Classic Cocktails

• 60ml Bourbon or Rye Whiskey
• ½ tsp Demerara sugar (or 1 sugar cube)
• 2 dashes Angostura bitters
• 1 dash orange bitters
• Large ice cube · Orange peel

Add sugar and both bitters to a rocks glass. Add a splash of whiskey and stir to dissolve. Add a large ice cube and pour in remaining whiskey. Stir 30 seconds. Express orange peel over the glass, run around the rim, and drop in.

• 30ml London Dry Gin
• 30ml Campari
• 30ml Sweet vermouth
• Orange peel to garnish

Combine all in a mixing glass with ice. Stir 30 seconds. Strain over a large ice cube. Express orange peel and garnish.

• 60ml Rye Whiskey (or Bourbon)
• 30ml Sweet vermouth
• 2 dashes Angostura bitters
• Maraschino cherry to garnish

Stir all with ice 30 seconds. Strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with a Maraschino cherry. For a Perfect Manhattan, use half sweet and half dry vermouth.

• 75ml London Dry Gin
• 15ml Dry vermouth
• Lemon peel or olive to garnish

Stir gin and vermouth in a mixing glass with ice for 45 seconds. Strain into a frozen martini glass. Express lemon peel over the surface. For a dirty martini, add 15ml olive brine.

• 60ml White Rum
• 30ml Fresh lime juice
• 22.5ml Simple syrup (1:1)
• Lime wheel to garnish

Dry shake 5 seconds, add ice, shake hard 12 seconds. Double strain into a frozen coupe. Garnish with a thin lime wheel on the rim.

• 60ml Blanco Tequila
• 30ml Triple Sec or Cointreau
• 30ml Fresh lime juice
• Salt rim · Lime wedge

Salt half the rim of a rocks glass. Fill with ice. Shake all with ice 12 seconds. Strain over the ice. Garnish with a lime wedge.

• 60ml Bourbon
• 30ml Fresh lemon juice
• 22.5ml Simple syrup
• 1 Egg white (optional but recommended)
• Angostura bitters · Cherry garnish

Dry shake all (no ice) 15 seconds to emulsify the egg white. Add ice, shake hard 12 seconds. Strain into a rocks glass over ice. Add 3 drops of Angostura on top and drag a pick through for a feather pattern.

• 90ml Prosecco (chilled)
• 60ml Aperol
• 30ml Soda water
• Orange slice · Ice cubes

Fill a large wine glass with ice. Pour Prosecco first, then Aperol, then soda. Stir once. Garnish with orange slice. The 3-2-1 ratio is the Venetian standard.

• 60ml Gosling's Black Seal Dark Rum
• 120ml Ginger beer
• Juice of ½ lime · Lime wedge

Fill a highball with ice. Squeeze lime, drop in wedge. Pour ginger beer then float dark rum over the back of a spoon. Do not stir — the storm is the rum cloud floating on the ginger sea.

• 45ml Citrus Vodka
• 15ml Triple Sec or Cointreau
• 30ml Cranberry juice
• 15ml Fresh lime juice · Flamed orange peel

Shake all with ice 12 seconds. Fine strain into a chilled martini glass. Flame an orange peel over the surface for caramelised citrus oils.

• 45ml Aged Jamaican Rum
• 15ml Dark Rum (float)
• 15ml Orange Curaçao
• 15ml Orgeat syrup
• 30ml Fresh lime juice · Mint sprig

Shake aged rum, Curaçao, orgeat, and lime with crushed ice. Pour unstrained into a double rocks glass. Float dark rum over a spoon. Garnish with mint, spent lime shell, and an umbrella.

• 45ml Blackstrap Rum
• 22.5ml Campari
• 45ml Fresh pineapple juice
• 15ml Fresh lime juice · 15ml Simple syrup

Shake all with ice 12 seconds. Strain over crushed ice in a double rocks glass or tiki mug. Garnish with pineapple wedge. The Campari makes this the most food-friendly tiki drink ever created.

• 60ml Dark Rum (Pusser's preferred)
• 120ml Pineapple juice · 30ml Orange juice
• 30ml Cream of Coconut · Freshly grated nutmeg

Shake vigorously with ice. Pour over crushed ice in a highball. Grate fresh nutmeg generously over the top. The Soggy Dollar Bar is only accessible by boat — patrons swim ashore with wet cash.

• 60ml White Rum · 90ml Pineapple juice
• 45ml Cream of Coconut · 1 cup crushed ice
• Pineapple wedge & cherry

Blend all with crushed ice until smooth. Pour into a chilled hurricane glass. For a swirled split, blend half with strawberry purée and pour both sides simultaneously.

• 45ml Bourbon or Rye
• 30ml Campari · 30ml Sweet Vermouth
• Orange or cherry garnish

Stir all with ice 30 seconds. Strain into a chilled coupe or over a large ice cube. A Negroni with whiskey standing in for gin — some say it's the better drink.

• 22.5ml Bourbon · 22.5ml Aperol
• 22.5ml Campari · 22.5ml Fresh lemon juice

Equal parts everything. Shake with ice. Strain into a chilled coupe. No garnish. The simplest great cocktail to remember — became the bartender's handshake of the 2010s.

• 60ml Bourbon
• 22.5ml Fresh lemon juice
• 22.5ml Honey syrup (3:1 honey to water)

Shake with ice. Double strain into a rocks glass over a large ice cube. No garnish. The honey syrup makes everything better — use raw wildflower honey for the most floral result.

• 60ml Blended Scotch (Famous Grouse)
• 22.5ml Fresh lemon juice
• 22.5ml Honey-ginger syrup*
• 7.5ml Islay Single Malt (Laphroaig) — float
• *Simmer 3:1 honey:water with ginger slices

Shake Scotch, lemon, and honey-ginger syrup with ice. Strain over a large ice cube. Float the Islay Scotch over a spoon. Garnish with candied ginger. The smoke hits first, the sweetness follows.

• 22.5ml Rye · 22.5ml Cognac · 22.5ml Sweet Vermouth
• 1 tsp Bénédictine D.O.M.
• 2 dashes Peychaud's · 2 dashes Angostura

Stir all with ice 30 seconds. Strain over a large ice cube or serve straight up. Lemon peel garnish. Six ingredients, zero shortcuts — named for the French Quarter.

• 60ml White Rum · 30ml Fresh lime juice
• 2 tsp White sugar · 8 Fresh mint leaves
• Soda water to top · Mint sprig

Gently press mint with sugar in a highball. Add lime and rum. Fill with crushed ice and churn. Top with soda water. Spank the mint against your palm before adding — it releases the oils.

• 22.5ml London Dry Gin
• 22.5ml Green Chartreuse
• 22.5ml Maraschino liqueur
• 22.5ml Fresh lime juice

Shake equal parts of everything with ice. Fine strain into a chilled coupe. No garnish. Forgotten for decades until Murray Stenson resurrected it in Seattle in 2004, igniting the equal-parts cocktail era.

• 60ml London Dry Gin
• 22.5ml Fresh lemon juice
• 22.5ml Honey syrup (3:1 honey to water)
• Lemon twist to garnish

Shake all with ice. Fine strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with a lemon twist. In Prohibition, honey masked bathtub gin. Now it makes excellent gin taste extraordinary.

• 60ml London Dry Gin
• 15ml Maraschino liqueur (Luxardo)
• 7.5ml Crème de Violette
• 30ml Fresh lemon juice · Brandied cherry

Shake all with ice. Fine strain into a chilled coupe. The violet liqueur gives it a pale purple-blue sky hue. Crème de violette was omitted for 80 years — its reintroduction restored the drink to its intended beauty.

• 30ml London Dry Gin · 15ml Fresh lemon juice
• 7.5ml Simple syrup · 75ml Champagne (chilled)
• Lemon twist

Shake gin, lemon, and syrup with ice. Strain into a flute. Top with Champagne. Named for the French 75mm field gun whose kick this cocktail mimics.

• 60ml London Dry Gin · 15ml Fresh lemon juice
• 15ml Raspberry syrup · 1 Egg white
• 3 fresh raspberries to garnish

Dry shake (no ice) 15 seconds. Add ice, shake 12 seconds. Double strain into a chilled coupe. The egg white foam turns a vivid shade of dusty rose.

• 60ml Blanco Tequila · 30ml Fresh grapefruit juice
• 15ml Lime juice · 15ml Simple syrup
• Grapefruit soda to top · Salt rim

Salt the rim. Fill a highball with ice. Combine tequila, juices, and syrup. Top with grapefruit soda. Mexico's most-consumed cocktail — outselling the Margarita in Mexico itself.

• 60ml 100% Agave Blanco Tequila
• 30ml Fresh lime juice
• 15ml Agave nectar (diluted 1:1 with water)

Shake with ice. Strain over ice in a rocks glass. No salt, no triple sec — just three ingredients highlighting pure agave. Julio Bermejo built the 100% agave tequila movement in the USA with this recipe.

• 22.5ml Mezcal · 22.5ml Aperol
• 22.5ml Yellow Chartreuse · 22.5ml Fresh lemon juice

Shake equal parts with ice. Double strain into a chilled coupe. No garnish. A mezcal spin on the Paper Plane — smoke, bitterness, herbal sweetness, and citrus in perfect four-way balance.

• 50ml Vodka · 30ml Fresh espresso
• 20ml Kahlúa or Tia Maria · 5ml Simple syrup
• 3 coffee beans to garnish

Shake all very hard with ice 15 seconds — you need the foam. Double strain into a chilled coupe. The 3 coffee beans represent health, wealth, and happiness.

• 60ml White Rum · 30ml Fresh grapefruit juice
• 15ml Maraschino liqueur · 15ml Fresh lime juice
• (No sugar — Hemingway was diabetic)

Shake hard with lots of ice. Double strain into a frozen coupe. Add 5ml simple syrup if you're less committed to suffering than Hemingway was. He reportedly drank 12 per session at El Floridita.

• 60ml Rye Whiskey (Sazerac or Rittenhouse)
• 1 sugar cube · 3 dashes Peychaud's bitters
• Absinthe rinse · Lemon peel (expressed, discarded)

Rinse a chilled rocks glass with absinthe, discard excess. Muddle sugar with bitters. Add rye and ice, stir 30 seconds. Strain into the rinsed glass (no ice). Express lemon peel, discard. America's oldest cocktail.

• 60ml Bourbon (100-proof ideal)
• 2 tsp Simple syrup · 8–10 Fresh mint leaves
• Crushed ice · Powdered sugar & mint sprig

Press mint with syrup in a julep cup. Fill with crushed ice, pour bourbon over, churn with a spoon. Mound more crushed ice, dust with powdered sugar, press a big mint bouquet against the rim. 120,000 served at the Kentucky Derby each year.

• 60ml Blended Scotch Whisky
• 30ml Sweet Vermouth · 2 dashes Angostura bitters
• Maraschino cherry or lemon twist

Stir all with ice 30 seconds. Strain into a chilled coupe. A Manhattan made with Scotch — created for the 1894 premiere of the operetta Rob Roy at Herald Square Theatre.

• 45ml Irish Whiskey (Jameson or Tullamore D.E.W.)
• 150ml Hot black coffee · 1 tsp Brown sugar
• 45ml Fresh double cream (lightly whipped)

Warm a glass with hot water, discard. Add whiskey and sugar, pour in hot coffee and stir. Float cream over the back of a spoon. Do not stir — drink the hot coffee through the cold cream. Created to warm storm-turned-back transatlantic passengers.

• 60ml Vodka · 15ml Fresh lime juice
• 120ml Ginger beer · Lime wheel · Copper mug

Fill a copper mug with ice. Squeeze and drop in lime. Add vodka then ginger beer. Stir once. The copper mug keeps it ice-cold and imparts a subtle tang. Invented to sell Smirnoff and Cock 'n' Bull ginger beer simultaneously.

• 50ml Vodka · 20ml Kahlúa
• 30ml Heavy cream or whole milk · Ice

Build in a rocks glass over ice. Add vodka, then Kahlúa. Float cream over a spoon. The Dude abides. For a Black Russian, skip the cream.

• 50ml Vanilla Vodka · 30ml Passoa
• 30ml Fresh passion fruit juice · 15ml Fresh lime juice
• ½ passion fruit garnish · Side shot of chilled Prosecco

Shake all with ice. Double strain into a chilled coupe. Balance half a passion fruit face-up. Serve with a separate shot of chilled Prosecco. UK's most ordered cocktail five years running.

• 45ml Vodka · 22.5ml Peach Schnapps
• 60ml Orange juice · 60ml Cranberry juice
• Orange slice & cherry

Build in a highball over ice: vodka, schnapps, OJ, then cranberry. Stir gently for an orange-to-red gradient. Born during a DeKuyper peach schnapps contest — the name won the prize.

• 60ml London Dry Gin · 30ml Fresh lemon juice
• 15ml Simple syrup · Soda water to top
• Orange slice & cherry

Shake gin, lemon, and syrup with ice. Strain into a tall Collins glass over ice. Top with soda, stir gently. Use Old Tom gin instead of London Dry for the softer, sweeter original.

• 30ml Gin · 15ml Cherry Heering · 7.5ml Cointreau
• 7.5ml Bénédictine · 60ml Pineapple juice
• 15ml Lime juice · 10ml Grenadine · Dash Angostura

Shake all with ice. Strain into a hurricane glass over ice. Garnish with pineapple and cherry. Designed so women could drink publicly without appearing to imbibe alcohol — it looks like fruit juice.

• 45ml Aged Jamaican Rum · 45ml Puerto Rican Rum
• 30ml 151-proof Demerara Rum (float)
• 15ml Lime · 15ml Grapefruit · 15ml Passion fruit syrup
• 5ml Grenadine · Absinthe rinse

Absinthe rinse the glass. Shake all except 151 with crushed ice. Pour in. Float the 151. Donn Beach limited customers to 2 per visit. He kept the recipe in code — decoded after his death.

• 45ml White Rum · 22.5ml Blue Curaçao
• 90ml Pineapple juice · 30ml Cream of Coconut
• Pineapple wedge & cherry

Blend all with crushed ice until smooth. Pour into a hurricane glass. Garnish lavishly. Harry Yee later banned swizzle sticks (guests left them on the floor) and replaced them with fresh orchids.

• 60ml Blanco Tequila · 120ml Fresh orange juice
• 15ml Grenadine · Orange slice & cherry

Pour tequila and OJ over ice, stir. Slowly pour grenadine down the side — let it sink. Do not stir. The gradient from red to orange to yellow is the sunrise. The Eagles drank so many on tour in 1972 crew called it "The Tour Drink."

• 30ml Mezcal (Del Maguey Vida)
• 30ml Campari · 30ml Sweet Vermouth
• Orange peel garnish

Stir with ice 30 seconds. Strain over a large ice cube. Express orange peel. The mezcal's smoke transforms the Negroni into something primal — one of the most copied craft cocktail variations of the 21st century.

• 45ml Reposado Tequila · 15ml Mezcal
• 1 bar spoon Agave syrup · 2 dashes Angostura
• Flamed orange peel

Stir all with ice 30 seconds. Strain over a large ice cube. Flame an orange peel over the surface. The small mezcal addition lifts the tequila's earthiness with smoke.

• 330ml Light Mexican lager (Modelo or Corona)
• 30ml Fresh lime juice · 5 dashes hot sauce
• 5 dashes Worcestershire · Tajín & salt rim

Rim a tall glass with Tajín & salt. Add ice, lime, hot sauce, Worcestershire. Pour beer gently. Mexico's answer to the Bloody Mary — widely called the world's greatest hangover cure.

• 150ml Guinness Draught Stout
• 150ml Chilled Brut Champagne or Prosecco

Pour chilled Champagne into a flute first. Slowly pour Guinness over a bar spoon to float it on top. Do not stir. Created to mourn Prince Albert's death — even the Champagne, they said, should wear black.

• 200ml Pale Ale, Lager, or Hefeweizen
• 200ml Fresh-squeezed lemonade (or grapefruit juice)
• Lemon slice

Chill both. Pour simultaneously into a pint glass to preserve carbonation. Franz Kugler stretched his beer supply for 13,000 arriving cyclists in 1922 — sold 13,000 litres in one day.

• 60ml Dark or Gold Rum (Havana Club 7)
• Cola (Mexican Coke preferred) · Juice of ½ lime
• Lime wedge

Fill a highball with ice. Squeeze lime, drop in wedge. Add rum, top with cola. It's not just rum and Coke — the lime makes it a Cuba Libre ("Free Cuba"), a toast after the Spanish-American War.

• 60ml Blanco Tequila · 30ml Fresh lime juice
• 22.5ml Cointreau · 3–4 jalapeño slices
• Tajín rim · Lime wheel

Muddle jalapeño in a shaker. Add tequila, lime, Cointreau, and ice. Shake hard 12 seconds. Double strain. Serve in a Tajín-rimmed rocks glass. For a mezcal version, swap tequila — smoke and heat together is one of the great modern flavour combinations.

• 15ml Kahlúa (bottom)
• 15ml Baileys Irish Cream (middle)
• 15ml Grand Marnier (top)

Pour Kahlúa. Float Baileys over a spoon. Float Grand Marnier over the Baileys. Three visible layers. To flame: ignite top, let burn 5 seconds, snuff, drink through a straw in one motion.

• 30ml Vodka · 15ml Triple Sec · 15ml Fresh lime juice

Shake all with ice. Strain into a shot glass. A mini Cosmopolitan without cranberry. Razor-sharp. Batch for parties: multiply by 20, shake in a pitcher, store frozen, pour as needed.

• 30ml Citrus Vodka · 15ml Triple Sec
• 15ml Fresh lemon juice · Sugar rim · Lemon wedge

Sugar the rim. Shake all with ice. Strain in. Serve with a lemon wedge. Ritual: bite the lemon, drink through the sugar rim in one motion. Norman Hobday ran America's first "fern bar" — it changed how bars were designed.

• 22.5ml London Dry Gin · 22.5ml Cointreau
• 22.5ml Lillet Blanc · 22.5ml Fresh lemon juice
• 1 dash Absinthe (rinse or dash)

Rinse a chilled coupe with absinthe, discard. Shake remaining with ice. Strain in. Craddock warns: "Four of these taken in swift succession will unrevive the corpse again."

• 45ml Amaretto · 22.5ml Cask-strength Bourbon
• 30ml Fresh lemon juice · 15ml Simple syrup · 1 Egg white
• Cherry & orange peel

Dry shake 15 seconds. Add ice, shake hard 12 seconds. Double strain over ice. The high-proof bourbon cuts Amaretto's cloying sweetness — the drink's fatal flaw for decades that this recipe finally solved.

• 50ml London Dry Gin · 25ml Fresh lemon juice
• 12.5ml Simple syrup · 15ml Crème de Mûre (float)
• Fresh blackberries & lemon slice

Shake gin, lemon, and syrup with ice. Strain into a rocks glass mounded with crushed ice. Drizzle crème de mûre over the top — let it bleed down like purple dye. Dick Bradsell remembered picking blackberries as a child on the Isle of Wight. One memory, one perfect drink.

• 1 large scoop Lemon sorbet · 30ml Vodka
• 90ml Prosecco (well chilled) · Mint sprig

Whisk lemon sorbet and vodka until smooth. Pour into a chilled flute or coupe. Top with cold Prosecco. The sorbet melts slowly creating a slushy foam. Served mid-feast in Venice as a palate cleanser — the drink equivalent of hitting reset.