Cocktails are not used to in China?

Compared with Hollywood, Coca Cola and McDonald's, cocktail may be the best symbol of "American cultural aggression", but it has almost never been criticized and resisted by people all over the world on behalf of the United States.

From the style name to the recipe technology, cocktails condense the social culture of various historical stages in the United States. Cocktails, as the starting point of understanding American lifestyle, may be far more profound and reliable than foreign fast food and carbonated drinks.

Let's open a pub first

The development of cocktails reflects the diligence and wisdom of people of all ethnic groups in the United States.

Of course, the history of mixed drinks is much longer than that of the United States. The practice of adding sugar and honey to spirits appeared in the wine cultures of various countries long before the birth of the North American colonies, but the materials used were relatively simple, which was far less colorful than the later American cocktails.

For example, the famous punch is made of spirits (such as rum), sugar, lemon, nutmeg and water. It originated in South Asia, was introduced to Britain by sailors of the East India Company in the early17th century, and later became popular among British immigrants in North American colonies.

British immigrants are really keen on drinking. 1708, Thomas? Captain Waldock wrote in his home letter to London: Whenever there is a new colony, the Spanish will build a church first, the Dutch will build a fortress first, and the British will open a pub first.

However, drinkers in North American colonies were not keen on mixed drinks such as punch, but rum.

As early as before the birth of the United States 100, there was a brewery in Boston, which was just born and had a population of less than 4,000. Rum production gradually became a pillar industry in New England.

The colonial people's love for rum indirectly promoted the change in the United States: the Sugar Act passed by the British Parliament in 1764 seriously affected the production of colonial rum, just like the later Stamp Duty Act, which made people angry.

Besides rum, rye whisky, Dutch gin, pears and Calva, Madeira wine, Cedar and malt liquor are also very popular.

Compared with colorful wine, the ingredients used in mixed drinks at that time were very limited. Before the popularity of cocktails in the19th century, there were only sugar, molasses, eggs, milk, apples, dried peaches, mint and bitter essence.

Of course, these materials are arranged and combined to produce a series of various drinks: punch wine becomes "Sling" without juice, "Toddy" after heating, and "Julep" when juice is replaced with mint.

▍ Zhu Lipu is very popular. It is said that British writer Dickens liked it very much when he visited the United States.

1834, the mixed beverage industry ushered in the first leap. Due to the influx of cheap ice cubes into the American market, mixed drinks have finally become refreshing, and various styles with ice have appeared for a time, such as hail storm, wood graffiti, moral exhortation and so on.

Encouraged, bartenders began to replace rum with more expensive spirits, such as brandy imported from France.

However, apart from ice cubes, these new products are not much different from the traditional Punch series. For example, "hail" is just "commander" with ice, and "moral suggestion" is to add a spoonful of pear brandy to make wine.

Cocktails broke out in the middle and late19th century, after a batch of new immigrants poured into American catering industry.

Contributions of all ethnic groups

From 65438 to the 1940s, a large number of new immigrants poured into the United States, mainly Germans and Irish.

Due to various differences in culture and living habits, new immigrants have bad relations with Native Americans (descendants of early immigrants) and even form gangs to fight with each other.

▍ The movie "New York Gangster" reflects the gang conflict between American aborigines and new immigrants.

The wine culture of new immigrants is often spurned by Native Americans. For example, Lager beer, which Germans like to drink, was initially discredited by American media, calling it "a mixture of dirt and poison", which will only bring madness and destruction to people.

There are also relatively neutral comments from American media, such as The New York Times, who said: "Lager beer, like drama, cigars and pornographic literature, is a necessity for young people. 」

To make matters worse, German immigrants used to hold family gatherings and have fun on Sunday afternoons, which was quite different from the American habit of drinking only in men's salons at that time and attracted widespread criticism. In the resulting conflict, native Americans even tore up the American flag used by German immigrants to protest.

However, another drinking habit of German immigrants has also begun to be accepted by Americans: making mixed drinks with alcohol.

Germany has a tradition of mixed drinking, such as "glasses" based on red wine and various club drinks made of spirits, liqueur and flavored syrup, all of which came to the United States with German immigrants.

German immigrants working in bars have made considerable changes to the traditional mixed drinks in America. For example, imported brandy, wine, sherry, etc. They are all used in their Jules, and the materials used are no longer limited to sugar, mint and ice cubes.

These changes were welcomed by American drinkers, and inspired German bartenders kept innovating and developed classic combinations such as whiskey daisies, Ramos gin sparkling wine, bamboo and aviation. Since then, American alcoholic beverages have become complicated and hierarchical.

▍ "Margarita" cocktail is an indirect derivative of "Whisky Dez", which is popular all over the world and deeply loved by today's ladies.

/kloc-Italian immigrants who flooded into the United States in the late 20th century brought their habit of eating with wine, especially amaro and other wines with obvious bitterness, which were quite different from the whisky, cocktails and lager that Americans drank at that time.

Long before the American Civil War, Italian immigrants began to contribute to American cocktails, such as Joseph, the bar owner in New Orleans at that time. Santigny is the inventor of the famous brandy casting machine.

▍65438+ Jerry,/kloc-a famous bartender in new york in the late 9th century? Thomas, the first to record the formula of wine spectrum and organize it into a book, worked in Joseph? Santigny worked in a bar and later added three cocktail recipes to his bartender's guide.

Italian vermouth has become an essential ingredient of two classic cocktails, Manhattan and Martini. It has become an important part of American lifestyle long before Italian immigrants integrate into American society.

With the popularity of absinthe, bartenders of other nationalities have begun to use this wine to develop cocktails, such as the so-called "Baracca cocktail" (baracca? S Cocktail), which is made from three Italian absinthe and one Flemish Blanca, has an Italian name and ingredients, but its inventor is actually Russian Jewish bartender Jacob? Grohask

Irish immigrants who used to drink whiskey mainly began to contribute to cocktails. For example, Waldorf, whose employees were almost all Irish, created the Bronx with gin, absinthe and orange juice, which was very popular in the early 20th century.

Bronx cocktail

However, compared with today's colorful cocktail world, the variety of American cocktails in this period is still relatively single, waiting for the process of American history in the 20th century.

Mojito, Fu Manchu and the Soviet Union

1920 1.07 at 0: 00 a.m., the amendment 18 of the U.S. Constitution came into effect, prohibiting the brewing, selling or transporting of alcoholic beverages, and the prohibition of alcohol for nearly 14 years began.

Prohibition forced many Italian restaurants with wine to go underground. Therefore, many Americans come to drink, which promotes the integration of Italian immigrants into American society to some extent. The picture shows veal, a famous Italian restaurant.

In addition to drinking underground wine, Americans with better economy can also choose to travel to Cuba, the Caribbean and the Pacific Islands and have a good time. From 19 14 to 1928, the number of Americans visiting Cuba has soared from 33,000 to 90,000 every year, and many of them have bought their own houses in Cuba.

In order to satisfy their tastes, the local cocktail industry in Cuba has also developed rapidly. Not only was the Cuban Bartender Association founded in June 1924, but local bartenders in Spain also developed many classic cocktails, such as "Mojito" and "Daikiri", which are still popular all over the world.

1933 after the prohibition of alcohol in the United States, tourists who have been drinking abroad for many years brought these tropical cocktails back to the United States.

Among them, Ernest, a former bootlegger with many years of Caribbean travel experience? Ghent, in his Hollywood bar, developed many rum-based cocktails with palm leaves, bamboo joints, pineapples and coconuts. The wine glasses are also designed to be full of tropical flavor, and even holiday palm trees are put in the bar.

Ghent's innovation has a great influence on the development of American cocktails, and its "Tiki" style has become an important part of American cocktails.

▍ The exotic bars like the locks in the rainforest, stocks and two smoking barrels are obviously influenced by the "intimate" style.

In order to provide all-round tropical flavor, Tiki hired chefs from China to provide Cantonese cuisine with Nanyang flavor for drinkers.

Obviously, the food in Polynesia and other Pacific islands should be more in line with the "Tiki" style, but it is really not suitable for American tastes, so we have to switch to westernized Cantonese cuisine and then transform it into "Pacific style"

As a result, Guangdong restaurant owners began to provide "Tiki" cocktails in their stores and developed an American cocktail "Dr. Fong" with China characteristics.

Until today, the "Tiki" style bar culture has long declined in the United States, but this cocktail has become a reserved program in Chinese restaurants, especially Cantonese restaurants.

Another drastic change in American drinking habits originated from the US-Soviet alliance during World War II. Under the influence of pro-Soviet propaganda in wartime, "Russian style" became the marketing label of American businessman Bailing, and Russian vodka brand smirnoff was also praised by American John? After Martin bought it, he put it on the American market in large quantities, which lasted for a long time, and was even called the "national wine" of the United States by some media.

During the cold war, vodka was not hit by the bad image of the Soviet Union. In the first 007 film Dr. No, Bond drank a glass of Smirno vodka.

Nowadays, the basic cocktails that are popular all over the world, such as "Four Seas" and "Belarus", are all based on vodka.

Today, the development of cocktails has not stopped, and new immigrants from generation to generation are still bringing new elements to it. For example, the founder of new york's famous bar "Employee Only" is two immigrants from the former Yugoslavia, the founder of "Dead Rabbit" is two Northern Irish, and the director of "Nomadic Bar" is from Venezuela.

Countries deeply influenced by American culture are constantly experiencing new cocktail attempts. For example, Japanese cocktails have been innovated on the basis of many classic American cocktails and created their own wine "Snow Country".

Cocktails have not been born for a long time, and they are still gradually innovating. Bartenders of all ethnic groups always want to blend into the drinking culture of their hometown. It doesn't matter if they are not good. After all, people's tastes are constantly changing.