Twists: variations on the classics
View all recipesA twist is a classic with one piece swapped out. Not an invention from scratch, and not a whim: you replace one ingredient, you keep the structure, and the resulting drink explains itself to anyone who knows the original. A Boulevardier is a Negroni with bourbon instead of gin. A Penicillin is a Whiskey Sour with honey, ginger and a float of smoky Scotch.
That is why a twist teaches more than an isolated recipe: change a single piece and you can taste exactly what that piece was doing. These are the classics in the recipe book that have variations, each one shown beside its own.
Bloody Mary twists
Dry Martini twists
Manhattan twists
Classic Mojito twists
Moscow Mule twists
Negroni twists
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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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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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.
View recipe →Old Fashioned twists
Piña Colada twists
The Last Word twists
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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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.
View recipe →Whiskey Sour twists
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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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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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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