Cocktail is an alcoholic mixture, usually made with a distillate or a liqueur, to which other ingredients are added. it literally means "rooster's tail" and its name could be related to the bright colors of the mixture. However, some claim that the word origins from the fact that a French doctor prepared an alcoholic mixture flavored with herbs and spices, emulsifying it in an egg cup. The preparation of a cocktail involves special tools such as a shaker and a mixing glass, a colander to pour it into the glass and finally a long-handled spoon to mix it. Each cocktail then requires his glass.

Cocktails are divided into short drinks and long drinks depending on whether the mixture is served "dry" (short) or diluted with water or other liquid (therefore long).

Moreover, there is a category of international cocktails codified by the Barmen Association in which the ingredients are strictly identical in every part of the world. Cocktails are usually accompanied with olives, special cherries, orange or lemon peel.