08-05-2025
Seven drinks you probably haven't tried ahead of World Cocktail Day
You probably won't be familiar with a newspaper snappily entitled The Balance and Columbian Repository. It appeared briefly in upstate New York from 1801 until 1807, and although it covered everything from politics to agriculture, the issue of May 13, 1806, gives an obvious clue as to why the paper didn't last long. The only item on the front page was a lengthy poem called 'The Wasp'.
However, tucked away on the inside pages of that same edition was an article that ensured The Balance and Columbian Repository would never be totally forgotten. In a piece written by editor Harry Croswell, under the headline 'What is a Cocktail?', the drink was defined in print for the very first time.
