Recipes
Explore our recipes by base spirit, difficulty level or occasion.
The six tonic highballs →Twists: variations on the classics →
78 recipes
Boulevardier
Bourbon, Campari and sweet vermouth, stirred and finished with orange peel. It is the Negroni with whiskey instead of gin, and the change goes beyond the name: it comes out rounder, sweeter and longer on the palate, more an after-dinner drink than an aperitivo.
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Amaretto Sour
Amaretto, lemon and egg white, with a measure of bourbon holding it up. For decades it was the sweet, bottled-mix drink nobody ordered seriously; since the Portland bartender Jeffrey Morgenthaler added whiskey to it in 2012, it has been among the best-selling classics in the world’s top bars.
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Americano
Campari and sweet vermouth in equal parts, lengthened with soda over plenty of ice. It was born in Gaspare Campari’s bar in Milan in the nineteenth century as the Milano-Torino, after where its two ingredients came from; the name Americano comes, by the most common account, from how often American tourists ordered it.
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Aperol Spritz
Prosecco, Aperol and a splash of soda over plenty of ice, in a wine glass. It is the aperitivo of the Veneto: bitter orange, low alcohol and bubbles, made to open the appetite rather than close the night.
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Arnold Palmer
Iced black tea and lemonade in equal parts. Nothing else. It carries the name of the golfer who ordered it that way, and nothing without alcohol refreshes better.
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Aviation
A lavender-colored cocktail that evokes the skies of the pioneering aviation era. Floral, citrusy, and with a mysterious cherry undertone from the maraschino liqueur.
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Bee’s Knees
Gin, lemon and honey. The honey does not go in neat — it sinks and never integrates — but as a syrup, and that is the whole technique.
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Caesar
Vodka and clam-and-tomato juice — Clamato — with Worcestershire, hot sauce and a celery salt rim. Walter Chell created it in 1969 for the new Italian restaurant at the Calgary Inn, and today it is considered Canada’s national cocktail. That is the difference from a Bloody Mary: the clam, which gives it a briny depth that tomato alone does not have.
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Bloody Mary
The king of savory cocktails. Umami, spicy, and comforting. It's not just a drink; it's a gastronomic experience in a glass.
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Caipirinha
Cachaça, lime and sugar, muddled in the glass and topped with crushed ice. It takes cachaça rather than rum because cachaça is something else: it is distilled from fresh-pressed cane juice, while almost all rum is made from molasses, and that is where its fresh, grassy edge comes from.
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Carajillo
The quintessential Mexican coffee cocktail. Sweet, aromatic, and with the perfect balance between the bitterness of espresso and the citrusy vanilla of Licor 43. Much smoother than an Espresso Martini.
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Charro Negro
Tequila with cola and plenty of lime. In Mexico people order it without thinking; elsewhere it is barely known, which is one of the few injustices with an easy fix.
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Clover Club
A "pretty in pink" cocktail from the pre-Prohibition era. Creamy, fruity, and with a silky foam that makes it visually stunning. A Philadelphia classic.
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Corpse Reviver No. 2
The "resurrecter of the dead." A pre-Prohibition cocktail of equal parts, balanced and surprisingly light. The absinthe rinse is its signature.
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Cosmopolitan
Forever branded by the nineties, but made properly it is a serious drink: dry, citrusy, and a colour that needs no introduction.
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Cuba Libre
Rum, cola and lime. It sounds like there is nothing to it, which is why it is served badly everywhere: without enough lime it is another drink, and a worse one.
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Daiquiri
Three ingredients and nowhere to hide: rum, lime and sugar in exact balance. The cocktail bartenders use to measure their own technique.
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Dark 'n' Stormy
The perfect storm in a glass. The contrast between sweet dark rum and spicy ginger beer creates a visual and gustatory spectacle. Born in the Bermuda Islands.
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Division Bell
Mezcal, Aperol, maraschino and lime. Phil Ward built it in 2009 on the bones of the Last Word, and in passing talked half of New York into ordering mezcal.
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Dry Martini
Dry, powerful, and crystal clear. It's the most iconic cocktail in history, enveloped in an aura of sophistication and a deeply botanical flavor.
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El Diablo
Reposado tequila, blackcurrant, lime and hot ginger. It reads oddly on paper and works first time: the cassis darkens the drink and the ginger lifts it.
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Espresso Martini
Sophisticated, creamy, and stimulating. The perfect union between the world of nighttime cocktails and specialty coffee.
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Espresso Tonic
A shot of espresso poured over tonic and ice. It came out of Nordic coffee shops and has taken over menus everywhere, deservedly: bitter, citrusy and wide awake.
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French 75
Elegant, bubbly, and with surprising "firepower." Like the French 75mm cannon that gave it its name, this cocktail makes a subtle impact.
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Gimlet
The essence of mixology reduced to its bare minimum. Citrusy, dry, and brilliantly refreshing. Developed in the British Royal Navy to combat scurvy.
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Gin & Tonic
The easiest drink to make and the easiest to ruin. The difference between a correct one and a memorable one comes down to ice, temperature and how you pour the tonic.
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Gold Rush
A Whiskey Sour with the sugar and the egg white taken out and honey put in. It was born in New York in 2001 and has earned its place: with three ingredients it tastes fuller than the original does with five.
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Hanky Panky
A Negroni transformed by the bitter, medicinal touch of Fernet Branca. Created by Ada Coleman at the American Bar in London in 1925, it is sophisticated, complex, and surprisingly balanced.
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Hot Toddy
The grandmother’s remedy that turns out to be a decent cocktail. Hot, sweet and sour at once, with just enough whisky to show without burning.
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Hugo Spritz
The alternative to the Aperol Spritz for anyone who does not get on with bitterness. Floral instead of bitter, and with mint and lime in it that make it considerably more refreshing than the original.
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Irish Coffee
A warm embrace in a cup. Strong coffee, smooth whiskey, and slowly melting, floating cream. Invented at Foynes Airport, Ireland, in 1942.
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Long Island Iced Tea
The most famous cocktail for its potency. Despite its name, it contains no tea; its brown color comes from the cola. It balances five spirits in a surprisingly drinkable beverage.
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Mai Tai
Rum, lime, orange curaçao and orgeat, shaken and served over crushed ice. Trader Vic created it in Oakland in 1944, and the name comes from what a Tahitian friend of his exclaimed on tasting it: “maita’i roa ae”, roughly “the very best”. The pineapple-and-grenadine version served in so many hotels is something else.
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Manhattan
Older than the Martini and, for many, better. Rye whiskey and sweet vermouth in a ratio that forgives nothing: an after-dinner drink, meant to be sipped slowly.
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Margarita
Tequila, orange liqueur and lime, shaken and served with a salted rim. It is the most famous Mexican cocktail in the world and also the most mistreated: nearly everything that ruins it comes from using a bottled mix instead of freshly squeezed lime.
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Maximilian Affair
Mezcal, St-Germain, Punt e Mes and lemon. Misty Kalkofen named it after the emperor France installed in Mexico, and the drink tells that story without saying a word.
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Mezcal Mule
Smoky mezcal against spicy ginger beer. A bolder take on the classic Moscow Mule, and the perfect gateway into mezcal.
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Mezcal Negroni
The usual Negroni with mezcal instead of gin. The bitterness of the Campari and the smoke of the agave pull in the same direction, and the drink gains body.
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Michelada
Light beer with lime, Worcestershire, Maggi seasoning, hot sauce and a chilli-salt rim, over ice. It is Mexico’s definitive cerveza preparada, and it has no single recipe: it changes from region to region, and even the name means different things depending on where you order it.
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Mint Julep
Bourbon, mint and a mountain of crushed ice in a metal cup that frosts over. More ritual than recipe, and that is rather the point.
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Classic Mojito
White rum, mint, lime, sugar and soda, with plenty of ice. It is the drink of Havana, and its simplicity is deceptive: five easy ingredients, but the order you build them in and how you treat the mint decide whether it comes out fresh or bitter.
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Moscow Mule
Vodka, ginger beer and lime, over ice in its copper mug. It is mostly ginger beer, so the ginger runs the drink: the vodka brings the alcohol without getting in the way of the flavour, and the lime wakes it up.
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Naked and Famous
Mezcal, yellow Chartreuse, Aperol and lime in equal parts. Smoky, bitter and citrusy all at once, and it works first time because there is no ratio to get right.
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Negroni
Gin, Campari and sweet vermouth in equal parts, stirred over ice with an orange peel. Bitter up front, sweet underneath, with the gin holding it all together: one of the few classics you can remember without a recipe, because it does not need one.
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Negroni Sbagliato
Campari and sweet vermouth in equal parts, with prosecco where the gin would go. “Sbagliato” means “mistaken”: as Bar Basso in Milan tells it, in the 1970s bartender Mirko Stocchetto reached for the sparkling wine instead of the gin, and the mistake stayed on the menu.
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New York Sour
The same old Whiskey Sour with a layer of red wine floating on top. It looks like a party trick and it is not: the wine brings tannin and fruit the original lacks, and every sip tastes different depending on how far the two have mixed.
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Nojito (alcohol-free mojito)
Everything that makes a mojito good — the mint, the lime, the cold — without the rum. Most mocktails end up tasting like lemonade; this one does not.
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Oaxaca Old Fashioned
A modern classic born in New York in 2007: the structure of an Old Fashioned, but built on agave instead of whiskey. Complex, dry, with a smoky finish that lingers.
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Old Fashioned
Whiskey, sugar, Angostura bitters and an orange twist. It is, almost word for word, the formula the word “cocktail” was first defined by in the early nineteenth century — spirit, sugar, water and bitters — which is why it allows no shortcuts: with so few things in it, every one of them shows.
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Paloma
The drink Mexicans actually order, far more than the Margarita. Tequila, grapefruit and salt: refreshing, light and hard to stop at one.
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Paper Plane
Four ingredients in the same measure and none of them wins. Sam Ross created it in 2008 by applying the Last Word logic to whiskey, and it has become one of the few modern classics everyone recognises.
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Penicillin
A modern "cold toddy" created in 2005. Comforting, medicinal and with a surprising smoky finish. The honey and ginger syrup is its soul.
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Pisco Sour
Pisco, lime, sugar syrup and egg white, with a few drops of Angostura on the foam. It was born in Lima in the 1920s, at the bar of the American Victor Morris, and it is Peru’s flagship cocktail, with a national day of its own: the first Saturday of February.
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Piña Colada
Rum, pineapple and cream of coconut blended until they turn into something close to drinkable ice cream. It dates from 1954, it is the national drink of Puerto Rico, and nearly everything that goes wrong with it comes from mistaking cream of coconut for coconut milk.
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Virgin Piña Colada
Pineapple, cream of coconut and ice blended until creamy. The most-ordered mocktail there is, and with real pineapple nobody notices what is missing.
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Hibiscus and ginger punch
Ruby colour, natural acidity and a kick of ginger on the finish. It is made by the jug, so it covers a whole party without anyone being stuck behind the bar.
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Pornstar Martini
Vanilla vodka, passion fruit liqueur and pulp, lime and a touch of vanilla, with half a passion fruit floating on top and a shot of sparkling wine alongside. Douglas Ankrah created it in 2002 at the Townhouse in London under another name, the Maverick Martini, and it is still among the most ordered classics in the world’s best bars.
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Ranch Water
Tequila, lime and sparkling water, in the bottle or in a highball. Nowhere to hide: with three ingredients, whatever tequila you use shows up in full.
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Rob Roy
Born in New York in 1894 and named after a Scottish outlaw. Swapping rye for Scotch sounds minor and turns the whole drink around.
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Rum & Tonic
The highball almost nobody orders, and which turns out surprisingly well. The sweetness of the cane and the bitterness of the quinine balance each other on their own, with nothing added to fix it.
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Sazerac
The official cocktail of New Orleans. Built in one glass and served in another, with the absinthe only passing through: you smell it, not drink it.
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Shirley Temple
Ginger ale with grenadine and a cherry at the bottom. Invented in the thirties so that a child had something to order, and still the reference mocktail.
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Sidecar
A refined and timeless sour. The balance between the warmth of the cognac, the sweetness of the orange liqueur, and the acidity of the lemon makes it a classic from the 1920s.
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Single Village Fix
A textbook fix: spirit, citrus, sugar and muddled fruit over crushed ice. With mezcal and pineapple it makes the easiest-drinking agave cocktail there is.
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Southside
A refined Mojito with gin instead of rum. Herbal, citrusy, and with the botanical character of gin. Some say it originated at the 21 Club in New York during Prohibition.
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Tequila & Tonic
Drier than a Paloma and more interesting than a Gin & Tonic. Agave and the bitterness of quinine understand each other surprisingly well.
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Tequila Sunrise
Tequila with orange juice and a thread of grenadine that sinks and stains the glass from the bottom up. Easy to drink, and it goes in through the eyes first.
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The Last Word
A cocktail of equal parts that defies logic. Herbal, citrusy, sweet, and complex. Rescued from oblivion in 2003, it is now a pillar of modern mixology.
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Tom Collins
A frothy and sophisticated lemonade. Refreshing, light, and with the botanical character of gin. A London classic that never goes out of style.
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Vampiro
Tequila with grapefruit and sangrita, rimmed with chilli salt. Dark red, salty and spicy: the Paloma with an edge, and one of the most Mexican drinks there is.
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Vermouth & Tonic
Vermouth hour, stretched out. It carries half the alcohol of a Gin & Tonic and considerably more flavour, which is why it works in the late afternoon when no other long drink does.
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Vesper
Ian Fleming wrote it into Casino Royale with exact measures, and those measures still work. The one martini you are allowed to shake.
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Virgin Mary
The Bloody Mary without vodka, seasoned as it should be. Salty, spicy and with body: the mocktail you sip slowly and drink alongside food.
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Vodka & Tonic
Two ingredients and nowhere to hide. It is the cleanest of the tonic highballs and also the one most people get wrong, because when it falls flat the vodka gets the blame — and it is almost never the vodka.
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Whisky & Tonic
The misunderstood cousin of the Gin & Tonic. Built properly it is long, dry and surprisingly refreshing; built badly it is a glass of tonic that tastes of wood.
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Whisky Highball
In Japan they treat it with the seriousness of a classic, and rightly so: built properly it is the most refreshing long drink there is with a dark spirit.
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Whiskey Sour
The sour family at its most recognisable: spirit, citrus and sugar, crowned by a silky foam that changes the texture entirely.
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White Russian
The drink The Big Lebowski rescued from obscurity. Served with the cream floating and unstirred: each sip passes through all three layers.
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