Happy bicentennial to the cocktail!

[Hunter_Hawk]

According to The Museum of the American Cocktail, this Saturday (May 6) is the 200th anniversary of the earliest known appearance of the term “cocktail” in print.

Now if that’s not an event worth celebrating, I don’t know what is.

In honor of this occasion, here’s the recipe for the Whiskey Cocktail, from the 1862 edition of the earlist known bartender’s guide, How to Mix Drinks, or, The Bon-Vivant’s Companion, by “Professor” Jerry Thomas:

(Use small bar glass)

3 or 4 dashes of gum syrup [ed: use simple syrup, or muddle a sugar cube with an equal amount of water to make a syrup]
2 dashes Bogart’s bitters [ed: no longer available; use angostura bitters instead]
1 wine-glass of whiskey, and a piece of lemon peel.

Fill one-third full of fine ice; shake and strain in a fancy red wine-glass.

Cheers!

[Tio_Gringo]

Here, here!

I’ll drink to that!

[Campion]

Now when they ask us what we’re celebrating tonight, I’ll have an actual truthful answer!