Happy Birthday, Cocktail!
Today is the 200th birthday of the cocktail according to the Museum of the American cocktail. The word “cocktail” was first recorded on May 6, 1806 by The Columbian Balance Repository. On May 13, a curious reader wrote to ask what the word meant. The editor replied “Coc tail, then, is a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, waters and bitters.”
No one knows the actual etymology of the term, but that’s the earliest record of its use.
