The 1st Cocktail, A Medicinal Crude Rum Concoction Invented In 1586.
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Posted February 25, 2011 at 12:04 pm
1) Antoine Amedee Peychaud, an apothecary, invented mixed drinks in New Orleans around 1795. These drinks were made in an egg-cup or coqquetier in French. English speakers eventually changed this to cocktay and then cocktail. The word cocktail was first seen in print in 1803; Farmer's Cabinet (Amherst, New Hampshire, April 28), "drank a glass of cocktail - excellent for the head." 2) It was invented by Betsy Flanaghan in 1776, during the American Revolution and was a mix of rum, apple juice and rye. Betsy served this drink to Washington's officers and it was called a cocktail because she dressed it with a rooster's feather. 3) It was made in 1586 by Richard Drake, the 1st cousin of Sir Francis Drake and was originally medicinal, therefore (as with modern liquid medicines) it was given on a spoon. As the medicine was for sick sailors, the spoon was a large wooden one; it had a cock's tail handle. 4) The drinks company Bacardi say that the cocktail was invented in Daiquiri, Cuba in 1898 by a mining engineer, Jennings Stockton Cox who mixed Bacardi rum, fresh lime juice and cane sugar. Evidence supporting the theory that the First cocktail was made in 1586 In 1586 there was an epidemic on Drakes ships as they sailed towards Havana. A medicinal mix (subsequently known as El Draque) was made from local ingredients; lime, aguardiente de cana sugarcane juice and mint. The mint is known in South America as hierbabuena which means good herb. References to 1586, the epidemic and the medicinal cocktail Extracts of research by Gail Swanson about Drakes large fleet in 1586 states that there was an intended raid on one last Spanish town (Havana). However, due to an epidemic onboard his ships and possibly, fortifications at Havana, Drake changed his plan. Drakes fleet was in no fit condition for any fighting and sailors were sick. It is probable that the epidemic was dysentery, and the sailors were probably suffering from scurvy. The South America Indians knew a cure for dysentery at that time; a concoction made from chuchuhuasi bark, with aguardiente de cana (translates as fire water from sugar cane, and can be described as crude or raw rum). It is recorded that in 1586, Richard Drake made a medicine using aguardiente de cana, mint, limes and sugarcane juice. Scurvy is a vitamin C deficiency, and would have been cured by drinking lime juice. In the 1700's English sailors were called limeys, because of the use of limes in their rations. The effectiveness of this concoction was recognised and it became known as El Draque. It is also recorded that this medicinal mix (subsequently called 'El Draque') was taken during cholera epidemics:- In one of the worst epidemics of cholera to attack Havanas population, the narrator Ramon de Paula wrote: "Every day at eleven o'clock, I consume a little Draque made from aquardiente and I am doing very well." Conclusion Richard Drake made the medicinal concoction called El Draque on or shortly after the 4th June. One of the ingredients of el Draque was later changed from aquardient to rum. Cuban playwright and poet, Federico Villoch stated in 1940, 'When aquardiente was replaced with rum, the Draque was to be called a Mojito'. A variety of cane sugar cocktails (typically el Draque), made from raw rum, limes and 'sugar cane' can still found in a few London Bars, one of which is aptly named 'The Sugar Cane' being about five miles from the Tudor Shipbuilding Yard at Deptford by the River Thames. This yard was established in 1513 by Henry VIII to build vessels for the Royal Navy. |
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