So you want to drink like Don Draper…without dropping 15 bucks a pop at some speakeasy-style spot that just opened downtown?
Yeah, we get it, which is why we put together this collection of 20 essential recipes from the recently released cocktail compendium, World’s Best Cocktails: 500 Signature Drinks from the World’s Best Bars and Bartenders.
Work your way through our list, and you’ll learn how to make a Bloody Mary that will automatically elevate breakfast to brunch. You’ll be able to mix up a Painkiller that any bikini-clad lady will love. You’ll even start winding down with a simple, but perfect, gin martini at the end of the week, because…well, why not?
Remember, it’s 5 o’clock somewhere—so click through to get started.
This one is taken from Harry Johnson’s New & Improved Bartender’s Manual, 1882. Harry even advises on the addition of absinthe: “It is for the customer to decide, whether to use absinthe or not. This is a very popular drink at the present day. It is the bartender’s duty to ask the customer whether he desires his drink dry or sweet.”
The Glass: Martini or Coupe
The Ingredients:
- 1½ fl oz whiskey
- 1½ fl oz vermouth
- 1–2 dashes sugar syrup*
- 1–2 dashes orange bitters
- squeeze of lemon peel
The Instructions: “Stir up well; strain into a fancy cocktail glass; squeeze a piece of lemon peel on top, and serve.”
*To make sugar syrup, bring 1 cup sugar and 17 fl oz water to a boil in a pan, stirring constantly, then simmer for around 5 minutes until the sugar is dissolved. Let cool completely, then store for up to a month in the refrigerator in a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid.
Replacing the gin in an Alexander with the smoother, darker brandy sets this up as a decent dessert drink. Popularized during Prohibition, it features in WJ Tarling’s 1937 Café Royal Cocktail Book with one part brandy to half crème de cacao and cream, but it is more commonly served as below.
The Glass: Martini or Coupe
The Ingredients:
- 1 fl oz cognac
- 1 fl oz brown crème de cacao
- 1 fl oz heavy cream
- ice cubes
- freshly grated nutmeg
The Instructions: Shake all the ingredients with ice and strain into a glass. Garnish with a sprinkling of freshly grated nutmeg and serve.
The Glass: Sour or Rocks
The Ingredients:
- 2 fl oz high-proof bourbon whiskey
- 1 fl oz lemon juice
- 3 tsp sugar syrup
- 3 tsp egg white
- cracked ice
- lemon zest twist
The Instructions: Shake all the ingredients well with cracked ice, strain into a glass, and garnish with a lemon zest twist.
London stakes a claim to this drink from the early 1800s, when it was allegedly served at the coffeehouse bar at the Limmer’s Hotel.
The Glass: Highball
The Ingredients:
- 2 fl oz gin
- 1 fl oz lemon juice
- 4 tsp sugar syrup
- sparkling water to top
- ice cubes
- slice of lemon
The Instructions: Shake the ingredients with ice and strain into a highball over fresh ice. Top with sparkling water and garnish with a slice of lemon.
Steer clear of limes for garnish, unless you’ve got a penchant for the things. Or scurvy. Instead go with an olive or a lemon zest twist. If you’re going dry, then enhance the savory side with a few olives on a toothpick.
The Glass: Martini
The Ingredients:
- 2 fl oz gin
- 3 tsp dry vermouth
- ice cubes
- olive or lemon zest twist
The Instructions: Stir the ingredients in a mixing glass with ice and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with an olive or a lemon zest twist.
The Glass: Highball or beer mug
The Ingredients:
- 1¾ fl oz Beefeater London Dry gin
- 1 fl oz orange juice
- 1 fl oz lemon juice
- 2 fl oz tonic water
- ice cubes
- slice lemon
- slice orange
The Instructions: Pour all ingredients into a glass over ice and stir. Garnish with slices of lemon and orange.
The Glass: Highball
The Ingredients:
- salt and pepper to rim
- 1¾ fl oz/ vodka
- 2½ tsp lemon juice
- 7 fl oz tomato juice
- 4 dashes Tabasco
- 8 dashes Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp horseradish
- pinch celery salt
- ice cubes
- celery stalk
- slice of lemon
The Instructions: Rim the edge of a glass with salt and pepper. Place the remaining ingredients in a shaker, tumble gently, and pour into a glass over ice. Garnish with a stalk of celery and slice of lemon.
The ubiquitous modern serve of the mojito uses crushed ice and is churned.
The Glass: Highball
The Ingredients:
- fresh mint leaves
- 1 tsp sugar syrup
- 2fl oz white rum
- 4 tsp lime juice c
- rushed ice
- soda water to top
- sprig of mint
The Instructions: Muddle the mint leaves and sugar syrup in a glass, add the rum and lime juice, and fill with crushed ice. Stir and top with soda water. Top with more ice if necessary and garnish with a sprig of mint.
This drink has the rare “distinction” of a trademark, as odd as that might sound. Gosling's claim is that it was first made when sailors added their brand’s Black Seal rum to a mug of ginger beer.
The Glass: Highball
The Ingredients:
- 2 fl oz Gosling’s Black Seal rum
- ice cubes
- ginger beer to top
- lemon wedge
The Instructions: Fill a glass with ice, add the rum, and top with ginger beer. Garnish with a lemon wedge.
The Glass: Collins or tiki mug
The Ingredients:
- 2 fl oz dark rum (Pusser’s is used on the island)
- 2 fl oz pineapple juice
- 1 fl oz orange juice
- 1 fl oz coconut cream
- ice cubes
- orange slice
- cherry
The Instructions: Shake all the ingredients with ice and strain into a glass over lots of fresh ice. Garnish with an orange slice and a cherry.
This recipe is taken from Harry Craddock’s 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book, where it caters for six people and bears the line: “So called because it will either cure Rattlesnake bite, or kill Rattlesnakes, or make you see them.”
The Glass: Martini or coupe
The Ingredients:
- 2 fl oz rye whiskey
- dash absinthe
- 4 tsp lemon juice
- 3 tsp egg white
- 2 tsp sugar syrup
- ice cubes
The Instructions: Shake all the ingredients briskly with ice and fine strain into a glass and serve.
The Glass: Julep or highball
The Ingredients:
- 1 sprig of mint
- 2 fl oz bourbon whiskey
- 3 tsp sugar syrup
- ice cubes
- crushed ice
- 2 sprigs of mint
The Instructions: Muddle the sprig of mint in a mixing glass with the bourbon and sugar syrup. Add ice and shake. Strain into a glass or cup over crushed ice, stir, and top with more crushed ice. Garnish with 2 sprigs of mint.
Sazerac is the king of all the cocktails. It might be one to aspire to but it’s great to aim high.
The Glass: Rocks
The Ingredients:
- absinthe to coat
- 2 fl oz rye whiskey
- ½ tsp sugar syrup
- 2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
- ice cubes
- lemon zest twist
The Instructions: Coat the inside of a glass with a little absinthe and then discard it. Build the rest of the ingredients in a mixing glass, slowly stirring over ice, and strain into a rocks glass. Squeeze the oil from the lemon zest twist over the surface of the drink and either drop in the zest or discard it.
The Glass: Highball or rocks
The Ingredients:
- 1 tsp sugar syrup
- 2 dashes Angostura bitters
- 2½ fl oz bourbon whiskey
- orange zest to spritz
- ice cubes
- orange zest
The Instructions: Place the sugar syrup and bitters in a glass, add one ice cube, and stir. Add some of the bourbon and another ice cube and continue stirring. Keep adding ice and bourbon alternately, while stirring, until all the bourbon has been added. Stir again, then squeeze the oil from the orange zest twist over the drink, drop in the zest, and continue stirring. The whole process should normally take a few minutes, but if the ice is wet make sure you taste as you go to avoid over dilution.
The Glass: Toddy
The Ingredients:
- 1 fl oz Irish whiskey
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- 5 fl oz hot filter coffee
- 1¾ fl oz whipped cream
- 3 coffee beans
The Instructions: Pour the whiskey, sugar, and coffee in order into the glass. Stir, top with the whipped cream, and garnish with the coffee beans.
There’s no disputing that the margarita is the most popular tequila-based cocktail in town.
The Glass: Martini
The Ingredients:
- salt to rim glass
- 1¾ fl oz tequila
- 1 fl oz Cointreau
- 1 fl oz lime juice
- ice cubes
- lime wedge
The Instructions: Rim a glass with salt, shake all the remaining ingredients hard with ice, and strain into the glass. Garnish with a lime wedge.
If you wish to remain faithful to the original specs, go with 1fl oz cognac, for a suitably authentic version.
The Glass: Martini or coupe
The Ingredients:
- sugar to rim
- 2 fl oz cognac
- 1 fl oz Cointreau
- 1 fl oz lemon juice
- ice cubes
The Instructions: Shake all the ingredients with ice and strain into a glass.
Just as the origins of the spirit itself divide opinion, this cocktail divides Peru and Chile and both claim ownership. The Peruvians argue its inventor was American Victor Morris at his eponymous bar in Lima in 1920, while Chileans claim its invention goes back to 1884 and an English sailor called Elliot Stubb, who replaced whiskey with pisco in his sour.
The Glass: Sour, wine glass, or rocks
The Ingredients:
- 2 fl oz pisco
- dash Angostura bitters
- 1 fl oz lemon juice
- 4½ tsp sugar syrup
- 1 egg white
- ice cubes
The Instructions: Shake all the ingredients hard with ice and strain into a glass over fresh ice.
This has enjoyed many incarnations over the years but the original recipe was a very basic mix. This one comes from Jerry Tomas’ 1887 Bartenders Guide, in which he uses the anisette liqueur instead of sugar to sweeten the drink.
The Glass: Absinthe
The Ingredients:
- 1fl oz absinthe
- 2 dashes anisette
- dash Angostura bitters
- 2 fl oz water
- ice cubes
The Instructions: Shake all the ingredients with ice and strain into a glass.
They say that some people need 20 attempts at this drink before they really appreciate it, but there’s more balance here than in some of the aperitifs, and if at first you don’t succeed—it’s definitely worth working on.
The Glass: Rocks
The Ingredients:
- 1fl oz gin
- 1fl oz Campari
- 1fl oz sweet vermouth
- ice cubes
- orange slice
The Instructions: Stir all the ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice. Garnish with an orange slice and serve.