright – a mixologist
technique! Eg B 52
• PRESENTATION –
• Presentation of
cocktails is very
important –
correct glass,
correct garnish etc
COCKTAIL GLASSES
• Shot – 60 ml
• Martini – 90 ml
• Manhattan – 140 ml
• Champagne Saucer –
180 ml
Old Fashioned –
200 ml
Hi Ball – 300 ml
• Champagne Flute –
180 ml
Brandy Balloon –
300 ml
• Champagne Tulip –
180 ml
Colada Glass – 400 ml
• Frosting a glass – done by ‘wetting’ the rim
of glass with lemon, water, spirit or orange
juice and then placing glass upside down
on a small plate of sugar or salt
• Chilling of a glass – Use glasses that are
chilled in fridge or place ice in glass when
cocktail is being made – the idea is to
serve the cocktail in a chilled glass
COCKTAIL GARNISHES
• Garnish is added to cocktail to add colour
and flavour – Eg cocktail onion is used for
Gibson, Cherry for Sweet Martini, Olive for
Dry Martini
• Garnishes should be made fresh for the
day – but not all fruit can be cut in
advance
COCKTAIL GARNISHES
• Rules for Fruit garnishes –
 Bananas & Apples to be cut only when needed – they
will go off otherwise
 Celery can be cut before service
 Cherrries can be cut and prepared before service
 Melon can be prepared before service
 Pineapple wedges can be prepared before service
 Kiwi fruit should only be cut just before cocktail times eg
4 pm
 Mint must be refrigerated after cleaning and in air tight
container
 Citrus Fruits – Lemon, Limes, Orange can
COCKTAIL GARNISHES
 Twists – Fruit to be cut thin(about 1 cm
wide and five cm long) for a twist and then
twist the slice over the drink – used in
Martinis
 Spirals - Use a peeler or a paring knife to
cut a long peel – used in cocktails where
one end of the spiral is held inside glass
by ice and other over glass
SYRUPS AND NON ALCOHOLIC
INGREDIENTS
•
•
•
•
•
•
Coconut Cream
Grenadine
Orgeat Syrup – almond flavoured syrup
Sugar Syrup
Juices
Fruit Flavoured Syrups – ‘Monin’ brand
such as hazelnut, cherry, coffee etc
SERVICE OF COCKTAILS
• Usually served in lounge bars
• Always use a tray to carry glasses
• Place glasses on tables with coasters
under them
BUILD COCKTAILS
Name
Ingredients
Glass
Remarks
Screwdriver
Vodka & Orange
Juice
Hi ball
Orange Slice is
garnish
Rusty Nail
Scotch & Drambuie Old Fashioned
No garnish
Godfather
Scotch & Amaretto
Old Fashioned
No garnish
Irish Coffee
Irish Whiskey,
Coffee & Cream
Latte Glass
Coffee bean
Cuba Libre
Rum & Cola
Hi Ball Glass
Lime Wedge
Dark & Stormy
Rum & Ginger Beer Hi Ball Glass
Lime Wedge
Bucks Fizz
Champagne &
Orange Juice
Champagne Flute
Orange Peel
Old Fashioned
Bourbon, sugar
syrup, bitters
Old Fashioned
Orange twist and
cherry
Tequila Sunrise
Tequila, Orange
Juice, Grenadine
Hi Ball Glass
Orange Slice