Retta Cooked It!

There’s the cocktail and there’s the classic cocktail. They’re called classics for a reason – the quality of a well-balanced cocktail transcends time. Bartenders over time have riffed off these cocktails and created hundreds of variations. These ten classic cocktails have been swirling around in glasses for more than a century, some more than that and if you’re a home mixologist, you should get to know them better.

The Martini –  King of the Cocktail

At well over 100 years old, the martini is the most iconic cocktail in the world. This is in part thanks to James Bond and his vesper martini. Of course, we all know that the vesper was made up by Ian Flemming, author of Casino Royale but it sounded cool, right? Then, it became a thing and everybody wanted one. This isn’t the vesper. But it is a recipe for the perfect martini. Perfect meaning this martini includes equal parts sweet and dry vermouth. 

There have been so many variations and translations of the martini, we’ve lost count. That includes the endless array of “martinis” inspired by the world famous classic; you know, those fruity, creamy, and chocolaty ones. But, there is still the true martini and then there is the martini that best suits you.

Try this classic version then, play with it to find your own best true martini:

• 2 ounces gin
• 1/2 ounce dry vermouth
• 1/2 ounce sweet vermouth
• lemon twist (or olives), garnish

1. In a mixing glass filled with ice cubes, combine gin and both vermouths.
2. Stir for 30 seconds.
3. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
4. Garnish with olives or a lemon twist

Whiskey Sour 

The oldest historical reference to the whiskey sour was mentioned in the 1862 book The Bartender’s Guide: How to Mix Drinks by famed bartender, Jerry Thomas. Long before that though,  British sailors drank a similar concoction on the high seas to help prevent scurvy, and as a replacement for water which, in general, sucked.  It’s safe to say that the risk of scurvy today is slim to none but, this precursor to the sour cocktail, depended heavily on citrus. 

The foundational elements – spirit, sweet and sour – became the Whiskey Sour. Some people get a little weirded out by the addition of egg white which by the way, is not a part of the original recipe but, give it a chance.  The egg white while tasteless, adds a silky, luxurious mouthfeel to the drink.  Here’s the classic version of the Whiskey Sour.

• 2 oz bourbon whiskey
• 1 ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 3/4 oz simple syrup
• 1 egg white from a small to medium egg
• maraschino cherry
• ice

1. Place the bourbon, lemon juice, simple syrup, and egg white in a cocktail shaker. Do not add ice yet.
2. Shake vigorously for 10 seconds. (This is referred to as a “dry shake.” It’s good for incorporating the egg white before adding ice to the shaker.)
3. Add ice, seal again, and shake for 7 to 10 seconds more to chill.
4. Fit a Hawthorne strainer over the top of the shaker and pour the cocktail through a fine-mesh strainer into a coupe glass. This “double strain” catches any ice shards or pulp from the fresh-squeezed lemon juice.

The Negroni

Famed British bartender, Gary Regan’s book, *The Negroni: Drinking to La Dolce Vita, traces the Negroni back to Florence, Italy in 1919. According to the most  reliable source available, the cocktail was created for Count Camillo Negroni who had developed a taste for its predecessor while working—true story—as a rodeo clown in the American Wild West. The Negroni, obviously named after the Count, is actually a riff on the cocktail classic – the Americano – just a little stiffer. 

• 1 oz (1 part) Campari, 
• 1 oz (1 part) gin, 
• 1 oz (1 part) sweet red vermouth

Stir into glass over ice, garnish with orange peel and serve.

Margarita

Some say the cocktail was invented in 1948 in Acapulco, Mexico, when a Dallas socialite combined blanco tequila with Cointreau and lime juice for her guests. Others say that the Margarita, which translates to daisy flower in Spanish, was an inevitable twist on the Daisy, a cocktail template involving spirit, citrus, orange liqueur and soda. 

• 2 oz white tequila
• 1/2 oz orange liqueur
• 1 oz, freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1/2 oz agave syrup
• kosher salt (optional)
• lime wheel

1. Add tequila, orange liqueur, lime juice and agave syrup to a cocktail shaker filled with ice, and shake until well-chilled.
2. Strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice.
3. Garnish with a lime wheel and rim glass with kosher salt (optional).

Tom Collins

A drink known as a John Collins has existed since the 1860s and is believed to have originated with a head waiter said to have been the drink’s namesake. He worked at a popular London hotel and coffee house. He didn’t actually invent the drink. The actual inventor was Stephen Price, an American who ran the Garrick Club, also in London. Price was foul-mouthed and an all around awful person. Collins was all personality. Moral of the story: don’t be a schmuck.  The specific call for Old Tom gin in the 1869 recipe is the likely cause for the subsequent name change to “Tom Collins” in Jerry Thomas’s 1876 recipe. The rest is well…history.

• 2 oz Hayman’s Old Tom Gin or Ransom Old Tom Gin, or gin of your choice
• 1 oz fresh lime juice
• .¾  oz simple syrup
• soda water
• lime wedge

1. Add all the ingredients to a large, tall glass full of ice.
2. Stir and top off with chilled soda water.
3. Garnish with a lime wedge.

Whiskey Smash

It’s hard to think of a drink more refreshing than the Whiskey Smash, a fruity 19th-century cousin to the Mint Julep.  A smash is a julep, but a julep is not always a smash. The Whiskey Smash made its recipe-book debut in the 1887 edition of “The Bartenders Guide” by Jerry Thomas, though variations of this fruit-and-whiskey concoction were likely made for decades prior to this inclusion.

The smash is an open-ended cocktail, variable and seasonally flexible. There must be ice, though you can strain it out if you prefer. Try this Vodka Berry Smash. It isn’t whiskey but it is a smash! You can include your choice of fruit in season, simply add it as a garnish. 

• 3 lemon wedges
• 2 oz bourbon
• 3/4 oz simple syrup
• 4 mint leaves
• a mint sprig

1. Muddle the lemon wedges in a shaker.
2. Add bourbon, simple syrup, mint leaves and ice, and shake until well-chilled.
3. Double-strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice.
4. Garnish with a mint sprig.

Boulevardier

Loosely translated, a boulevardier is a man-about-town or in today’s vernacular, a dude that runs the streets. The creation of the Boulevardier, the drink, is credited to Erskine Gwynne, an American-born writer who founded a monthly magazine in Paris called Boulevardier, which was in publication from 1927 to 1932.  The drink included whiskey, sweet vermouth and Campari and is simply a variation on the classic Negroni. The difference however, between the two is anything but simple. While the gin-based Negroni is crisp and bracing, the whiskey-based Boulevardier is rich and warming.

• 1 1/4 oz bourbon (or rye)
• 1 oz Campari
• 1 oz sweet vermouth
• orange twist

1. Add bourbon, Campari and sweet vermouth into a mixing glass with ice and stir until well-chilled.
2. Strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice.
3. Garnish with an orange twist.

Manhattan

The Manhattan has been loved for hundreds of years because of its subtle bitterness and herbal undertones. Rye whiskey, however, is the more traditional spirit and it imparts its distinct spice and savory taste to this classic. As with many classic cocktails, the exact origin story of the Manhattan cocktail is as obscure as the other drinks on this list.. The most popular theory is that the recipe was invented by Dr. Iain Marshall in the early 1880’s for a party by Lady Randolph Churchill, the mother of Winston Churchill. And of course, there are numerous variations,

• 2 oz bourbon or rye
• 1 oz sweet vermouth
• 2 dashes Angostura bitters
• 1 dash orange bitters
• maraschino cherry

1. Add all the bourbon (or rye), sweet vermouth and both bitters to a mixing glass with ice, and stir until well-chilled.
2. Strain into a chilled coupe.
3. Garnish with a brandied cherry

Daiquiri

The Daiquiri was supposedly invented by an American mining engineer named Jennings Cox, who was in Cuba during the Spanish–American War. Another possibility is that William A. Chanler, a US congressman who purchased the Santiago iron mines in 1902, introduced the Daiquiri to clubs in New York. But, in 1795 the grog British sailors drank as a means of preventing scurvy while serving in the Royal Navy contained rum, water, ¾ ounce of lemon or lime juice, and 2 ounces of sugar: the basic recipe for a Daiquiri.

• 1 1/2 oz light rum
• 3/4 oz freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1/2 to 3/4 oz simple syrup, to taste

1. Add the rum, lime juice and demerara sugar syrup to a shaker with ice, and shake until well-chilled.
2. Strain into a chilled coupe.
3. Garnish with a lime twist.

Mojito

As with so many classic cocktails, the Mojito has its share of contradictory origin stories.  From Sir Francis Drake’s scurvy crew suffering from dysentery being healed with a medicinal mixture of the juices from sugar cane, limes and mint leaves to African slaves being the creators. Even though it didn’t carry its modern nomenclature, the Mojito’s been around for hundreds of years, and your best friend’s cousin thought she was Instagramming something new!  Get a little curious and try some of the many variations like the Independence Day Mojito from The Spruce Eats.  Here is the classic Mojito recipe that anyone can add to their cocktail repertoire.

•  4 mint leaves
• 1 tsp powdered sugar
• 2 oz white rum
• 2 oz club soda
• 1 lime (for juicing)
• 1 sprig of mint (for garnishing)
• crushed ice

1. Put the mint leaves into a Collins glass and squeeze the lime juice over them.
2. Add the powdered sugar and then muddle the mint, lime juice, and sugar together.
3. Add crushed ice.
4. Stir in the rum and top off with the club soda.
5. Garnish with a mint sprig.

This is by no means the all-inclusive list of the classics.  Pimm’s Cup, French 75, the Cosmopolitan are also included with about 60 other cocktails considered classics according to most bartenders and are worthy of a look, your favorite cocktail on the list?  As always be responsible and help those sharing adult beverages with you, drink responsibly and sip slow.