n. A person who is an expert at making cocktails; a master bartender.
2003
"Professor" Jerry Thomas, that is, hero to all cocktail historians, aspiring bar stars and other assorted "cocktailians" (a term coined, as far as we know, by spirit and cocktail writer Gary Regan.) Thomas, considered by many to be the father of the cocktail, and his heritage was the spark for a recent SlowFood NYC tribute to the purely American form of drinking, held at the classic NYC Oak Room in the Plaza Hotel.
2001
One of Abou-Ganim's winning cocktails was the Golden Dragon, a drink made with 8-year-old rum, orgeat or almond syrup, creme de coconut and fresh cream. The ingredients were shaken well and then strained into an ice-filled, old-fashioned glass that had been coated with sweet vermouth. The drink earned the esteemed cocktailian a whopping 74 points out of a possible 80, placing him second in the Millennium Cocktail category.
1997 (earliest)
If you take a glass of Fruit Picker, add a little vodka and a squeeze of lemon juice, you have a perfectly reasonable cocktailian potation.
Mixing cocktails is becoming a highfalutin business. As proof (not a pun) you need only consider the large number of drink mixers who are nixing the title bartender (a worthy word that dates from 1836) in favor of the pretentious appellation bar chef or the awkward label cocktailian.