1635 − Portuguese government prohibits the sale of cachaça. The ban is lifted in 1695.
1637 − Distillery equipment is brought to the island of Barbados.
1644 − Distillery equipment is brought to the island of Martinique.
1657 − A rum distillery is built in Boston.
1664 − A rum distillery is built in New York City.
1650 − To save room, Admiral Robert Blake switches beer rations with brandy.
1655 − Vice Admiral William Penn orders rum be included in daily rations.
1660 − Popular and cocky punch maker Billy “Bully” Dawson says, “The man who sees, does, or thinks of anything else while he is making punch may as well look for the Northwest Passage on Mutton Hill. A man can never make good punch unless he is satisfied, nay positive, that no man breathing can make better.”
1668 − In London’s Criminal Court, Thomas Carey is found guilty of stealing punch and its bowl.
1674 − Harvard University builds its own brewhouse.
1676 − When visiting India, physician John Fryer mentions punch that the English make with liquor.
1688 − William of Orange imports jenever from Holland and starts producing British gin.
1691 − Nolet begins to distill in Holland. (They later produce Ketel One Vodka.)
1694 − On Christmas Day, English Navy commander Admiral Edward Russell fills a blue-and-white-tiled fountain with punch and throws a party for 6,000 people in the Spanish port of Cadiz. He hires 800 staff and 1 male child in a boat afloat the punch, serving guests.
1695 − DeKuyker opens a distillery in Holland.
1697 − A fancy British punch bowl is created. They call it Monteith.
1698 − In New Jersey, William Laird begins production of Laird’s applejack for personal use.
1699 − Kenelm Digby published The Closet of Sir Kenelm Digby Knight Opened, which gives many wine and ale recipes. One recipe in particular is called Cock Ale. Digby says, “These are tame days when we have forgotten how to make Cock Ale.” This ale takes a month to make and boiling a rooster is involved. This is the first known reference to Cock Ale. It is seen later in a couple of 1700s cooking books.
1700s
Colonial America was settling into its new home. By 1700, the population reached 275,000 (with Boston and New York City having the highest populations). In 1700, there also were over 140 rum distilleries in the colonies. By the end of the century, the population reached 5.3 million, of which 1 million was of African descent.
In this century, the colonists struggled to break free of Britain. Examples of the old country not wanting to let loose include the Molasses Act (taxing the rum), the Wool Act, the Iron Act, the Currency Act, the Sugar Act (taxing the rum), the Stamp Act, the Boston Massacre, and the Boston Tea Party. This all led to the American Revolution (1775–1783). After breaking off from England, a drink called Sling became popular. It was simply made with a spirit of your choice, sugar, and water. Later, a dash or two of bitters was added making it a Bittered Sling, which was considered a good drink for the morning. These are the exact ingredients for an Old-Fashioned.
The signing of the United States Declaration of Independence in 1776 was toasted with Madeira. Benjamin Franklin wrote a drinking dictionary, invented bifocals, and discovered electricity. James Hargreaves invented the spinning wheel. American whiskey distilleries began to pop up, the sandwich was invented, and for fun, the hot air balloon took its first flight in 1782. On the other side of the pond, the Industrial Revolution was leading the race in textile production, steam power, and iron making, but losing the battle on gin addiction. This was also the century absinthe was discovered.
Often postal service sections were set up in taverns starting in the mid-1700s. Some names of alehouses, pubs, taverns, and inns included Beetle and Wedge, Bell in Hand Tavern, City Tavern, Fraunces Tavern, Jean Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop, Jessop’s Tavern, the Stag and Hounds, the Eagle, the Lamb, the Dirty Duck, the Green Man, the Crown, the Old Ship, the Publik House, Prospect of Whitby, Wiggin’s Tavern, Blue Bell Inn, and O’Malley’s Pub.
Drinking words heard in the 1700s are too many to mention because Benjamin Franklin wrote a 1737 book—by candlelight—titled The Drinker’s Dictionary, which listed over 200 drinking words. Some of these and others include “addled,” “been at Barbados,” “cockadoodled,” “cherry merry,” “cracked,” “cranked,” “clips the King’s English,” “dizzy as a coot,” “drinking like a fish,” “drunk as a wheel barrow,” “fears no man,” “fuddled up,” “full as a goat,” “got a snootful,” “groggy,” “happy juiced,” “head full of bees,” “in the altitudes,” “jacked up,” “jolly,” “juiced to the gills,” “lapping it up,” “lost his rudder,” “rotten drunk,” “screwed and tattooed,” “tipsy,” and “stewed.”
New brands and spirits in the world include absinthe, Admiral Nelson rum, Appleton rum, Cruzan rum, Drambuie, Evan William’s whiskey, Gordon’s gin, Harvey’s Bristol Cream Sherry, Jose Cuervo, Laird’s applejack, and Madeira.
1708 − The poem “Old King Cole” describes the king asking for his pipe, bowl (punch bowl), and musicians: “Old King Cole was a merry old soul, and a merry old soul was he; He called for his pipe, and he called for his bowl, and he called for his fiddlers three.”
1712 − The first known bitters is created and patented by Richard Staughton.
1717 − The Colt Neck Inn in New Jersey is opened by a William Laird descendant and sells applejack for the first time.
1718 − The French founded New Orleans. Within one hundred years, French-influenced cocktails would be created.
1721 − A quarter of the city of London is used to produce gin.
1726 − London has over 6,000 places to purchase gin.
1727 − Eliza Smith publishes The Compleat Housewife: Or, Accomplish’d Gentlewoman’s Companion in London. Eighteen editions are produced in fifty years. The book contains hundreds of household receipts (recipes) including many wines, cordials, and a Milk Punch recipe: “To make fine Milk Punch. Take two quarts of water, one quart of milk, half a pint of lemon juice, and one quart of brandy, sugar to your taste; put the milk and water together a little warm, then the sugar, then the lemon juice, stir it well together, then the brandy, stir it again and run it through a flannel bag till ’tis very fine, then bottle it; it will keep a fortnight, or more.” Smith also gives a recipe for Cock Ale Punch using an old rooster. The recipe will probably churn even the stomachs of today’s flesh-purchasing humans since they are used to the product being wrapped in shiny plastic, so it is not described here, but can be googled if so desired.
1732 − America’s first angling club—and the oldest continuous club today—is called “Colony in Schuylkill.” (Today it’s called Schuylkill Fishing Company of Pennsylvania.) The goal of the club is to socialize, fish, eat, and drink. The famous “Fish House Punch” is created here with a mixture of rum, peach brandy, lemon, sugar, and water. President George Washington is an honoree member.
1734 − On December 4, a mention of arrack punch is mentioned in London’s Central Criminal Court: “Mrs. Holcomb came in a Coach to my Door about 2 o’clock in the Morning: I shew’d ’em up two Pair of Stairs, and they had a Bowl—it was but one Bowl—of Arrack Punch, a Bottle of Wine, and three Jellies.”
1735 − Arrack punch is mentioned again in London’s Central Criminal Court:
“He asked me to drink a Glass of Punch, and so I went in, and he and I drank four or five Bowls of Arrack Punch, which came to 20 s. and three Pints of Wine.”
Court: What! Did you two drink all that?
−There are too