THE MYSTERIOUS ORIGIN OF THE COCKTAIL

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 126, 23 November 1935, Page 31

THE MYSTERIOUS ORIGIN OF THE COCKTAIL

•- •■■ A recent article on this page con- '■" .-"tamed a pleasant little story on how the Cocktail got its name. The story, as stated recently, was' taken from .-.,;, "The Savoy Cocktail Book." "Pro- '■"-" gress," the agricultural editor of the "", ''Cape Times," does not agree with that :,, version he writes:—, The cocktail was born amid the "•travail of the War of Independence ■'"""which led to the birth of the United States. - During that war the Regimental tav- * em or "wet canteen" oE a certain ■•-■ American cavalry troop was run by # a ■ buxom dame who was very popular, the widow Betsy Flanagan. '' She followed the colours in the field, but in 1779 was accommodated in more substantial winter quarters close to New York. _~ Here,.launching out, she.opened up : :"*. an s exceptionally enterprising' hostelry ' which soon became the recognised rendezvous of French and American officers, only too glad to pass away an hour or two in well-managed quarters and a pleasant environment. The fame of this hotel extended throughout the two armies. It was ',;...^recognised as ithe dub or social head~"'^Quarters of the Independent -flfficers, and, they proclaimed the wonderful P beverages mixed by Mistress Betsy's --'fair hands. '■-.■ These mixtures eventually became Xkndwn as "Betsy Bracers,"- and. it was '■';; only in the natural order of things .;>; that many inquiries shbuld.be made ■■-for the recipe of these • sparkling and --'•exhilarating mixtures. ■ ''■■.'• r But the competent and wise hostess f was one who recognised- their com- ..,- mercial value, and kept her own f councils as she compounded her- own ,- mixtures. . s The story, as it has been told in a volume dealing with the world's most

famous beverages, then takes a turn in another direction. Close to the town there was a pleasant self-contained estate on which lived an Englishman who was a recognised loyalist and one who was bitterly 'opposed to the Independent movement. It was a regular custom of Mistress Betsy, whenever the atmosphere of the tavern was overflowing with the spirit of cheerfulness, to promise her military guests a specially-prepared, delicious dish of roast fowl, stolen from the Englishman's poultry runs, where many of the best breeds of the day were kept. . Of this promise her officer" guests would continually remind their cheerful hostess whenever they came that way. At last the memorable evening came when the promise was fulfilled, and they all sat down to an old-time dinner. . To "emphasise the triumphal occasion, Mistress . Betsy had decorated each bottle and jar with a plume of the beautiful tail. feathers of the famous roosters of her neighbour, evidently as proof of the occasion. It thus happened that one guest, desiring a'sample of a special beverage, and pointing to the gayest plumes, called for "a glass of those cocktails." "We are drinking the beverage that offers the palate the same charming sensations as the, cock's tail offers the eye," said another officer, which sentiment was, fittingly capped by a handsome captain of the French Dragoons who gave the historic toast: "Long live the cocktail." .1 I That was in 1779, and that was how these attractive mixtures gained a name that has endured. It is now in every sense of the word, a recognised international title that is almost the same in all languages.'