The Bitter Truth
When researching bitters, youโll discover that these palate-punching liquid spices have been critical libation components from the inception of the word cocktail in 1806. That year, the editor of The Balance, and Columbian Repository, a New York newspaper, defined cocktail (at the time cock tail) as โa stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters.โ
