What You Think You Know About Cocktails Is Wrong. Here's Why.
Introduction: More Than Just a Drink
We historians love a good story, and the tales told over a bar are some of the best. In our current golden age of the craft cocktail, where history is revered and every ingredient has a tale to tell, we've come to appreciate the rich narratives behind our drinks. But in the world of cocktails, the truth is often far more intoxicating than the fiction.
The popular history we've come to accept is brimming with myths, half-truths, and surprising plot twists. The real stories are richer, stranger, and more fascinating than you can imagine. From the surprising origin of the drink's very name to the forces that nearly wiped it out, let's pour a measure of truth and uncover the unexpected history behind the drinks we love.
1. The "Original" Old Fashioned Was Made With... Gin?
Ask any cocktail enthusiast to name the quintessential whiskey drink, and they'll point to the Old Fashioned: a timeless concoction of American whiskey, sugar, and bitters. But the historical record reveals a startling twist.
The earliest definition of a "cocktail," from an 1806 issue of The Balance and Columbian Repository, was refreshingly simple: "a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water and bitters." The base spirit was a variable, not a rule. This is particularly surprising given that, as historians note, "rye whiskey into the Gilded Age was the most common of the American Liquors." Yet, when the "father of American mixology," Jerry Thomas, published the first written recipe for an Old Fashioned in his seminal 1862 Bartender's Guide, he called for Holland Gin. A drink now synonymous with American whiskey didn't even feature it in its first official recipe, a potent reminder of how a cocktail's identity can completely transform over time.
2. Prohibition Didn't Invent Cocktails—It Nearly Killed Them
There is a persistent myth that cocktails were invented during Prohibition to mask the harsh, chemical tang of bathtub gin and bootleg spirits. The truth is the precise opposite. Cocktails flourished long before the 1920s, and Prohibition was a "huge setback to cocktail culture," a cultural cataclysm that forced the country's best bartenders to flee overseas to practice their craft.
So, why does the myth persist? Because while Prohibition nearly killed the art of the cocktail, it did change the type of drinks being made. Bartenders who remained in clandestine speakeasies had to get creative with inferior liquor. This necessity led to the popularization of drinks that relied heavily on powerful mixers to hide flawed spirits. This is precisely why cocktails like the Sidecar, the Daisy, and the Sour—all heavy on fresh juices and strong syrups—rose to prominence. The very drinks created out of desperation to make bad booze palatable are what created the false impression that Prohibition invented the cocktail in the first place.
3. The Word "Cocktail" Has Nothing to Do With Roosters
Though a colorful rooster's tail seems a fitting image, the word "cocktail" likely has a far more grounded and fascinating origin in 18th-century horse terminology.
In the equestrian world, a horse with a "cocked" tail—one that was raised or docked—was a signal that it was not a thoroughbred but a mixed breed. The term became shorthand for something that was impure or adulterated. This logic was then applied to alcoholic drinks. To purists, a "cocktailed" spirit was a contaminated one, an inferior version of a pure, straight liquor. It's a beautiful irony that a term once used to denote impurity now signifies a sophisticated and artful creation.
4. Tiki Bars Are a Hollywood Invention, Not a Polynesian One
The welcoming fantasy of bamboo, carved idols, and potent rum drinks feels like an authentic slice of the South Pacific, but the entire Tiki phenomenon was born and bred in Hollywood.
In 1934, as America was still reeling from the 1929 stock market crash and the depths of the Great Depression, it was a country desperately in need of escapism. An enterprising Texan named Ernest Raymond Beaumont-Gantt provided just that when he opened a tiny Hollywood bar called 'Don the Beachcomber'. He decorated it with a romanticized, "Faux-Polynesian" theme—a pastiche of Caribbean and South Pacific influences—offering a portal to a fantasy world. Gantt, who legally renamed himself Donn Beach, sold a story. This concept, later popularized internationally by Victor Bergeron's "Trader Vic's" chain, cemented Tiki not as an imported culture, but as a uniquely American invention designed for pure, blissful escape.
5. Your Vodka Soda Owes Its Existence to World War II
Before World War II, American bars were the domain of gin and rye whiskey. Vodka was a little-known spirit from Eastern Europe. But in the 1940s, this clear "white whiskey," as it was then known, began a relentless march toward dominance that would fundamentally change the American palate.
This trend didn't just happen; it was engineered. The pivotal moment came with the creation of the Moscow Mule, a simple but brilliant mix of vodka, ginger beer, and lime, famously served in a copper mug. It was a marketing masterstroke that introduced the neutral spirit to the mainstream. What began during the war years exploded in the post-war era, launching a trend that saw vodka supplant many traditional spirits in the English-speaking world. This vodka wave has only recently begun to recede with the craft resurgence of boutique gin.
6. Today's "Craft Cocktail" Boom Was a Rescue Mission
The modern cocktail renaissance didn't appear out of thin air. It was a conscious rescue mission, a rebellion against the "dark ages of mixology" that dominated the latter half of the 20th century. This was an era of sour mix from a gun, artificial flavorings, and cloying drinks like the Appletini, Midori Sours, and slushie-machine daiquiris. Even the once-mighty Tiki tradition had degenerated into "garishly coloured, sickly-sweet abominations."
The fight back began in earnest in a specific place and time: with bartender Dale DeGroff at the reopened Rainbow Room in New York City in 1987. This event marked the beginning of a movement that flourished through the 2000s, with pioneers like DeGroff rejecting convenience and championing a return to the traditions of the "last golden age of cocktails." They re-prioritized fresh-squeezed juices, high-quality spirits, and classic, balanced recipes, effectively saving the art of mixology from being lost forever.
Cocktails are like a good book, it's best to have a variety on hand to suit different moods. — Dale DeGroff
Conclusion: A Toast to History
From gin-based Old Fashioneds to Hollywood-born Tiki fantasies, the history in your glass is richer and more complex than you might think. Every sip contains a story of invention, economics, culture, and transformation. These drinks aren't just recipes; they are liquid artifacts that have evolved right alongside us.
The next time you order a classic cocktail, what hidden history will you be tasting?