The sound is spreading around the globe. A rasping, crunching noise, like someone printing up a gravel path. It is a sound which had almost disappeared until recently, a black and white sound that triggered a vague memory of Hollywood movies and 1950s sitcoms, a sound made by clean-cut people enjoying each other’s company, or by uniformed bartenders who knew every customer’s secrets and never divulged their own. It is a sound of ice and spirits dancing together in a shaker to make a fantastical new product. It is a cocktail being born. Cocktails and cocktail bartending had almost died out in the 1970s and ‘80s. There were a few great hotels with top-class bartenders and a few young acolytes who kept the tradition alive in small, often private, clubs. Cocktails were still being made, but they had slipped from mass-market consciousness along with tailfins and Cadillacs. The three Martinis sipped over a long lunch had been replaced with three mineral waters and a plate of sushi. Thankfully fashion is a cyclical thing and at the height of the neo-Prohibitionist movement at the start of the 1990’s a new generation began to rebel. They spurned the health fascists, demanding red meat and strong alcohol, puffing on smuggled Cuban cigars, and quaffing red wine. This is -was- a generation who want flavour, prefer to relax in quality bars, and drink quality drinks. The sound of the shaker began to get louder once more.
Amaretto Sour Amaretto Fresh Lemon Juice Fresh Egg White Angostura Bitters
50ml 37.5ml 1/2 2 dashes
Lemon Slice
Garnish
Shake all ingredients with ice Strain into ice filled glass Serve
Americano Campari Sweet Vermouth Soda Water
50ml 50ml Top up
Orange Slice
Garnish
Pour spirits in ice-filled glass Top with soda water Stir and serve
Black Russian Vodka Kalua Liqueur
50ml 18.75ml
Lemon Slice Maraschino Cherry
Garnish Garnish
Stir all ingredients with ice Strain into ice filled glass Serve
Bramble Dry Gin Fresh Lemon Juice Sugar Syrup Creme de Mure
50ml 25ml 12.5ml 12.5ml
Lemon Slice Blackberries
Garnish Garnish
Shake first three ingredients with ice Strain into glass filled with crushed ice Drizzle mure over drink Serve
Cosmopolitan Vodka Cointreau Cranberry Juice Fresh Lime Juice
25ml 25ml 37.5ml 12.5ml
Flamed Orange Zest
Garnish
Shake all ingredients with ice Fine strain into chilled glass Serve
Daquiri White Rum Fresh Lime Juice Sugar Syrup
62.5ml 18.75ml 12.5ml
Lime Wedge
Garnish
Shake all ingredients with ice Fine strain into chilled glass Serve
Dry Martini Dry Vermouth Dry Gin
18.75ml 62.5ml
Olive Lemon Twist
Garnish Garnish
Stir vermouth with ice Discard excess Leaving ice coated vermouth in glass Pour gin over ice and stir Fine strain into chilled glass Serve
Espresso Martini Vodka Espresso Coffee Sugar Syrup Kalua Liqueur
25ml 37.5ml 12.5ml 25ml
Coffee Beans
Garnish
Shake all ingredients with ice Fine strain into chilled glass Serve
French Martini Vodka Pineapple Juice Chambord Liqueur
50ml 37.5ml 12.5ml
Rasberry
Garnish
Shake all ingredients with ice Fine strain into chilled glass Serve
Gimlet Dry Gin Lime Cordial
62.5ml 18.75ml
Lime Wedge
Garnish
Stir all ingredients with ice Strain into chilled glass Serve
Long Island Iced Tea White Rum Dry Gin Vodka Tequila Blanco Cointreau Fresh Lemon Juice Sugar Syrup Coca-Cola
12.5ml 12.5ml 12.5ml 12.5ml 12.5ml 25ml 12.5ml Top Up
Lemon Slice
Garnish
Shake first seven ingredients with ice Strain into ice filled glass Top with Coca-Cola Stir or, layer Serve
Mai Tai Rum Cointreau Fresh Lime Juice Orgeat Syrup Sugar Syrup
50ml 12.5ml 18.75ml 6.25ml 6.25ml
Pineapple Cube Cherry Mint Sprig
Garnish Garnish Garnish
Shake all ingredients with ice Strain into glass filled with crushed ice Serve
Mint Julep Mint Leaves Bourbon Whisky Sugar Syrup Bitters
8 leaves 62.5ml 18.75ml 3 dashes
Lemon Slice Mint Sprig
Garnish Garnish
Muddle leaves in mixing glass Add other ingredients to glass Shake with ice Strain into half filled glass with crushed ice Churn drink with bar spoon Top with crushed ice Serve
Mojito Mint Leaves Rum Sugar Syrup Fresh Lime Juice Soda Water
8 leaves 50ml 12.5ml 18.75ml Top up
Mint Sprig
Garnish
Muddle mint in base of glass Add rum, lime and sugar syrup Fill glass with crushed ice Churn ingredients with bar spoon Top with crushed ice Top with soda water Serve
Negroni Dry Gin Campari Sweet Vermouth
25ml 25ml 25ml
Orange Zest Twist
Garnish
Pour all ingredients into ice filled glass Stir Serve
Old Fashioned Bourbon Whisky Sugar Syrup Bitters
62.5ml 12.5ml 3 dashes
Orange Zest
Garnish
Add single shot of bourbon with ice Add sugar syrup and bitters Stir whilst adding more ice and bourbon Stir more adding more ice Serve
Pina Colada White Rum Pineapple Juice Coconut Cream Double Cream Salt
50ml 100ml 25ml 25ml 1 pinch
Pineapple Wedge Cherry
Garnish
Blend all ingredients with crushed ice Pour into glass Serve
Russian Spring Punch Rasberries Vodka Creme de Cassis Creme de Framboise Fresh Lemon Juice Sugar Syrup Champagne
7 25ml 6.25ml 6.25ml 25ml 6.25ml Top up
Rasberry Lemon Slice
Garnish Garnish
Muddle rasberries in base of shaker Add next five ingredients to shaker Shake with ice Strain into glass filled with crushed ice Top with champagne Serve
Screwdriver Vodka Fresh Orange Juice
62.5ml 87.5ml
Orange Slice
Garnish
Pour all ingredients into ice filled glass Lightly stir Serve
Singapore Sling Dry Gin Benedictine Cherry Brandy Soda Water
50ml 18.75ml 18.75ml Top Up
Lemon Slice Cherry
Garnish Garnish
Shake first three ingredients with ice Strain into ice filled glass Top with soda Serve
Tom Collins Dry Gin Sugar Syrup Fresh Lemon Juice Soda
50ml 18.75ml 25ml Top Up
Lemon Slice Cherry
Garnish Garnish
Shake first three ingredients with ice Strain into ice filled glass Top with soda Serve
Vesper Dry Gin Vodka Dry Vermouth
75ml 25ml 12.5ml
Lemon Zest Twist
Garnish
Shake all ingredients with ice Fine strain into chilled glass Serve
Whisky Daisy Bourbon Whisky Fresh Lemon Juice Cointreau Grenadine
43.75ml 18.75ml 12.5ml 6.25ml
Lemon Zest Twist
Garnish
Shake all ingredients with ice Fine strain into chilled glass Serve
White Russian Vodka Milk Kahlua Liqueur Double Cream
50ml 12.5ml 25ml 12.5ml
Nutmeg Dust
Garnish
Shake all ingredients with ice Strain into ice filled glass Serve
1806 The word ‘cocktail’ appeared in print in a New York newspaper. After a reader
wrote in for an explanation of the term, the following was published “Cock tail, then is a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, suger, water and bitters it is bulgarly called a bittered sling, and is supposed to be an excellent electionering potion inasmuch as it renders the heart stout and bold, at the same time that it fuddles the head. It is said also, to be of great use to a democratic candidate: because, a person having swallowed a glass of it, is ready to swallow anything else.
1824 Angostura Aromatic Bitters were invented, originally designed to help improve digestion and appetite.
1862 ‘Professor’ Jerry Thomas published ‘How To Mix Drinks or The Bon-Vivant’s Companion’ - the first drink book to be published in the United States.
1876 ‘Professor’ Jerry Thomas published ‘The Bartender’s Guide’
1880 The first Martini recipe was recorded. Initially, Martinis would have been quite sweet - developing from the Martinez made with Old Tom gin and sweet vermouth. The first Dry Martini probably came in with the emergence of London dry gin some years later.
1910 The first in-flight cocktails were served to passengers on the Zeppelin flying over Germany.
1917 The Bacardi Cocktail is created in Cuba. In 1936 Bacardi issued a lawsuit against The
Barbizon Plaza Hotel and The Wivel Restaurant both in NYC for not using Bacardi rum within the Bacardi Cocktail. The case was built on the premise that the rum was unique and uncopyable. The judge ruled in Bacardi’s favour and the law still stands that a Bacardi Cocktail must contain its namesakes rum.
1920 Count Camillo Negroni asked for an Americano with ‘more kick’ and so created the Negroni at the Casoni Bar, Florence.
1920 Prohibition began in America
1921 Fernand Petiot created the Bloody Mary at Harry’s New York Bar, Paris.
1933 Prohibition ended
1940 Rationing began in the UK, which was later credited for the creation of the Naked Martini due to dwindling Vermouth supplies
1945 Guiseppe Cipriani created the Bellini at Harry’s Bar, Venice. Cipriani named the
drink after the 15th century painter Giovanni Bellini due to the drink’s pink hue and the painter’s perchant for using rich pinks on his canvasses
1951 The International Bartenders Association (IBA) was started in Torquay, UK. The Association, which is still going strong today, is now based in Italy.
1954 Rationing finally end in the UK and over in San Juan, Ramon Marrero Perez
claimed he created the Pina Colada at the Caribe Hilton’s Beachcomber Bar. The Caribe was the first luxury hotel in San Juan and became a popular destination for the rich and famous who helped the drink gain notoriety. The name literally translates as ‘strained pineapple’.
1980 Cheryl Cook, created the Comsopolitan at The Strand on Washington Avenue, South Beach, Miami
1984 Gerry’s liquor store opened in Soho, London
1989 Margaret Thatcher’s government introduced a legislation known as ‘Beer Orders’, which
changed the breweries ownership over the Great British pub. This encouraged entrepeneurs to move in and with the came gastro pubs and crucially something occupying the ground between pub and club, which became known as ‘style bars’.
2004 Museum of the American Cocktail opened in New Orleans. Founders include Robert Hess, Ted Haigh, Anistatia Miller, Chris McMillian, Laura McMillian, Jill DeGroff, Dale DeGroff, Jared Brown, and Phil Greene
2007 Cocktail historian David Wonderich published ‘Imbibe! - From Absinthe Cocktail to Whiskey Smash, a Salute in Stories and Drinks to Professor Jerry Thomas, Pioneer of the American Bar’.