Muddling releases aromatics from fresh ingredients, then shaking with ice integrates everything and chills it, and straining removes solids for a clean pour. Used when fresh herbs or fruit are central to the flavor.

A classic tiki cucumber cooler from Trader Vic's, muddling fresh cucumber with mint into a light rum sour with tropical ease.

Aku Aku

A gin sour charged with honey syrup and fresh jalapeño, landing sweet and floral up front before a warming chili kick lingers on the finish.

Bee Sting

A Cuban mojito reworked with muddled blueberries so bright mint and lime meet jammy berry sweetness, topped with soda for a purple-hued, summer-porch refresher.

Blueberry Mojito

A tall, muddled smash combining bourbon with lemon, ginger syrup, and fresh mint, topped with soda for a herbaceous, spice-forward sipper with whiskey backbone.

Bourbon Ginger Smash

A porch-ready smash that muddles ripe peach and mint into bourbon with lemon and sugar, pairing stone-fruit sweetness with oak and mint lift for a Southern-summer sipper.

Bourbon Peach Smash

A Dale DeGroff-popularized classic where bourbon meets muddled mint, lemon, and sugar over crushed ice for a juicy, herb-streaked whiskey cooler.

Bourbon Smash

A garden-fresh riff on the Tom Collins where muddled cucumber weaves cool, grassy brightness through gin's botanicals and tart lemon — long, sparkling, and quietly sophisticated on a warm afternoon.

Cucumber Collins

A long, cooling gin cocktail built on muddled cucumber, elderflower liqueur, lime, and soda water. The cucumber provides a crisp freshness that the elderflower echoes with gentle floral sweetness.

Cucumber Cooler

Gin and cucumber muddled together then built with lime and soda -- crisp, green, and incredibly refreshing for warm weather.

Cucumber Cooler Fresh

A garden-fresh take on the gimlet muddling cucumber with gin, lime, and simple syrup for a crisp, cool, botanical sip that drinks like a summer afternoon.

Cucumber Gimlet

A refreshing margarita variation with muddled fresh cucumber adding a cool, vegetal freshness to the classic tequila-lime-orange formula. Popular at brunch and summer gatherings.

Cucumber Margarita

A modern classic born at Libations in New York in 2004 and popularized at Milk & Honey. Muddled cucumber adds a cool freshness to gin, lime, and simple syrup, making it one of the defining cocktails of the early 21st century.

Eastside

A garden-party Gimlet riff that muddles cucumber into the base before adding gin, elderflower, and lime — floral, cooling, and fresh, with the cucumber bridging the botanicals into an impossibly summery drink.

Garden Gimlet

A modern Hamburg creation from Jörg Meyer that muddles fresh basil with gin, lemon, and simple syrup, yielding a vividly green, herbaceous sour with peppery-sweet aroma.

Gin Basil Smash

A spring-weight cooler muddling cucumber with gin, elderflower liqueur, lime, and simple syrup for a crisp, perfumed sip that feels like a stroll through an English garden.

Gin Garden

A muddled mint-and-lemon classic from the smash family, where gin meets crushed herb and citrus for a bright, aromatic, quickly built sipper.

Gin Smash

A low-proof absinthe punch created by Charles Vexenat, pairing cool cucumber and soda with licorice spirit, lime, and sugar for a surprisingly gentle, garden-fresh sipper.

Green Beast

The spicy margarita in its most direct form — fresh jalapeño muddled and shaken with silver tequila, orange liqueur, and fresh lime juice. The capsaicin from the jalapeño creates a slow-building heat that lingers pleasantly on the palate, balanced by the citrus-sweet framework.

Jalapeño Margarita

A bourbon buck with muddled fresh raspberries and a sprinkling of Angostura bitters, created by Erick Castro at Rickhouse in San Francisco. The berry and ginger combination makes this a standout in the buck family.

Kentucky Buck

A tropical mojito brightened with mango, where muddled mint, lime, and light rum meet stone-fruit sweetness for a jammy, golden-hued cooler topped with soda.

Mango Mojito

Audrey Saunders's modern classic lifts a mojito with aged rum, Angostura, and a Champagne top, producing a dressier, mint-kissed sparkler with oaked depth and effervescent shimmer.

Old Cuban

A beloved riff on the Eastside from New York's Milk & Honey — cucumber and mint muddled with gin and lime produce a vivid, garden-fresh, effortlessly refreshing cocktail.

Old Maid

A Southern summer Smash -- bourbon with ripe peach puree, lemon, and muddled mint for a juicy, refreshing seasonal cocktail.

Peach Bourbon Smash

A berry-forward daiquiri with fresh raspberries shaken into rum and lime, turning the classic sour ruby-pink with tart-sweet jam character and a clean citrus finish.

Raspberry Daiquiri

A tart-leaning margarita muddled with fresh raspberries that sharpens tequila and lime into a ruby-hued sour, where berry jam and salt play against bright agave backbone.

Raspberry Margarita

A lime-and-mint smash built on light rum, combining muddled herb, tart citrus, and sugar over crushed ice for a mojito-adjacent, shorter cooler.

Rum Smash

Scotch whisky's smoke and malt meet muddled mint and lemon in a cooling Smash format -- herbaceous, refreshing, and distinctly Scottish.

Scotch Smash

Sloe gin's bramble-fruit sweetness makes it a natural for the Smash format — fresh mint muddled and shaken with sloe gin, lemon, and simple syrup, served over ice and topped with soda. Bright, berry-forward, and refreshing, a perfect introduction to sloe gin.

Sloe Gin Smash

A long, sparkling version of the Southside cocktail adding soda water to the gin, lime, and mint base. Refreshing and herbal, it has the soul of a mint julep with a gin backbone.

Southside Fizz

A modern vodka sour created by Salvatore Calabrese, layering elderflower's floral sweetness with lime, honey, and a muddled chili kick that leaves a slow burn on the finish.

Spicy Fifty

A jalapeño-muddled margarita where fresh chili heat rides on agave and lime, with a salted rim framing the tequila's bright, peppery bite.

Spicy Margarita

A Paloma with a jalapeño kick — fresh grapefruit juice and tequila form the familiar base while muddled jalapeño slices add penetrating heat that builds slowly, balanced by agave nectar and a salted rim. A popular modern upgrade on Mexico's favorite cocktail.

Spicy Paloma

A Mojito variation with muddled fresh basil and strawberry -- herbaceous basil adds an unexpected savory note to the fruity rum cooler.

Strawberry Basil Mojito

Tequila's agave and pepper notes pair naturally with crushed mint and lemon in a refreshing Smash format that drinks like a Mexican Julep.

Tequila Smash

The Mojito's spirit-free version -- muddled mint with lime and simple syrup topped with soda water for all the refreshment, none of the alcohol.

Virgin Mojito

A clean, mint-forward smash using vodka as a neutral stage for muddled herb, lemon, and sugar, producing a bright, garden-fresh sipper.

Vodka Smash

A seasonal summer Margarita -- fresh watermelon juice and muddled basil with tequila and lime for a herbaceous, refreshing variation.

Watermelon Basil Margarita

A refreshing summer variation on the Mojito featuring fresh watermelon juice alongside the classic mint, rum, and lime framework. The watermelon adds a juicy sweetness and vivid pink color that makes this an ideal warm-weather crowd-pleaser.

Watermelon Mojito

An American summer cocktail that muddles fresh mint with bourbon, peach purée, lemon, and sugar — the orchard fruit, crushed mint, and corn whiskey creating a crushable warm-weather smash of Southern charm.

Whiskey Peach Smash

A muddled-mint Mint Julep cousin shaken with lemon and simple syrup, turning bourbon bright and herbal without any of the stirred Julep's stately reserve.

Muddle Ingredients, Then Shake And Strain

How To Muddle Ingredients, Then Shake And Strain

40 Cocktails using this method