Although people tend to call anything in a V-shaped glass a cocktail, the drink traditionally is required to have spirits, sugar and bitters. Some other facts about the drink:
Originally, the cocktail was considered a morning eye-opener. Some speculate that’s how it got its name — a metaphor for a rooster (cock) heralding the light of day.
In New Orleans, legend has it Antoine Peychaud served his blend of bitters and brandy in eggcups, known as “coquetiers” to the French-speaking residents. The word later was corrupted to “cock-tay,” and finally to cocktail.
In the 1800s, bitters were used as medicine. Peychaud’s Bitters’ label still reads, “Good for what ails one irrespective of malady.”
Martinis and Manhattans were not developed in the United States until vermouth began being imported from Europe.
Two of the earliest recorded enhancements to the cocktail were a sugar-crusted glass lip with fruit peel (called a crusta), and the addition of absinthe.
Source: Ted Haigh, curator, Museum of the American Cocktail
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