All About Cocktails - I

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The quote "Drank a glass of cocktail.... excellent for the head....call'd at the docts. Found Burnham...he looked really wise.... and drank another glass of cocktail", details the earliest to have known usage of cocktail. Cocktails are inevitable elements in a cosmopolitan setting; eye catchers with their colored hues and tongue charmers with their varied flavors that generate a mixed alcoholic, juicy, fruity taste.

The origin of cocktails is a non-traceable issue but references reveal that it made its first appearance in America in the first decade of the 19th century going contemporary with the tail of a horse cut short to impart a look in resemblance to the tail of a rooster according to the dictionary of " John Ayto".

According to "why you say it" by Webb Garrison it is said to have adopted its name from an Aztec princess called Octel, grown tired of eating from her gold bowl resorted to eating from a glass bowl the mixed up dishes. Probably it was an evolution from Octel to cocktail.

But a closer association to the etymology of the word refers to the colonial taverns who kept their spirits {whiskey, Brandy, Rum, Gin, Apple Jack etc) in casks, mixed the tails of all the spirits as the casks were getting empty and sold it at a lower price on the request of the patrons referring as "cocktailings" from the stop cock of the cask.

Other references say that the drink was garnished with a feather like that of a paper umbrella of our modern times.

Classically known as a beverage made from a combination of distilled alcohol like vermouth or whisky with a mixer that could be from a wide area of choices like fruit juice, herbal extracts, vegetable juice, sodas, liqueurs or anything that could add to the taste.

A well-balanced cocktail-A good Treat
Cocktail is all about innovating new tastes but it is very important to strike a balance between the ingredients while mixing it. For example a well made martini would have all its ingredients mixed together to bring about the right balance, Gin would have a fervent texture combined with the taste of spices and herbs, dry Vermouth is characteristic of a greasy texture with the herbal taste and Orange bitters entertains the tongue that craves for a spicy taste together with a little sweetness that serves as a connectivity between the Gin and the Vermouth.

The right chill to chill you
Just the right balance would just not befit the making of a good cocktail but it has to be in the proper chill to chill you; to impress your faculty of taste. A perfectly made cocktail has to be exposed to a chillness of about 32 degrees almost up to the freezing point of water. It could be done so by either shaking it or opting to stir it. Thermal transfer is the mechanism where in it serves to bring two elements of varying temperature under equilibrium. In the case of cocktails the exterior part of the ice melts to provide the required consistency, combining with the substance to make it more drinkable.

To refrigerate the ingredients that go into the making of cocktails would only mean the commencing to prepare the cocktail from almost the freezing point that would mean less thermal transfer as water acts as a toner that imparts a softness and mildness removing the rough edges of alcohol.