The 1st Cocktail, Invented 1586 As A Sugar Cane Medicinal Concoction.
Claims to 'inventing the first cocktail'.
1) It was invented by Betsy Flanaghan in 1776, during the American Revolution and was a mix of rum, rye and apple juice. Betsy served it to Washington's officers and she called a cocktail because she dressed it with a rooster's feather.
2) An apothecary called Antoine Amedee Peychaud, invented mixed drinks in New Orleans around 1795. These drinks were mixed in an egg-cup (coqquetier in French). English speakers eventually changed this to cocktay and then cocktail. The first known printed use of the word cocktail was in 1803; Farmer's Cabinet (Amherst, New Hampshire, April 28), "drank a glass of cocktail - excellent for the head."
3) It was made in 1586 by Richard Drake, the First 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 1st cocktail was made in 1586
As Drakes ships sailed towards Havana in 1586, there was an epidemic (on the ships). A medicinal mix (subsequently known as El Draque) was made from local ingredients; aguardiente de cana, lime, 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). Due to an epidemic onboard his ships and possibly, fortifications at Havana, he changed his plan.
His fleet was in no fit condition for any fighting and needed medicine. 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 the bark of the chuchuhuasi tree, 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. There are records that it was taken during cholera epidemics.
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In one of the worst cholera epidemics to attack the population of Havana, 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 June 4th. 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'. Similar cane sugar cocktails (typically el Draque), made from raw rum, sugar cane and limes can still found in a few London Bars, one of which is aptly named 'The Sugar Cane' and is about 5 miles from the Deptford Tudor shipbuilding yard by the River Thames. In 1513, Henry VIII established this yard to build ships for his Royal Navy.
About the Author
A technical writer with over 20 years experience. A former University lecturer. One of the London bars that have the El Draque cocktails is The Sugar Cane in Clapham.