The Balance and Columbian Repository of Hudson, New York, 13 May 1806: spirits, sugar, water and bitters (1806)
The first known definition in print, given in answer to a reader's question.
General knowledge · Food & drink
Classic cocktails
First defined in print 1806; IBA founded 1951
Food and drink — the canon of mixed drinks and the IBA list
The earliest known definition in print appeared in a newspaper in Hudson, New York, in May 1806: a stimulating liquor composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water and bitters. Jerry Thomas published the first bar manual in 1862, and the drinks that survived Prohibition and the twentieth century have since been codified by the International Bartenders Association, founded at Torquay in 1951, into an official list arranged in three tiers — The Unforgettables, Contemporary Classics and New Era Drinks. The list is periodically revised and now runs to a little over a hundred recipes.
How to spot them
- ▸Three IBA tiers, the oldest of which is called The Unforgettables
- ▸A definition printed in a New York state newspaper in 1806: spirit, sugar, water and bitters
- ▸The first bar book, 1862, by a man known as 'the Professor'
- ▸A trade body founded at an English seaside resort in 1951
- ▸Recipes that name a hotel bar, a count, or a mining district
Key facts
How to Mix Drinks, or The Bon Vivant's Companion, by the barman known as 'the Professor' (1862)
Jerry Thomas — the first bartender's guide published in the United States.
Count Camillo asked a Florence barman to strengthen his Americano with gin instead of soda (1919)
The Negroni — equal parts gin, Campari and sweet vermouth.
Named for a Cuban iron-mining district near Santiago, and Hemingway drank a double at El Floridita
The Daiquiri — rum, lime and sugar.
Ngiam Tong Boon mixed it at the Long Bar of Raffles Hotel so that a lady could drink in public (1915)
The Singapore Sling — pink, so it passed for fruit juice.
Giuseppe Cipriani named a peach-and-prosecco drink after a Venetian painter (1948)
The Bellini, created at Harry's Bar, Venice, for a Giovanni Bellini exhibition.
Fernand Petiot is credited with it at Harry's New York Bar in Paris; the name may honour a queen or an actress
The Bloody Mary — vodka and tomato juice.
Rye or brandy, sugar, Peychaud's bitters and an absinthe rinse — the official drink of New Orleans
The Sazerac, named after a brand of cognac.
Key ideas
- The 1806 definition has become the technical one: spirit, sugar, water and bitters is the template of the Old Fashioned, and everything else is a substitution on that frame.
Quick-fire facts
- •The first known printed definition appeared in The Balance and Columbian Repository, Hudson, New York, on 13 May 1806
- •Jerry Thomas published How to Mix Drinks, or The Bon Vivant's Companion in 1862, the first American bartender's guide
- •The International Bartenders Association was founded at Torquay, Devon, in 1951 and published its first official list of 50 drinks in 1961
- •The IBA list is divided into The Unforgettables, Contemporary Classics and New Era Drinks, and now comprises just over a hundred recipes
- •The Negroni is equal parts gin, Campari and sweet vermouth, named after Count Camillo Negroni of Florence
- •The Mojito, Daiquiri and Cuba Libre are all Cuban; the Caipirinha is Brazilian and made with cachaça, not rum
- •The Singapore Sling was devised by Ngiam Tong Boon at the Long Bar of Raffles Hotel around 1915
- •The Vesper, with gin, vodka and Kina Lillet, was invented by Ian Fleming for James Bond in Casino Royale (1953)
- •The Mai Tai is claimed by Victor Bergeron of Trader Vic's, who said the name came from the Tahitian maita'i, 'good'
- •The Piña Colada is the official drink of Puerto Rico, and the Sazerac the official cocktail of New Orleans
Drill it — 9 cards
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Sources
- International Bartenders Association — IBA Official Cocktails
- David Wondrich — Imbibe! From Absinthe Cocktail to Whiskey Smash
- David Wondrich and Noah Rothbaum (eds.) — The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails