Account of goods sold by A. Peychaud & Co. to Jean Jarreau in 1808 and 1809. Jarreau probably used the wines and liquors--and the playing cards--at his coffeehouse on the left bank of Bayou St. John. We originally thought that A. Peychaud was Antoine Amedee Peychaud (better known as the pharmacist who created the bitters that still bear his name), but additional evidence suggests that he was actually Paul Mathias Anatole Peychaud. Anatole was a New Orleans merchant and officeholder who once ran unsuccessfully for mayor.
In his own place of business Peychaud had a unique way of serving his spiced drink of
brandy. He poured portions into what we now call an "egg-cup"--the old-fashioned
double-end egg cup. This particular piece of crockery, known to the French-speaking
population as a coquetier (pronounced kah-kuh-TYAY)....
It is not surprising that those whose French pronunciation was imperfect were soon
calling the spiced drink they quaffed from the big end of the crockery cup a "cock-tay."
Possibly through sampling too many of M. Peychaud's spiced brandies, the thickened
tongue of the imbibers slurred the word into "cocktail."
A. A. Peychaud's bid for fame and popularity in the city of his adoption was founded not
so much upon the quality or profusion of the drugs he dispensed over the counter of his
shop ... as upon his bitters, a tonic and stomachic compounded according to his secret
family formula. These bitters, good for what ailed one irrespective of malady, gave an
added zest to the potions of cognac brandy he served friends and others who came
into his pharmacy--especially those in need of a little brandy, as well as bitters, for their
stomach's sake....