A cocktail is an alcoholic mixed drink. Most commonly, cocktails are either a single spirit or a combination of spirits mixed with other ingredients, such as juices, flavored syrups, tonic water, shrubs, and bitters. Cocktails vary widely across regions of the world, and many websites publish both original recipes and their own interpretations of older and more famous cocktails.
A cosmopolitan, or, informally, a cosmo, is a cocktail made with vodka, Cointreau, cranberry juice, and freshly squeezed or sweetened lime juice.
A bartender is a person who formulates and serves alcoholic or soft drink beverages behind the bar, usually in a licensed establishment as well as in restaurants and nightclubs, but also occasionally at private parties. Bartenders also usually maintain the supplies and inventory for the bar. As well as serving beer and wine, a bartender can generally also mix classic cocktails such as a Cosmopolitan, Manhattan, Old Fashioned, and Mojito.
A shooter, or shot, is a small serving of spirits or a mixed drink, typically consumed quickly, often in a single gulp. It is common to serve a shooter as a "side" to a larger drink.
The Museum of the American Cocktail, based in New Orleans, Louisiana, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to education in mixology and preserving the rich history of the cocktail as developed in the United States. Among its events are tastings in association with specific seminars or exhibits. It annually presents the American Cocktail Awards, together with the United States Bartenders Guild.
Cocktail garnishes are decorative ornaments that add character or style to a mixed drink, most notably to cocktails.
A Signature drink is any unique or original drink that expresses the nature of the person or establishment creating it.
Mr. Boston Official Bartender's Guide is a cocktail recipe book and bartending manual first published in 1935. The guide was once used on nearly every bar shelf in the United States. About 11 million copies were printed in 68 editions, as of 2015.
Bartending school refers to private education businesses that teach individuals the many intricacies of serving customers alcohol from behind a bar. This includes not only classes in such topics as drinks mixology: the intricacies of mixing drinks and drink presentation, and the alcohol laws of the city and state, or province, in which the school is situated.
Sasha Nathan Petraske was the founder of the New York City cocktail bar Milk & Honey, as well as a partner and creative force behind many of the world's most highly regarded bars. During his lifetime he was credited with inventing modern cocktail culture.
Tom Bullock (1872–1964) was an American bartender in the pre-Prohibition era. He was an African-American person.
Julie Reiner is an American mixologist, club owner, and author. Reiner is one of New York's most influential bar owners, having established the Flatiron Lounge, Lani Kai, and the Clover Club. Major publications have featured Reiner's drink recipes, including The Wall Street Journal, Playboy, Esquire, GQ, and Time Out London. Reiner has trained many female bartenders.
A Nick & Nora glass is a stemmed glass with an inverted bowl, mainly used to serve straight-up cocktails. The glass is similar to a cocktail glass or martini glass.
Natasha David is a German-born American bartender, mixologist, and author. In 2014, David opened the critically acclaimed cocktail bar Nitecap on New York's Lower East Side. David has also competed on Iron Chef America. In 2022, David authored the cocktail recipe book Drink Lightly. Her cocktail recipes have been featured in many publications and books, such as New York Times, Bon Appetit, and The Essential Cocktail Book. David has also been awarded as Zagat's 30 under 30, Eater's Bartender of the Year, StarChef's Rising Star, and Imbibe Bartender of the Year. Her consultancy company You & Me Cocktail is responsible for notable projects such as Paul Sevigny’s Baby Grand and the revamp of Pravda‘s cocktail program.
Audrey Saunders is an American bartender, considered one of the world's most famous bartenders. She is most well known as the operating partner and creative lead of Pegu Club, a bar in New York City from 2005 to 2020. The bar was one of the most influential in the United States. Since its closure, Saunders and her husband have been developing a retreat for beverage industry members in rural Washington state.
The craft cocktail movement is a social movement spurred by the cocktail renaissance, a period of time in the 21st century characterized by a revival and re-prioritization of traditional recipes and methods in the bar industry, especially in the United States. The renaissance spanned from 2004 into the late 2010s. By 2017, high-quality ingredients, techniques, and liquors began to be ubiquitous in bars across the United States, leading writers to declare the renaissance over.
The Oxford Companion to Spirits & Cocktails (OCSC) is a book in the series of Oxford Companions published by Oxford University Press. The book provides an alphabetically arranged reference to spirits, cocktails and other elements of the bar industry, compiled and edited by David Wondrich and Noah Rothbaum, with contributions by several writers including Doug Frost, Garrett Oliver and Audrey Saunders. Also notably contributing to the book is pioneering bartender Dale DeGroff. The work is considered the first reference book on the history and trends of distilled spirits.
Angel's Share was a speakeasy-style bar in the East Village of Manhattan, New York City. The Japanese-style bar was one of the pioneering establishments in the cocktail renaissance.
Bemelmans Bar is a cocktail lounge and piano bar in the Carlyle Hotel, on the Upper East Side in Manhattan, New York City. The bar opened in the 1940s, serving wealthy Upper East Siders and numerous celebrities. Bemelmans has distinctive Art Deco decor, including murals of Madeline painted by Ludwig Bemelmans, author and illustrator of Madeline. It has been known for multiple drinks, though in recent years it is best known for its martinis, often served very dirty.
Pegu Club was a craft cocktail bar in New York City, operating from 2005 to 2020. It was located on the border of SoHo and Greenwich Village in Manhattan. The bar was named after and loosely inspired by the Pegu Club, a club in a British colonial outpost in Myanmar, as well as its signature cocktail with the same name.
