Vodka cocktails
View all recipesVodka is the blank canvas of mixology. Its neutrality, which some mistake for lack of character, is exactly what makes it so useful: it brings the alcohol and the texture without arguing with anything you put beside it.
That is why it works so well with bold flavours. An Espresso Martini lives on the coffee; a Cosmopolitan on cranberry and lime. If your drink tastes flat, the vodka is rarely the problem — check the acidity and how cold it is before you blame the bottle.
8 recipes
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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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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Espresso Martini
Sophisticated, creamy, and stimulating. The perfect union between the world of nighttime cocktails and specialty coffee.
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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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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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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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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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