03/08/2013
Fun Facts...
Up until Prohibition (a period of from 1920-1933 when the United States of America banned all alcoholic beverages), most people in most of the world drank their liquor straight. The first cocktails had been invented in the middle 19th century, but they were simple affairs of liquor, water and bitters (bitters are combinations of herbs and spices, often having a medicinal effect; the most common nowadays are Angostura bitters). But cocktails had yet to really take off.
That all changed during Prohibition. The alcohol which was smuggled in from Canada, Mexico and the more enjoyable parts of the USA was rough, raw stuff, often cut with pure ethanol and other, rather less palatable adulterants. In fact, the liquor of the time was practically undrinkable. To solve this vexing problem, people turned to mixing their liquors with various other ingredients to mask the flavour.
