Classic Cocktails

Of the many cocktails that exist few have achieved classic status. Continuous evolution and progress in fashion results in once popular drinks being forgotten; few survive. Their appeal is in the subtle combination of a limited number of ingredients, allowing flavors to influence each other. These recipes serve as a basis, which is elaborated by many bartenders for their new inventions. Represented here are the cocktails we consider to have passed the test of time. And we love a good story. Cin-Cin!

Martini
(Gin or Vodka & Vermouth, olive or lemon twist.) A descendant of the Martinez. Sometime before 1862 Jerry Thomas, the "Principal Barman" at the Occidental Hotel in San Francisco had a client who took a ferry to Martinez, California, every morning. Thomas named it after his client's destination.

Gibson
(Gin & Vermouth, onion) Walter D K Gibson, was the real genius behind the onion-garnished cocktail and made the first Gibson sometime around 1898 at the Bohemian Club in San Francisco. He believed that eating onions would prevent colds. Hence the onion.

Manhattan
(Whiskey & Vermouth, cherry) Originated at the Manhattan Club in New York City in the early 1870s, where it was invented for a banquet hosted by Jennie Jerome (Lady Randolph Churchill, Winston's mother) in honor of presidential candidate Samuel J. Tilden.

Rob Roy
(Scotch & Vermouth, cherry) The origin of the name of this Scotch Manhattan is a Broadway show called Rob Roy who was a famous Scottish folk hero and outlaw of the early 18th century, who is sometimes known as the Scottish Robin Hood.

Old Fashioned
(Whiskey, bitters, simple syrup, orange & cherry muddled) Invented by a bartender at at the Pendennis Club, a gentlemens club in Louisville, Kentucky in the 1880s, and popularized by a club member and bourbon distiller, Colonel James E. Pepper, who brought it to the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel bar in New York City.

Rusty Nail
(Scotch & Drambuie) One's too many an' a hundred's not enough said Nat the bartender in The Lost Weekend (1945) starring Ray Milland and Jane Wynman, Legacy has it that this drink is actually named after the rusty nails used to stir the drink by bartenders, and not the color.

Whiskey Sour
(Whiskey, lemon juice, simple syrup, cherry) The Sour family was first described by "The Professor" Jerry Thomas in his 1862 book, The Bon-Vivant's Companion'. Since that time the Sour's basic recipe has been built on to develop many of today's most popular cocktails.

Daiquiri
(Rum, lime juice, simple syrup, lime) This Cuban classic is named after the town in Oriente province. An American mining engineer named Jennings Cox and a Cuban engineer named Pagliuchi created the recipe, in the late nineteenth century.

Gimlet
(Gin or Vodka, Roses Lime Juice, lime.) In the official Royal Navy story, it was T.O. Gimlette, a naval surgeon who came aboard in 1879, who created the concoction to encourage shipmates to take the lime rations to stave off scurvy

Sidecar

(Brandy, lemon juice, triple sec) Created by bartender Harry at Harr y's New York Bar in Paris during the First World War and named after a motorcycle sidecar in which an army captain was chauffeur-driven to and from the bar.

Tom Collins
(Gin, lemon juice, simple syrup, soda, cherry) From the Plater's Hotel in St Louis in the 1850's Stinger Brandy, Crme de Menthe. The classic New York nightcap. This cocktail was considered "a wholesome and well concocted" recipe by American bartender Patrick Duffy, a legend during the 1920s and 1930s.

Harvey Wallbanger
(Vodka, Galliano, orange juice) In the early 1970's, the makers of Galliano liqueur decided to promote their product by creating a new drink. As part of its advertising campaign, the company created a fictional surfer by the same name who drank so much he'd bump into the walls.

Negroni
(Gin, Campari, Sweet Vermouth) Created in Florence, Italy in the 1920s at the Casoni Bar, when a customer asked the barman to add gin to his Americano.

Mojito
(Rum, lime, mint, simple syrup, soda) The Mojito was born in Cuba descen