Cocktails

Typical cocktails consist of at least two ingredients and at least one spirituous liquor. Prepared with ice in a cocktail shaker, in a mixing can or directly in the cocktail glass, there is an incredible number of cocktail variations. Many of the cocktails do have catchy names and are prepared by bartenders around the world.

The word "cocktail" comes from the Anglo-Saxon language and already evolved around 1800. At that time, cocktails were offered as a stimulating beverage and contained of spirits, sugar, water and herbal liqueur. Today almost any alcoholic or non-alcoholic mixed drink is called cocktail. While one nowadays drinks cocktails rather in the evening, they were enjoyed as a morning drink around 1800. They were quick, invigorating, strong alcoholic beverages, which one already drank early on in the morning. Already in 1816 an author in the New York Courier described, as he begins his day with "a cocktail or two every morning before breakfast", and closes the day with two or three brandy toddies.

An important milestone in cocktail history then represented the legendary recipe collection “How to Mix Drinks, or the Bon Vivant`s Companion” by Jerry Thomas. Thomas was a bartender who did small time across the United States and thus appropriated numerous influences for his cocktail mixing.

One of today's masters of mixing cocktails is the German Stephan Hinz. Hinz is barman, restaurateur plus catering entrepreneur and worked in top hotels like the Hilton or the Bayerischer Hof. After his victory in 2010 in the most significant mixing competition of the Barkeeper Union and after his appoint to the “Mixologist of the Year” by the professional journal Mixology, career-wise he became a real high-flyer. He founded the company Cocktail Art in Cologne and distributes his cocktails as caterers for large and small events. In 2014, Hinz published the textbook “Cocktailkunst – Die Zukunft der Bar”, which is published with a high circulation.

Whether rather milky cocktails like piña colada or a sling such as the Singapore Sling. Everyone can find her or his matching, tasting cocktail among the thousands of cocktail recipes. Especially in summer, always a special treat.