A 1930s gin sour brightened with Lillet Blanc and an unexpected whisper of white crème de cacao, whose chocolate note ghosts through lemon in a surprisingly elegant way.

20th Century

A sibling to the Bamboo swapping in sweet vermouth, this turn-of-the-century Broadway tribute is a low-ABV sipper with raisiny sherry depth and soft, bittersweet lift.

Adonis

A Scotch Manhattan dating to 1900 that balances sweet and dry vermouths around smoky malt, drinking stirred and bittersweet with a soft whisper of peat.

Affinity

A lunchtime favorite of the Round Table set, this three-part stir of rye, dry vermouth, and pineapple juice is surprisingly dry and grainy with a tropical fruit lift.

Algonquin

An almond-driven whiskey sour with amaretto and bourbon shaken over egg white, creating a frothy, nutty drink crowned by a few drops of Angostura.

Amaretto Sour

A Scandinavian twist on the egg-white sour that frames aquavit's caraway and dill character with lemon and simple syrup, yielding a savory-herbal foam-capped pour.

Aquavit Sour

A military-named gin sour enriched with orgeat, the almond syrup rounding lemon's sharp edges into a nutty, silky take on the classic template.

Army and Navy

A delicate pre-Prohibition gin classic where bright lemon, nutty maraschino cherry, and a whisper of violet liqueur balance into a pale, perfumed sip that gave the drink its sky-like name.

Aviation

A pink-hued Havana classic so protective of its name that a 1936 court ruling required genuine Bacardí rum, shaken with lime and grenadine into a tart, rose-colored daiquiri cousin.

Bacardi Cocktail

A Don the Beachcomber creation that dresses up a daiquiri with orange and maraschino liqueurs, landing somewhere between a classic sour and a tiki-era curio.

Beachcomber

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 Prohibition gin sour sweetened with honey instead of sugar, producing a floral, softly sweet drink whose name was 1920s slang for something irresistibly good.

Bee's Knees

A Jazz Age curio named for Valentino's bullfighting film, equal parts Scotch, sweet vermouth, Cherry Heering, and orange juice for a plush, fruit-and-smoke swirl.

Blood and Sand

Jeffrey Morgenthaler's cassis-laced bourbon sour layers dark berry sweetness over lemon and Angostura, drinking like a whiskey sour with a deeper, wine-stained finish.

Bourbon Renewal

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 19th-century daisy built on brandy with orange liqueur, lemon, and a tint of grenadine, lengthened with soda for a fruity, amber-toned classic cooler.

Brandy Daisy

A Wisconsin-born riff on the old fashioned built on brandy, sugar, and Angostura, muddled with orange and cherry for a soft, fruit-forward, after-dinner sipper.

Brandy Old Fashioned

A plush classic sour in which cognac's raisined warmth is brightened by lemon and sugar, garnished with orange and a Luxardo cherry for a fruit-kissed, amber finish.

Brandy Sour

Salvatore Calabrese's London invention stirring gin with Cointreau, lemon, and a bar spoon of orange marmalade for a tart, toast-like citrus sipper.

Breakfast Martini

A pre-Prohibition Manhattan-martini hybrid shaking gin with orange juice and both vermouths, producing a soft, sunny sipper that drinks like a more botanical mimosa.

Bronx

A Prohibition-repeal Hollywood creation of bourbon, fresh grapefruit, and honey syrup, where the grapefruit's gentle bitterness meets honey's floral depth over rye-sweet whiskey.

Brown Derby

A Normandy-accented egg-white sour where baked-apple Calvados takes the whiskey's seat, framed by lemon and simple syrup for a frothy, orchard-forward pour.

Calvados Sour

A Savoy-era sour splitting Scotch and Irish whiskey over lemon and almond orgeat, giving a malty, nutty spin on the whiskey sour template with surprising elegance.

Cameron's Kick

A Cuban predecessor to the Daiquiri, stirring light rum with honey and fresh lime over ice — a rustic, three-ingredient sipper with floral sweetness and bright tropical tartness.

Canchanchara

A dry, gin-forward pre-Prohibition cocktail layering maraschino cherry liqueur and orange bitters with lemon, drinking tart, aromatic, and subtly nutty — the gin-lover's Aviation.

Casino

A Prohibition-era equal-parts oddity pairing tart sloe gin, apricot brandy, and lime into a ruby, jammy sour that plays stone-fruit sweetness against sharp plum and citrus.

Charlie Chaplin

A ruby-hued sour shaking Danish Cherry Heering with lemon and egg white into a frothy, jammy sip where stone-fruit sweetness meets bright citrus acidity.

Cherry Sour

A Parisian hotel-born stirred drink that joins gin and dry vermouth with equal parts apricot brandy and orange liqueur, landing floral, stone-fruited, and elegantly sweet.

Claridge

The Cuban three-ingredient benchmark of rum, lime, and sugar, shaken hard until it drinks crisp, tart, and bracingly clean — the blueprint every bartender measures themselves against.

Daiquiri

A three-ingredient Scotch sour of whisky, lime, and honey — a cousin to the Gold Rush and the Bee's Knees — balancing peat and smoke against floral sweetness.

Doctor

A Havana cocktail of the 1920s honoring Cuba's presidents, blending light rum with dry vermouth, orange curaçao, and a touch of grenadine into a rosy, stirred aperitif.

El Presidente

A colonial Philadelphia punch of light rum, brandy, and peach brandy tempered by lemon and sugar, producing a deceptively strong, fruit-tinged bowl that once floored the founding fathers.

Fish House Punch

A modern gimlet update softened with elderflower liqueur, letting floral sweetness smooth gin's juniper edge against fresh lime for a delicate, perfumed sour.

French Gimlet

A pre-Prohibition whiskey sour perfumed with Bénédictine, where rye's spice and the liqueur's honeyed herbs meet lemon and lime for a bright, subtly monastic finish.

Frisco Sour

A spare, bracing gin sour of juice, sugar, and spirit, built originally on lime cordial to ward off scurvy and still prized for its clean, tart simplicity.

Gimlet

A 19th-century sour-family classic where gin, lemon, and orange liqueur are tinted with grenadine and topped with soda for a blush-pink, long, lightly sweet refresher.

Gin Daisy

A pre-Collins long drink of gin, lemon, and sugar with Angostura and soda, landing dryer and more aromatic than a Collins thanks to the bitters' baking-spice lift.

Gin Sling

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 pre-Prohibition template where gin's botanicals are framed by lemon, sugar, and a silky egg-white foam, yielding a bright, perfumed sour with a plush cloud on top.

Gin Sour

A pre-Martini British classic of gin stirred with sweet Italian vermouth and orange bitters, a gently sweet, low-proof stirred drink that predates the era of ice.

Gin and It

A plush sour variation on the Godfather that shakes Scotch and amaretto with lemon and egg white, yielding a silky, almond-rich foam over a lightly smoky whisky base.

Godfather Sour

A modern Milk & Honey creation swapping simple syrup for honey in a bourbon sour, giving the drink a rich, floral, almost buttery sweetness against bright lemon.

Gold Rush

Sam Ross's modern classic shaking bourbon with honey syrup, lemon juice, and egg white into a silky, golden sour where floral honey rounds the whiskey's edges.

Gold Rush Sour

A Prohibition-era three-ingredient classic where light rum is softened by honey syrup and brightened with lemon for a rounded, golden little sour.

Honey Bee

A Havana hotel-bar classic from the 1930s marrying aged rum with apricot brandy, pineapple, and lime for a soft, stone-fruit-kissed tropical sour.

Hotel Nacional Special

A Bronx cocktail with a dash of Angostura — gin, both vermouths, and orange juice stirred to a soft, bittersweet balance that reads gentler than a martini.

Income Tax

A Prohibition-era classic of apple brandy, lime, and grenadine, named for its rose color and delivering a tart-sweet orchard snap around Calvados' woody apple core.

Jack Rose

A Savoy-era martini variation juggling gin, both vermouths, orange curaçao, lemon, and Angostura, delivering a layered, bittersweet sip that pulls in every direction at once.

Journalist

A 1970s Kuala Lumpur tiki classic that pairs blackstrap rum with Campari, pineapple, and lime, producing a bittersweet tropical drink where fruit sweetness meets Italian amaro.

Jungle Bird

A tequila-based Negroni variation popularized by Gary Regan, stirring blanco tequila with Campari, both vermouths, and a dash of Angostura for a rose-tinted, bittersweet aperitivo.

La Rosita

A Prohibition-era equal-parts stunner where green Chartreuse's herbal punch, maraschino's cherry sweetness, gin's backbone, and lime's acid collide into something improbably harmonious and vividly green.

Last Word

A riff on Sam Ross's modern classic stirring bourbon with sweet vermouth, Campari, and a splash of maraschino liqueur, producing a bittersweet, nutty Manhattan-Negroni hybrid.

Left Hand

A 1920s fencer's Negroni variation splitting the sweet vermouth into dry vermouth and orange curaçao, giving the classic a drier, sharper, more citrus-forward spin.

Lucien Gaudin

A 19th-century forebear of the Martini, stirring gin with sweet vermouth, maraschino, and bitters into a rich, wine-like sip with nutty cherry depth and a bittersweet orange-peel lift.

Martinez

A Charles H. Baker-collected tequila cooler shaking lime, grenadine, and Angostura into a tart, rosy pour with bitter spice cutting through pomegranate sweetness.

Mexican Firing Squad

A smoky rework of the Prohibition-era Last Word, swapping gin for mezcal so that green Chartreuse, maraschino, and lime meet campfire smoke in an herbal, balanced sour.

Mezcal Last Word

A smoky swap on the classic Margarita, trading tequila for mezcal so wood-fire and earth notes lean against sharp lime and orange liqueur sweetness.

Mezcal Margarita

A pre-Prohibition Havana daiquiri variant where apricot brandy and pineapple juice sweeten and round out light rum and lime, conjuring a warm, orchard-meets-island fruitiness.

National

An old Royal Navy ration turned tiki icon pairing light and dark rums with honey, lime, and grapefruit, yielding a dry, bracing long drink that drinks its weight with ease.

Navy Grog

A Prohibition-era rye sour stained red with grenadine and brightened by lime, finishing with a flamed orange peel for a tart, pomegranate-tinged whiskey sip.

New York Cocktail

A whiskey sour crowned with a floated layer of red wine that gives the drink a jammy, tannic top half and a bright, frothy citrus base — visually striking and subtly complex.

New York Sour

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

The original cocktail template — bourbon, sugar, and bitters stirred over a single large cube — delivering a warming, spirit-forward sip that lets the whiskey's caramel and oak do the talking.

Old Fashioned

A modern equal-parts sour from 2007 where bourbon, Aperol, Amaro Nonino, and lemon fold into a bittersweet, citrus-lifted drink that feels both approachable and quietly sophisticated.

Paper Plane

The house cocktail of Rangoon's colonial-era Pegu Club, shaking gin with orange liqueur, lime, and two bitters into a bracingly dry, citrus-led classic with quiet spice.

Pegu Club

A Louisville club creation shaking gin with apricot brandy, lime, and Angostura, producing a tart, stone-fruited gin sour with a spiced aromatic edge.

Pendennis

A balanced take on the Manhattan that splits sweet and dry vermouth against rye, smoothing the drink's edges into a drier, more nuanced stirred sip with a cherry finish.

Perfect Manhattan

A vintage take on the Martini that balances sweet and dry vermouth against gin with a whisper of orange bitters, landing softer and more aromatic than its bone-dry descendants.

Perfect Martini

A Cuban journalist's drink of light rum, apricot brandy, orange liqueur, and lime — sometimes called the "reporter" — that reads as a daiquiri with stone-fruit and orange depth.

Periodista

A tropical spin on the Cuban classic where fresh pineapple juice joins light rum, lime, and sugar for a bright, sunny sour that keeps the daiquiri's crisp architecture intact.

Pineapple Daiquiri

The Gold Rush-era San Francisco classic of pisco, pineapple syrup, lemon, and a splash of white wine that drinks deceptively soft — grape-bright, fruity, and dangerously easy.

Pisco Punch

A San Francisco Gold Rush original that layers Peruvian pisco with pineapple and lemon over simple syrup, creating a grapey, tropical punch with a surprisingly elegant backbone.

Pisco Punch Classic

Peru's national cocktail shakes pisco with lemon, sugar, and egg white before crowning the foam with Angostura drops, yielding a frothy, grape-bright South American sour.

Pisco Sour

A stirred royal-themed classic where gin and dry vermouth are sweetened by Benedictine's honeyed herbal liqueur, giving the Martini framework a softer, spice-driven finish.

Queen Elizabeth

A pre-war Parisian classic stirring dry vermouth with kirschwasser and grenadine into a pale, bone-dry sip where stone-fruit cherry aromatics meet a pomegranate blush.

Rose

A mid-century Trader Vic rum sour sharpened by falernum's clove-and-almond spice and orange curaçao, drinking crisp, nutty, and subtly tropical.

Royal Bermuda Yacht Club

A rum-powered cousin to the Tom Collins where light rum joins lemon and sugar in a tall soda build, served over ice with lemon and a cherry for sunny porch-sipping ease.

Rum Collins

The rum rendition of the daisy, blending light rum with lime, orange liqueur, and grenadine over crushed ice and finished with soda for a tart, softly fruity cooler.

Rum Daisy

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

The original 1880s whiskey cocktail built on spicy rye, demerara's dark-sugar depth, and Angostura, stirred over a single big cube to coax out vanilla, leather, and orange-peel aromatics.

Rye Old Fashioned

A Prohibition-era Paris invention that christened America's newly outlawed drinkers, pulling rye, dry vermouth, lemon, and grenadine into a pink, tart, low-sugar sour.

Scofflaw

A Scotch-based take on the classic sour, where malty whisky is softened by lemon, sugar, and silky egg white foam for a smoky-edged, balanced sipper.

Scotch Sour

A Parisian post-war classic where cognac, orange liqueur, and fresh lemon balance on a sugared rim, drinking bright, boozy, and polished — the benchmark brandy sour.

Sidecar

A British classic shaking sloe gin with lemon, sugar, and egg white into a rosy, frothy sour where tart berry and almond notes meet the blackthorn fruit's bittersweet bite.

Sloe Gin Sour

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

Named for Manhattan's famed nightclub, this gin drink folds orange juice, orange liqueur, lime, and a dash of Angostura into a bright, bittersweet sour with zesty citrus lift.

Stork Club

A modern three-ingredient sour that pairs light rum with elderflower liqueur and lemon, delivering a pale, floral-bright drink that feels like a gentler, blossom-scented daiquiri.

Sunflower

A bone-dry agave twist on the Negroni, stirring blanco tequila with Campari and sweet vermouth for a vegetal, bitter-orange sipper with desert edges.

Tequila Negroni

An agave-forward take on the Old Fashioned where tequila stands in for whiskey, sweetened with agave nectar and rounded by Angostura and orange bitters over a single large cube.

Tequila Old Fashioned

A blanco-tequila take on the sour template where agave's pepper and earth meet lemon and sugar, softened into a plush pour by a shake of egg white.

Tequila Sour

Julio Bermejo's San Francisco reinvention of the Margarita, ditching orange liqueur for a direct pour of agave nectar to let blanco tequila sing over fresh lime.

Tommy's Margarita

A pre-war sour matching tequila with apricot brandy and lime, yielding a short, tart, stone-fruited drink that shows off agave against orchard sweetness.

Toreador

A 1898 Boston political drink of rye with lemon, orange, and grenadine, drinking like a whiskey sour gone sunset — fruity, tart, and pleasantly old-fashioned.

Ward Eight

The canonical American sour: bourbon shaken with lemon, sugar, and egg white, finished with Angostura drops on a silky foam — bright, balanced, and endlessly adaptable.

Whiskey Sour

A crisp Jazz Age sour shaking gin, orange liqueur, and lemon with egg white into a pale, frothy drink that reads like a perfumed, citrus-laced sidecar.

White Lady

Cocktails where no single element dominates — the spirit, acid, and sweetness are in harmony. Classic sours and well-built stirred drinks often land here.

Balanced