Tuesday, May 16, 2006

The Invention of The Cocktail

Good Lord! We have missed an historic event: The two hundredth anniversay of the invention of the cocktail. I quote from Jonathon Miles’ celebratory column in Sunday’s New York Times.

“Two hundred years and a day ago, the term "cocktail" first popped into print (so far as we know) in The Balance and Columbian Repository of Hudson, N.Y. "Cock tail, then, is a stimulating liquor composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters — it is vulgarly called a bittered sling and is supposed to be an excellent electioneering potion," went this inaugural mention. "It is said also, to be of great use to a Democratic candidate: because, a person having swallowed a glass of it, is ready to swallow any thing else." A snarky birth, to be sure, but hallelujah for it.”

As any mixologist worth the name recognizes, this was the ancestor of what today we call the Old Fashioned.

Several years ago I wrote a poem (copyrighted, if you please but feel free to reprint with appropriate credit) about the preferred cocktail of the truly sophisticated, The Martini.


MARTINIS !


Oh give me Martinis medicinal, cold.
I want them astringent and forthright and bold.
At the end of a day when I’m truly done in
I welcome a glass that is filled to the brim
With a whiff of vermouth and four ounces of gin.

And take to your heart this immutable truth:
Martinis are made out of gin and vermouth.
They aren’t just concoctions of stuff you have handy,
They’re really not made with sweet cordials or brandy.
They’re not colored blue or be-clouded with brine,
Though best when straight up, ‘on the rocks’ is just fine.

A final reminder, I’ll not let it pass,
What makes a Martini is not just the glass!


5 comments:

Art Jacobson said...

Wow, George,

A chocolate stout? Does it taste chocolatey?

Bottoms up!

x4mr said...

Delighted to see these remarks!

In the old days, considered beer to be of two types: 1) Guinness and 2) garbage.

The growth of other fine brewskies like Sam Adams (fabulous!) and various microbrews helps restore faith that there is indeed a god.

Would love to see Nimbus downtown. Will have to try Young's double chocolate--thanks for the tip!

Now it's primarily scotch. Nothing beats Laphroaig and a good cigar.

Art Jacobson said...

If not Martinis...its Bourbon for me.
I like cigars, too, but it's hard to keep 'em lit after dipping them in the booze.

Seriously, folks, I love a good cigar.

LittleButterCup said...

Oh, gosh. Was it "shaken, not stirred," or "stirred, not shaken?" Now, how was it .007 liked his martinis?

x4mr said...

Shaken, not stirred.

Forgot to acknowledge Art's poetry earlier and add that yes, a marvelous Martini is indeed marvelous.