Cocktail Culture

Who made the first cocktail, what was it, and when? Unfortunately, these are questions that we can’t answer, and it’s doubtful anyone can.

That said, we can tell you the first known published reference to the cocktail as a beverage turned up in The Farmer’s Cabinet on April 28, 1803: “… Drank another glass of cocktail – excellent for the head … Call’d at the Doct’s. found Burnham – he looked very wise – drank another glass of cocktail”. It is unclear whether this was alcoholic or not, however the term in reference to a boozy concoction was firmly established a few years after. Ask any bartender or drink geek about the origin of the cocktail, and they’ll tell you: the first mention of the term as we know it appeared in the May 23, 1806 edition of The Balance and Columbian Repository; a curious reader wrote in and asked, “What is a cocktail?” Editor Harry Crosswell replied, “Cocktail is a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters … and is supposed to be an excellent electioneering potion, in as much as it renders the heart stout and the bold, at the same time that it fuddles the head.” Even in the present day, over 200 years later, this definition appears to ring true.

Just as well the term was defined in the 1800s, because this is when the cocktail boom really kicked off. The Sling, Flip, Rob Roy, Sazerac, Manhattan, Tom Collins, Cobbler, Smash, and Sour were already building traction among drink enthusiasts, and could easily be ordered in bars. In this time, bartending was seen as a noble trade, and required several years of apprenticeship before one could don the classic vest and bow tie combination. One of these esteemed men was Jerry Thomas, a bartender known as ‘the father of American mixology,’ who published ‘Bar-tender’s Guide or How to Mix Drinks’, in 1862; often considered the original bartender’s bible.

Jump forward a few years to 1919 - the introduction of Prohibition in the USA - which lead to the opening of a multitude of illegal alcohol factories, run by criminals that supplied cheap, strong and awful tasting booze to the public. It was around this time that ‘speakeasies’, illegal bars and restaurants started to pop up around the world. Speakeasy bartenders would mix these potent spirits with ingredients such as creams, spices or juices to mask the foul taste and disguise alcoholic drinks from the police. It is not a surprise that cocktails saw a massive rise in popularity at this point. When Prohibition ended in 1933, these experienced bartenders went on to freely create these delicious concoctions with quality spirits, anda cocktail revolution began.

As times change, trends tend to do the same. The period after Prohibition saw Hollywood films glamourise the cocktail and saw the introduction of Donn the Beachcomber’s famous Tiki Bar and the birth of popular cocktails including the Moscow Mule, Zombie and the Martini. Between 1960 and 1979, the first recorded Margarita, Tequila Sunrise, Long Island Iced Tea and Piña Colada were created with the opening of the very first T.G.I. Fridays in New York City.

And everything got even bigger in 1980, when Happy Hour as we know it was born, as well as the pre-mixed cocktail. In 1986, flair bartending became immensely popular after T.G.I. Fridays hosted the world’s first flair bartending contest, which led to the classic Tom Cruise film, Cocktail, being made in 1988. 10 years later in 1998, Sex and the City first aired, and the cocktail scene was all about the twisted Martini, namely the Cosmopolitan.

Australia was a bit slow off the mark in the world of mixology, with British and American expats in the 50’s and 60’s being the first to start building a cocktail culture on our shores. Arguably the most influential of these figures was New York born Eddie Tirado, who had a diverse career encompassing bartending, education, television, and book-writing. His 1972 book cocktails and Mixed Drinks can still be bought today.

The Sydney Olympics in 2000 further boosted Australia’s cocktail culture, with English bartenders arriving in spades to match the additional demand. While most flew back to England when the games were done, much of their workethic, knowledge and skills remained.

Melbourne born Sam Ross became an international name in 2005 with his invention of the Penicillin, now regarded as a Modern-Day Classic.

Since then, Australia’s bar scene and cocktail culture have continued to develop into what we have today: a style reminiscent of British and American heritage but with a distinctive Australian flair.