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flavour, feeling, volume, and
alcoholic content. You can and should vary the proportions and ingredients
to meet your particular taste and needs. Keep the spirit
of adventure alive. Try something new from time to time.
And keep adding to the fun of pleasure and cheer for
yourself and your friends.
To a professional barman a cocktail
is a short drink of about 85-120 ml/3-4 fl oz, and
anything longer would be referred to as a long drink or
a mixed drink. Mixed drinks, both hot and cold, have
been around for hundreds of years but cocktails as we
know them are only comparatively recent inventions. Just
when, and how, they first came into existence is a
subject of some conjecture, and there are several, all
rather lengthy, versions. What is certain, however, is
that the drinks which are currently experiencing a true
beginnings in the Prohibition Era in the U.S.A.
Originally they were desired to create something
drinkable from an assortment of poorly made, inferior
liquors, but the idea was soon seized upon by those who
had access to good quality liquor. When the ban was
lifted in 1933 and the overall standards of liquor were
raised, many of the more acceptable concoctions were
refined, more created, and the cocktail boom really
began. The idea of cocktails appealed to other nations
and they travelled far and wide, including to England.
Here, the cocktail hour, between 5.30
and 7.30, fitted nicely into the gap left by the decline
in afternoon tea, providing a most pleasant way of
socializing, particularly for the younger 'chic' set, ,
whiling the time away until dinner . The Second World
War effectively stilled the cocktail shakers and they
were not to be taken up again in this country to any
extent until the late 1970s, early 1980s. Today, they
are probably even more popular than they were. There is
a greater range of spirits to choose from and many new
liqueurs have made an appearance, but, more
significantly, today's cocktail drinkers come from a
much broader spectrum of the population.
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A cocktail is in essence a mixed drink of your choice. An
expression of individual preference in a social situation.
A drink that you like. There's great flexibility of
its ingredients and a vast range you can experiment with.
You can experience taste,