Cocktail Families

[evo-lution]

Hello all,

Just wondering whether or not there are an agreed amount of cocktail families?!? The reason I ask is because i've heard people say that there are 7/9/10/11/13/15 families.

I would define a 'family' by saying they are the groups from which every mixed drink has evolved from.

Discuss

[eje]

Attempting to impose Phylogeny onto non-biological objects has always struck me as inherently wrong headed.

While helpful as a mnemonic aid and a way of organizing recipes in books, one of the big problems is, if you define the families too widely, you end up with too many exceptions to be useful, and if you define them too narrowly, you end up with too many families to be useful.

Another problem is, it may very well be that an alcoholic drink's "forbear" was not alcoholic at all. It might have been a soda fountain drink, medicinal elixir, some particularly tasty folk remedy, or even a preserve.

The last problem I'll point out is that there is no real way to verify the phylogenetic trees you might create. At least when a horse and donkey mate, there is a verifiable physical connection and known outcome. If a bartender on one side of the planet reads an article about a drink that a bartender on the other side of the planet has created, there is no verifiable connection between the two bartenders and the drinks they create. Not to mention that the outcome is uncertain. Perhaps one bartender might write the recipe down incorrectly. Or perhaps the ingredients available to the bartenders won't be the same.

Cocktails don't have DNA.

On the other hand, tracking the "Evolution" of a cocktail recipe across history and culture is something that is inherently interesting to me. Though, it should probably be called something other than "Evolution". "Variation"?

You'll have to buy me a drink (or three) to get me to give my opinions on the problems of Phylogeny and Evolution as they are commonly applied to biological organisms and systems.

[JerseyRED]

You'll have to buy me a drink (or three) to get me to give my opinions on the problems of Phylogeny and Evolution as they are commonly applied to biological organisms and systems.

You'd have to give me a drink (or three) to sit still and listen!

[ThinkingBartender]

Coralling drinks into categories, and families, is not a good idea, as there is usually no thought given to the original recipe, evolution of the recipe, etc.

Daisies: There are two types, but it is the red version that is given all the spotlight.

Sours: usually this category is over-simplified to spirit, sugar, lemon juice; But this doesn't take into account the original/ early recipes which just called for 3 dashes of lemon juice. The modern sour contains about 1 shot of lemon juice, which has more in common with a non-red Daisy.

Anyhow this is my list of 16 Families:

Cobbler/ Fix/ Frappe.

Collins; Fruit Collins; French '75 (Russian Spring Punch).

Cock-tail/ Bittered Sling.

Crusta; Improvement on the cock-tail.

Cup.

Daisy; Both varieties.

Flip.

Grog: Spirit and Water; Originally Rum.

Highball/ Buck/ Fizz/ Rickey.

Julep/ Mint Julep; Claret or Madiera or Spirits, sugar, water in some form, mint in the mint julep.

Pousse Cafe.

Punch; Original, or Modern Mixed Fruit Juice Drink.

Sling/ Toddy; Sling was originally made with Rum, Toddy with ????

Basically a sling/ toddy is spirit, sugar, and water; If a cock-tail is still a cocktail, even if made with water, or ice, or shaken with crushed ice, then it is possible to call a cobbler/ julep as a form of sling (which I do!-).

Smash.

Sour.

Swizzle (Similar to Julep/ Cobbler, demarcated by method of preparation).

I am still working on this list, and I am reasonable happy with the categories. As you all know I have some strange ideas, all of which will be expanded upon in the future.

Cheers!

George

Edited March 14, 2007 by ThinkingBartender (log)

[ThinkingBartender]

Just a quick thought...

Won't it be better to draw up a time-line of when certain ingredients came onto the bar scene, with this varying in different countries/ locations?

1. Lemon Family-punch, sours, crustas, etc

2. Vermouth Family-manhattans, rob roys, martinis, etc

3. Sodawater Family.

4. Flash Frozen Fruit Puree - Fruit Martinis, Fruit Collins, Fruit Everything.

etc, etc.

We do have to work with what we have got, right?

Cheers!

George

Edited March 14, 2007 by ThinkingBartender (log)

[eje]

Just a quick thought...

Won't it be better to draw up a time-line of when certain ingredients came onto the bar scene, with this varying in different countries/ locations?

1. Lemon Family-punch, sours, crustas, etc

2. Vermouth Family-manhattans, rob roys, martinis, etc

3. Sodawater Family.

4. Flash Frozen Fruit Puree - Fruit Martinis, Fruit Collins, Fruit Everything.

etc, etc.

We do have to work with what we have got, right?

Cheers!

George

←

Well, I'll be the first to admit I was being overly pedantic. But, hey, I work in Academia. Comes with the territory.

I do agree the idea of drink families needs to be revisited with much more of a global and historical perspective.

[ThinkingBartender]

The historical aspect is definitely something that must be considered for every drink.

* Side-car (c.1922)

* White Lady (c.1930)

* Havana Side-car (c.1935)

* Vodka Side-car (c.1941)

* Tequila Side-car (c.1943)

Substituting one alcoholic spirit for another, and work ones way through all the possible combinations, would just take one afternoon in this day and age. All a modern bartender/ mixologist has to do is grab the next bottle in the speed-rail, and try the same drink again; This was not always possible in the past.

Cheers!

George

[DemeraraDrinker]

Here are the families (or structures) I use on my site. Some you already have, some are new. A few I have may not be considered original drink families (Iced Tea). And I threw Sour in as a kind of catch-all. I need to put descriptions up for them...haven't yet.

Alexander

Batida

Buck

Cobbler

Colada

Collins

Cooler

Crusta

Daiquiri

Daisy

Fix

Fizz

Flip

Frappe

Highball

Iced Tea

Julep

Mist

Old Fashioned

Pousse Cafe

Puff

Punch

Reviver

Rickey

Sangaree

Scaffa

Screw

Shrub

Sling

Smash

Sour

Spritzer

Swizzle

Toddy