Skip to content
The Fabled Pour

The library

Cocktail history, shelved by era

Where drinks came from, told from the record. Where the record runs out and the stories begin, we say so.

  1. From elixir to cocktail 1690 to 1880

    • From elixir to cocktail · 1690 to 1880

      Bitters and the first cocktail

      In 1806 a New York newspaper defined the cocktail as spirits, sugar, water and bitters. The bitters came from the apothecary, and three bottles from three continents still sit on every serious bar.

      5 min read · 5 sources