\n\tThese days, the word \u201ccocktail\u201d is synonymous with \u201cmixed drink,\u201d but it wasn\u2019t always so. A cocktail used to be a single thing, a specific recipe as opposed to a category, first defined in 1806 as \u201cspirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters.\u201d That was a cocktail. So if you walked into a tavern and asked after a Whiskey Cocktail, you wouldn\u2019t get a list of drinks, you\u2019d get a cup with whiskey, sugar, water (or ice, pending availability), and bitters.<\/p>\n
\n\tIn the first drinks book ever published, in 1862, Jerry Thomas includes the recipes for 13 versions of these so-called \u201ccocktails,\u201d mostly just enumerating different base spirits with near-identical instructions (i.e. Brandy Cocktail, Gin Cocktail,\u00a0Champagne Cocktail<\/a>, etc), but in the 1876 edition of his book, he adds an appendix with a fresh set of drinks. \u201cThe following additional recipes include all the latest inventions in Beverages,\u201d he declares, before introducing us to a set of Collins\u2019, Fizzes, Daisies, and, notably, Improved Cocktails, so named for their addition of two trendy new ingredients, maraschino liqueur and absinthe. So add those two ingredients to an Old Fashioned and you\u2019ve got yourself and Improved Whiskey Cocktail, a drink with touch of earthy, fruity perfume in the form of maraschino liqueur and some piquant spice and depth from absinthe.<\/p>\n 2 oz. rye whiskey<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n 0.375 oz. maraschino liqueur<\/p>\n 2 dashes Angostura Bitters<\/p>\n