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Supposedly, bartenders used to drain the dregs off all the barrels and mix them together, serving the resultant muddle at a reduced price. "Cock" was another name for spigot, and "tailings" is the last bit of alcohol, so this drink was called "cock-tailings," quickly shortened to "cocktail." A similar theory claims that leftover liquors from drinks served were dumped into a ceramic container shaped like a rooster, and you could get cheap drinks from a tap set in the tail of the rooster; hence these drinks were called "cock's tail."
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