Alcohol #4

[As I make it a point, never to publish any thing (under my editorial head) but what I can explain, i fhall not hefitate to gratify the curioufity of my inquifitive correfpondent: Cock tail, then, is a ftimulating liquor compofed of fpirits of any kind, fugar, water, and bitters--it is vulgarly called bittered fling, and is fupposed to be an excellent electioneering potion inafmuch as it renders the heart ftout and bold, at the fame time that it fuddles the head. It is faid alfo, to be af great ufe to a democratic candidate: becaufe, a perfon having fwallowed a glafs of it, if ready to fwallow any thing else. Edit. Bal.]

Balance and Columbian Repository, Hudson, New York, May 13, 1806, one week after the word "cock tail" appeared in a drink recipe: