History of non-alcoholic cocktails

Sharbat, a sweet drink made from fruit syrups, rosewater, herbs &/or spices mixed with water, originated in Iran (Persia) and spread through the Islamic world circa 1000 CE. Persia was also where Sekanjabin, a syrup made from vinegar and honey diluted with water, often infused with mint, originated in the 10th century.

Tea and coffee arguably also should be considered among the first mass-market non-alcoholic cocktails, with the use of tea dating from 3rd century China, while coffee perhaps dates back as far as the 9th century, and certainly the 15th century when the first coffee houses appeared in cities like Mecca and Cairo. (The first coffee house in London, England, opened in 1652.)

The perceived health benefits of European spa water led to Jacob Schweppe's development and commercialisation of soda water. American pharmacists took this concept to the next level when they began serving health tonics, mixed with flavourings and medicinal syrups, in the early 1800s. Soda fountains quickly spread to apothecaries and drugstores across America.

By the 1870s-90s, soda fountains progressed beyond being seen as medicinal to recreational, with soda counters becoming bar-like social hubs in pharmacies, but also inside department stores, bakeries, ice cream parlours, and restaurants.

Eating ice cream soda, Sun newspaper, Omaha, Nebraska, 12/August/1906

The staff who tended these soda counters were known as "soda fountain clerks" or "soda water jerkers" and eventually "soda jerks". They served milkshakes, then a milk-based drink with flavouring, shaken with ice. Ice cream sodas (now termed an ice cream float) and phosphates, made by mixing acid phosphate (phosphoric acid and mineral salts) with soda water and flavouring. The acid phosphate gave these drinks a tart sourness that balanced sweet flavouring syrups. These soda bars were the birthplace of brands such as Coca-Cola, now arguably a pre-mixed non-alcoholic cocktail.

It was America that made the cocktail great, and it was America's temperance movement during the 1800s that led bartenders to start mixing "temperance cocktails". That same movement led to Prohibition and the rise of "dry" alternatives. This was the age of lemonade and other fruit-ades, along with "charged water" drinks, featuring ginger ale, ginger beer or soda.

After Prohibition, "Temperance Delights" continued to be part of a good bartender's repertoire and Charles H. Baker Jr. notably features "an even one dozen" such cocktails in his 1939 The Gentleman's Companion volume II.

AN EVEN ONE DOZEN TEMPERANCE DELIGHTS, which
after ALL Is nearly Two WEEKS' SUPPLYNot all intelligent folk approve or militantly disapprove of spirituous beverage. There simply happen to be quite a few rational souls who don't care for anything containing alcohol. Being half of Quaker
stock we have noted such phenomena right in our own family. Also there are beverages for the extremely young.This being the case, and refreshments are indicated, what to serve besides tea, coffee, milk or water? To our own rough and unpredictable mind there is nothing under heaven more discouraging than
weak lemonade, once past the age of 10–except pink, and at circuses. How often in our own history have we seen guests gaze skyward and pray for a sign so that dear old Aunt Trilby Fittich wouldn't serve them cookies and lemonade! Therefore, sharply aware of this problem from our own case, we have gone to considerable effort in snupping these selected Temperance Delights. We now feel that we can face a P.T.A. meeting unafraid, look a strawberry social in the teeth without bowing our head in abject and citric shame.Beside our own palm-shrouded cornerstone there is nothing under heaven's sweet canopy so baffling as suddenly being confronted with test of producing some non-alcoholic beverage claiming credit for
anything but the usual bellywash of lemon, orange, sugar and ice. This is no laughing matter, either. This sort of zero hour may pop up to haunt us at any unexpected moment; and usually when brains
are bled white, scraping an all-time low, and showing all the originality of stuffing for a kapok windowseat pad. Yes, it may easily be a neighbouring daughter's 6th birthday, or Aunt Deleria Fittich descending from Clebbett City in the worst hot spell since '83. And to our way of thinking there still never has been an excusable lemonade except pink, and at circuses!These mild-mannered coolers come from here and there around the world, and the bare fact of presenting them in a drinking volume of our own conception makes us feel very fine, and remote and pure and Worth while, for a change.

Charles H. Baker Jr., The Gentleman's Companion volume II, 1939

Baker's one dozen Temperance Delights:

1. The Angostura Fizz
2. Cassis & Soda
3. The Panama "Mock Daisy" Crusta
4. General J.K.L. Harkrider's Famous Stone Bottle Ginger Beer N0. 1
5. Punch
6. Mandarin Punch
7. A Delicious & Pretty Beverage Made from Fresh Grenadines, or Pomegranates
8. Black Tea Punch
9. Raspberry Vinegar
10. Repulse Bay Rhubarb Highball
11. The Nassau Tea Shake
12. West Indian Temperance Shrub