How an 18th-century Scottish 'cocktail' has been brought back to life for a tough taste test

According to 18th-century writer Daniel Defoe, Edinburgh’s High Street was “the largest, longest and finest Street for Buildings and Number of Inhabitants, not in Britain only, but in the World”. However, he also noted critics’ claims that the city’s people were “not willing to live sweet and clean as other nations, but delighted in stench and nastiness”.

Defoe, who sympathised with Edinburgh’s sewerage problems, may well have sought refuge from the odours in John’s Coffee Shop and Tavern in Parliament Close, whose clientele included philosopher David Hume, economist Adam Smith and writer Walter Scott and which was apparently famous for serving a “cauld cock ‘n’ feather” – a glass of brandy with raisins.

A cauld cock and feather is a drink made with brandy and raisins | Malcolm Cochrane

The tavern burned down 200 years ago in the Great Fire of Edinburgh but a modern-day version is now opening on almost the same spot as the original and it will serve its predecessor’s signature drink.

The history sounds fascinating but one wonders if modern tastes have moved on. In a world of Manhattans, Negronis and Cosmopolitans, will “cauld cock ‘n’ feather” have stood the test of time? Only one way to find out...