1862年,傑瑞·湯瑪斯(Jerry Thomas)出版了一本名為《如何調酒》(How to Mix Drinks)或 The Bon Vivant's Companion 的酒保指南,其中包括10個使用苦精以區別於其他飲料(如潘趣和可伯樂)的雞尾酒酒譜。
雞尾酒在20世紀持續演變並越來越受歡迎,最終該術語擴展到所有酒精混合飲料。1917年,密蘇里州聖路易斯的小茱莉斯·S·沃爾什夫人(Ms. Julius S. Walsh Jr.)首次提出了「雞尾酒會」(cocktail party)這個詞。由於在美國的禁酒令時期(1920年至1933年),葡萄酒和啤酒較少,基於烈酒的雞尾酒由於可得性而變得更受歡迎,隨後在1960年代末流行度下降。在2000年代初至中期,雞尾酒文化隨著調酒術將傳統雞尾酒與新穎成分相融合而開始崛起。[7]
Farrow and Jackson 於 1902 年出版的 Recipes of American and Other Iced Drinks 包含近兩打雞尾酒的配方,其中一些至今仍廣為人知。[25]
據稱,密蘇里州聖路易斯的 Julius S. Walsh Jr. 於 1917 年 5 月舉辦了有史以來的第一場「雞尾酒派對」 。Walsh在周日中午邀請了 50 位客人到她家。聚會持續了一個小時,直到下午 1 點的午餐供應。该地點现存至今,天主教聖路易斯總教區于1924年買下了林德爾大道4510號Walsh的宅邸,并在此後一直作為當地大主教的官邸。[26]
^原文:Mr. Pitt, two petit vers of "L'huile de Venus" Ditto, one of "perfeit amour" Ditto, "cock-tail" (vulgarly called ginger)
^原文:Drank a glass of cocktail—excellent for the head...Call'd at the Doct's. found Burnham—he looked very wise—drank another glass of cocktail.
^原文:Cock-tail is a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters—it is vulgarly called bittered sling, and is supposed to be an excellent electioneering potion, in as much as it renders the heart stout and bold, at the same time that it fuddles the head. It is said, also to be of great use to a democratic candidate: because a person, having swallowed a glass of it, is ready to swallow any thing else.
^原文:It was customary to dock the tails of horses that were not thoroughbred [...] They were called cocktailed horses, later simply cocktails. By extension, the word cocktail was applied to a vulgar, ill-bred person raised above his station, assuming the position of a gentleman but deficient in gentlemanly breeding. [...] Of importance [in the 1806 citation above] is [...] the mention of water as an ingredient. [...] Låftman concluded that cocktail was an acceptable alcoholic drink, but diluted, not a "purebred", a thing "raised above its station". Hence the highly appropriate slang word used earlier about inferior horses and sham gentlemen.
^原文:Cocktails are compounds very much used by "early birds" to fortify the inner man, and by those who like their consolations hot and strong.
^DeGroff, Dale. The Craft of the Cocktail. New York City: Clarkson Potter. 2002: 6. ISBN 0-609-60875-4(英语).
^Donka, Robert; Cloutier, Robert; Stockwell, Anne; William, Kretzschmar. Studies in the History of the English Language V: Variation and Change in English Grammar and Lexicon: Contemporary Approaches. Walter de Gruyter. 2010. ISBN 9783110220322.