Is this Horsham’s favourite cocktail?

Today is World Cocktail Day, a celebration of cocktails around the globe, marking the publication date of the first definition of a cocktail on May 13, 1806.

In response to a reader’s question, New York tabloid The Balance and Columbian Repository defined a cocktail as ‘a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water and bitters’.

A cocktail, as we know it, is used to refer to a drink that contains two or more ingredients, at least one of which is alcoholic – and has become a staple of a night out with dedicated cocktail bars and specialist mixologists and cocktail bartenders.

According to popular Horsham venue Piries Bar the espresso martini is the tipple of choice for people in the town.

General manager Ross Andrews said: “It was created by a bar tender. A customer walked in and said ‘make me something to wake me up and mess me up.

“It gives you a caffeine hit and also that alcohol hit.”

He added that he thinks cocktails have surged in popularity due to their ability to transport you to another place.

Ross said: “It’s the search for something new and exciting. A trip away from the mundane.

“When you’re sipping a cocktail it can just feel like you’re somewhere else.”