1925 About Town Cocktail Book by Joe Fitchett

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And just as we were going to press some one asked us about the origin of cocktails. So we scurried about and this is what we learned: A little more than a hundred years ago the squire of a little country inn in America lost his beautiful prize fighting-cock. He loved that cock as he loved nothing else on earth except his daughter, and he offered her hand in mar riage to the man who would bring back his bird unharmed. Many weeks passed and then one morning a young army officer rode up to the inn with the cock under his arm—-not even a single feather missing from its magnificent tail. The squire, overjoyed, called for drinks that all might toast the tail of the cock, and the daughter, excited at sight of her future husband, mixed whisky and vermouh together by mistake. Everyone liked the concoction and it was christened "Cocktail." The officer later introduced it to his fellow officers. It became famous in the American army and finally its fame spread all over the world.

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