Robert Simonson

The ingredient that takes this cocktail from a tired trend to an improved classic is nearly an ounce of quality overproof bourbon.

Bartender Kyle Davidson created this bitter and fresh Cynar cocktail in 2008 at The Violet Hour.

This equal parts mezcal drink is beloved by everyone who tastes it.

The Jasmine is one of the earliest entries in the modern classic cocktail canon, coming just a couple of years after the creation of the cosmopolitan.

One of the oldest and most perfect of three-ingredient cocktails, the Japanese Cocktail first saw print in 1862 but remains stubbornly unknown and underappreciated.

The Manhattan/Brooklyn cocktail riff that birthed a dozen others, Vincenzo Errico’s Red Hook was first served at the original Milk & Honey, the influential bar in New York.

No new drink of the twenty-first century has gone further in terms of fame than this complex, spicy, smoky turn on a Whiskey Sour. 

If vodka and cream and coffee are among your favorite things, this cocktail may be your jam.

This is Sasha Petraske's sly retort to the popularity of the Cosmopolitan, as the name coyly indicates. Indeed, the drink, piquant and slightly fruity, fills much the same purpose, tastewise, as that ubiquitous cocktail—only more so. 

No muss, no fuss. It’s good to go in a few seconds.

The cherry blossom, as well as the addition of sake and maraschino liqueur to the usual gin, result in a very delicate Martini.

This drink’s single deviation from the typical dry Martini is a couple of dashes of the liqueur kümmel, which tastes of caraway and cumin, in place of the usual orange bitters.

The Puritan, another old variation, lies somewhere between the Martini and the Alaska, using both dry vermouth and a bit of yellow Chartreuse. 

Tuxedo No. 2 mixes gin, maraschino liqueur, vermouth, and absinthe, and is lightly luscious.

Basically, this is a Martini made intriguing by a splash of absinthe. If this ends up being your deathbed drink, you didn’t do too badly.