Name or Drink

"I First wrote this in my book in 2003, i still wonder today about this, what was first the name or the drink"

Two main drinks that could have took the title The Cocktail and The Crusta, why do we say lets go and have a cocktail and not lets go and have a Crusta, they did over 100 years ago, “even I fancy a Collins” or “I’m gonna nip in the lounge for a highball”. These phrases are said now when we are in the bar, but the first thing we say is let’s go for a cocktail (or a beer mostly, but that doesn't fit in my article) then after we get to the bar we ask the bartender “can I have a Collins please” or “I would like a Highball bartender” or more up to date in Hollywood “hook me up with a Dry Martini please”. We know it’s been recorded in many books and in 1807 the word Cocktail appears in text saying “Cocktail is a stimulating liquor composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water and bitters” but then some drinks appeared with the word cocktail in the title, the first main book in print was Jerry Thomas listing a drink called a Cocktail or Fancy Cocktail, but maybe already by then people commonly referred to any mixed drink as a cocktail, so its not surprising that the word cocktail not only went on to mean any mixed drink it went on to be known as a party term, or canapés term, anything flash really, even dress’s are designed for cocktail party’s called Cocktail dresses. So why not a Crusta or Fizz, just because the word cocktail was in text, Crusta could have took the title, No! Well maybe not as it doesn’t sound that nice, not really a positive lively word is it? But what a great drink that looks like it should have the title of being named a cocktail. My favourite is the Fizz, this should have been it for me we should have had two words describing drinks. Conversation could be, “hey wanna go for a Cocktail or a Fizz” a fizz could be describing “Any drink mixed or built using carbonated type water” Quoted here and now. So we can go to lounges for cocktails and pubs and cafes for a Fizz. But the Crusta needs some recognition, it’s the for father of many mixed drinks, as Jerry says the Crusta is an improvement of the cocktail so a cocktail became commonly known then as a mixed drink and the Crusta became a great Cocktail


The Cocktail

What was a cocktail in the old days, because today it basically means that any two ingredients mixed together can be called a cocktail? A Fresh Lime Soda is a cocktail. Jerry Thomas in 1862 called it a modern invention and used for special occasions, but even then nearly all drinks had similar ingredients so it wasn't that special. A cocktail then is not in the same text as we know it today, it described a certain type of drink, so how did it become to be the word that describes all mixed drinks, maybe always men talking in the 1800’s must have commonly said “Fancy a cocktail” and it stuck and the young generation of the time thought it was cool to say lets have a cocktail as today many young now say lets have a Martini. The word Martini now can mean exactly the same as the word cocktail did over hundred years ago; many people finish work and say lets get a Martini not a cocktail so the 1807 printed description of the word Cocktail could be changed for today to saying “Martini is a stimulating liquor composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water and bitters”. In the old days it was a drink called a Cocktail and today its a drink called a Martini
The Fancy cocktail was the same recipe as a Cocktail, but in a nice glass (maybe a Martini glass) with a lemon twist and the glass rim rubbed with the peel

Ingredients
2 oz Spirit of your choice Martini glass no ice
¼ oz Orange Curacao Shake & Strain all ingredients
4 dash Angostura Bitters Garnish with Lemon twist and rub rim of glass
½ oz Sugar Syrup

The Crusta

This also first appeared in a published writing by Jerry Thomas how to mix drinks in 1862 and also with a picture to show how it’s supposed to look and even appeared again in print over 130 years later in Dale DeGroff’s “The Craft of the Cocktail”, Jerry’s book says the Crusta is an improvement of the cocktail created by Santina, a Restaurant owner in New Orleans about 1850’s, the Brandy cocktail in Jerry’s book was Brandy, Curacao, dash bitters, dash sugar syrup served in a glass with ice and a squeezed lemon peel and a Brandy Crusta was with a little lemon juice and served in a sugar rim glass with the whole of a lemon peel inserted in the rim of the glass. During this time Brandy (Cognac) was becoming harder to get and probably wasn’t mixed up much and started to vanish from menus and this led to less and less Brandy creations from bartenders. This is a spectacular cocktail with taste and looks great. This could have helped Brandy start on a new direction with bartenders, but because of the shortage of brandy due to phylloxera in Europe it seemed to stop at this creation. I would recommend any Bartender to put this on his menu or do a Brandy promotion using this cocktail. The original is Brandy, Curacao, dash bitters, dash sugar but many new versions are with Maraschino liqueur instead of the sugar syrup now and its not sure when that came about, try it with or without the maraschino see which one you prefer


Ingredients
2 oz VSOP Cognac Chimmy glass with ice (Sugar Rim)
¼ oz Orange Curacao Shake & Strain all ingredients
½ oz Fresh lemon Juice Garnish with Lemon peel in rim of glass
½ oz Sugar Syrup or Maraschino
dash Angostura Bitters

Ï hope you liked that, more to come on similar things"

Cheers
The Unknown Bartender