A cocktail is an alcoholic mixed drink. Most commonly, cocktails are either a combination of spirits, or one or more spirits mixed with other ingredients such as tonic water, fruit juice, flavored syrup, or cream. 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.
The old fashioned is a cocktail made by muddling sugar with bitters and water, adding whiskey, and garnishing with an orange slice or zest and a cocktail cherry. It is traditionally served with ice in an old fashioned glass.
The Tom Collins is a Collins cocktail made from gin, lemon juice, sugar, and carbonated water. First memorialized in writing in 1876 by Jerry Thomas, "the father of American mixology", this "gin and sparkling lemonade" drink is typically served in a Collins glass over ice. A non-alcoholic "Collins mix" mixer is produced, enjoyed by some as a soft drink.
French 75 is a cocktail made from gin, champagne, lemon juice, and sugar. It is also called a 75 Cocktail, or in French simply a Soixante Quinze.
The Singapore sling is a gin-based sling cocktail from Singapore. This long drink was developed sometime before 1915 by bartender Ngiam Tong Boon, who was working at the Long Bar in Raffles Hotel, Singapore. It was initially called the gin sling – a sling was originally a North American drink composed of spirit and water, sweetened and flavored.
A sour is a traditional family of mixed drinks. Sours belong to one of the old families of original cocktails and are described by Jerry Thomas in his 1862 book How to Mix Drinks.
A beer cocktail is a cocktail that is made by mixing beer with other ingredients or another style of beer. In this type of cocktail, the primary ingredient is usually beer.
A flip is a class of mixed drinks. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term was first used in 1695 to describe a mixture of beer, rum, and sugar, heated with a red-hot iron. The iron caused the drink to froth, and this frothing engendered the name. Over time, eggs were added and the proportion of sugar increased, the beer was eliminated, and the drink ceased to be served hot.
The Pimm's cup is a cocktail that is popular in England, in the United Kingdom. It is one of numerous fruit cups, a type of cocktail with gin, a soft drink, and fruit. Its primary spirit is Pimm's No. 1 Cup, a gin-based beverage flavored with fruits and spices invented around 1823 as a health drink.
The brandy daisy is a cocktail which first gained popularity in the late 19th century. One of the earliest known recipes was published in 1876 in the second edition of Jerry Thomas's The Bartenders Guide or How To Mix Drinks: The Bon-Vivants Companion:
Fill glass one-third full of shaved ice. Shake well, strain into a large cocktail glass, and fill up with Seltzer water from a syphon.
A "fizz" is a mixed drink variation on the older sours family of cocktail. Its defining features are an acidic juice and carbonated water. It typically includes gin or rum as its alcoholic ingredient.
The Paradise is an IBA official cocktail, and is classified as a "pre-dinner" drink, an apéritif.
A dark 'n' stormy is a highball cocktail made with dark rum and ginger beer served over ice and garnished with a slice of lime. Lime juice and simple syrup are also frequently added. This drink is very similar to the Moscow mule except that the Dark 'n' Stormy has dark rum instead of vodka. The original Dark 'n' Stormy was made with Gosling Black Seal rum and Barritt's Ginger Beer, but after the partnership between the two failed and the companies parted ways, Gosling Brothers created its own ginger beer.
The Cape Cod or Cape Codder is a type of cocktail consisting of vodka and cranberry juice. Some recipes also call for squeezing a lime wedge over the glass and dropping it into the drink. The name refers to Cape Cod, Massachusetts, a peninsula and popular tourist destination located in the eastern United States which is famous for growing cranberries.
A buck is a cocktail that is made with ginger ale or ginger beer, citrus juice, and any of a number of base liquors. Buck cocktails are sometimes called "mules" due to the popularity of a vodka buck that is known as a Moscow Mule.
A South Side or Southside is an alcoholic beverage made with gin, lime juice, simple syrup and mint. A variant, the Southside Fizz, adds soda water.
A damn the weather is a Prohibition Era cocktail made with Gin, sweet vermouth, orange juice, and a sweetener. It is served shaken and chilled, often with a slice of orange or other citrus fruit.
A Horsefeather is a whiskey cocktail. It was invented in Lawrence, Kansas in the 1990s. It remains a regional drink in the Kansas City region. The drink is an iteration of the classic cocktail Horse's Neck and is similar to a Moscow Mule.
