According to David Wondrich, in the very worthwhile imbibe!, the knickerbocker, a cocktail that was popular in the 1850s and ’60s but not so much thereafter, probably first showed up in new york (no surprise). Wondrich also throws out the possibility that the name might have come from the fact that, like knickerbockers the pants (which you’ll remember, if you’ve ever been part of a theater troupe, are short), the drink itself is somewhat of an “abbreviated pun
