On May 13, 1806, The Balance, and Columbian Repository of Hudson, New York, defined Cock-tail as a stimulating liquor composed of spirits, sugar, water, and bitters and identified it as a bittered sling.
Primary extract visually checked at full resolution on 2026-09-01. Exact quotation stored in the linked verified Excerpt; the source scope is explicitly classified Sample or Extract.
The evidence is a verified public-domain masthead-and-passage extract, not the complete newspaper issue. This claim concerns the wording and date of the displayed definition; it does not assert the first-ever use of cocktail, an invention date, a place of invention, or an inventor.
The masthead supplies issue identity and date, and the displayed editorial text supplies the four-part formula and bittered-sling description. A complete secondary treatment in the Oxford Companion corroborates the reading.
Used and link-verified on the public history page “Revolution and the Early Republic — Rum, Whiskey, Taxation, and Federal Power” on 2026-09-02. Retain the recorded qualifications in future revisions.