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Americano

This is an aperitif first been served in 1861 at Gaspare Campari's bar, a place frequented by the composer Verdi, Edward VII and, in later years, the writer Ernest Hemingway. Yet, it wasn't until Italy became popular with American tourists that it became known as the Americano. The tourists took the cocktail recipe back home, and legally sipped it throughout Prohibition-Campari was, fortunately, classified as medicinal.

  • 3cl Campari
  • 3cl sweet vermouth
  • soda water

Pour the sweet vermouth, then the Campari into a highball filled with ice. Garnish with lemon and orange twists. Soda is optional.

Angel Face

In the 1950s you could find two or three recipes with this name that used different ingredients and were made in different ways. One used crème de cacao and cream, the other was similar to a pousse-café (layered) formula, made with crème de cacao and prunelle (sloe brandy). This recipe is the accepted classic.

  • 3cl gin
  • 3cl apricot brandy
  • 3cl calvados

Pour all ingredients into a shaker with ice. Shake. Strain into a cocktail glass.

Angel's Tit

  • 4cl maraschino liqueur
  • 2cl double cream

Pour the maraschino into a liqueur glass and float the cream on top. Garnish with a maraschino cherry in the middle of the creamy top.

Angel's Wing

  • A 1930s classic.
  • 3cl white crème de cacao
  • 3cl prunelle brandy
  • dash double cream

Pour the white crème de cacao over a barspoon into a liqueur glass, followed by the prunelle brandy. Float the cream over the top to finish.

B & B

A popular old classic drink that is sold premixed in many stores. Another version of this drink, called A & B, uses armagnac and Bénédictine.

  • 3cl brandy
  • 3cl Bénédictine

Pour the brandy directly into a brandy balloon and gently float the Bénédictine over a barspoon to lay on top.

Bacardi Classic

Only Bacardi rum should be used to make this drink. In 1936, a temporary injunction to restrain a New York hotel and restaurant from selling Bacardi cocktails unless they contained Bacardi rum was denied. The company then won a permanent injunction at the New York Supreme Court later that year.

  • 5cl Bacardi white rum
  • 3cl fresh lime juice
  • 1teaspoon grenadine

Pour all ingredients into a shaker with ice. Shake. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a cherry on a cocktail stick across the glass.

Bellini

The pink hues of paintings by Venetian painter Giovanni Bellini inspired Giuseppi Cipriani, bartender at Harry's Bar in Venice , to create this drink. It is an Italian tradition to marinade a fresh peach in wine, and Cipriani took it one step farther using champagne with puréed peach flesh. This cocktail was a favorite of Noel Coward and Ernest Hemingway whenever they visited the bar.

Always use fresh white peach purée. When this delicate peach is in season, buy a whole lot and prepare them: blanch to remove the skins, remove the pits, and place the flesh in a blender with a dash of fresh lemon juice. Blend for a few seconds and then freeze. As an alternative, you can squeeze the peach using a manual squeezer and put the flesh and liquid through a strainer.

  • white peach purée
  • prosecco

Quarter-fill a champagne flute with the peach purée and top up with the champagne. Stir. Garnish with a peach slice on the rim if you like.

Bentley

A classic drink that dates back to the 1920s and days of vast prestige cars and glamorous women.

  • 5cl applejack brandy
  • 5cl Dubonnet

Pour the brandy and Dubonnet into a mixing glass with ice. Stir. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a twist of orange.

Between the Sheets

Created in the 1930s, this cocktail is the perfect one for a prelude to seduction.

  • 3cl brandy
  • 3cl Cointreau
  • 3cl light rum
  • dash fresh lemon juice

Pour all ingredients into a shaker with ice. Shake. Strain into a cocktail glass.

Black Velvet

A velvet-smooth champagne cocktail created by the bartender at Brooks' Club, in London , in 1861. England was in mourning for Prince Albert and the bartender felt that champagne also should to be in mourning, so he combined it with dark Guiness stout. The tipple was the favorite of Prince Otto von Bismarck of Germany .

  • draught or bottle
  • Guiness stout
  • Champagne

Half-fill a champagne flute with Guinness and top up with champagne. Stir.

Blue Blazer

Created by the legendary Jerry Thomas while he was at the bar of the El Dorado in San Francisco . Thomas was a star performer with this drink. He perfected the technique of lighting the whisky and throwing the flaming liquid between two silver tankards. This act impressed President Grant of the United States so much he presented Thomas with a cigar. Thomas was a man of principle-he refused to serve this drink until the thermometer fell below 50°F/10°C. Be careful when trying to make this cocktail.

  • 5cl whisky
  • 5cl boiling water
  • 1 barspoon caster sugar

Heat the whisky in a small saucepan and pour into one tankard. Put the boiling water into the other tankard. Light the whiskey and, while it is flaming, pour the two liquids from one tankard to the other four times. This may seem difficult at first and practice is required before you perform this in front of guests. Serve sweetened with sugar. Garnish with a twist of lemon.

Block and Fall

  • 2cl brandy
  • 2cl Cointreau
  • 1.5cl Pernod
  • 1.5cl calvados

Pour all ingredients into a shaker with ice. Shake. Strain into a cocktail glass.

Bosom Caresser

A 1920s classic first made by Harry Craddock at the American Bar in London 's Savoy Hotel. Sweet Madeira can be added to this recipe.

  • 4cl brandy
  • 2cl orange curaçao
  • dash grenadine
  • 1 free-range egg yolk

Pour all ingredients into a shaker with ice. Shake. Strain into a cocktail or small wine glass.

Brandy Alexander

By far one of the most sophisticated after-dinner drinks, this was at the height of its popularity in the heady 1960s and 1970s and is still popular.

  • 3cl brandy
  • 3cl brown crème de cacao
  • 3cl double cream

Pour all ingredients into a shaker with ice. Shake. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a sprinkle of freshly grated nutmeg.

Brandy Cocktail

A 1920s classic drink. The original recipe did not use Angostura bitters.

  • 5cl brandy
  • 2 dashes orange curaçao
  • 2 dashes Angostura bitters

Pour all ingredients into a mixing glass with ice. Stir. Strain into a balloon glass.

Bronx

A pre-dinner drink inspired by a visit to the Bronx Zoo in 1906 by Johnny Solon, renowned bartender at the Waldorf Astoria , New York .

  • 3cl gin
  • 1.5cl dry vermouth
  • 1.5cl sweet vermouth
  • 3cl fresh orange juice

Pour all ingredients into a shaker with ice. Shake. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a twist of orange.

Buck's Fizz

Mr. McGarry of Buck's Club, in London , created this in 1921. The ratio is two-thirds champagne/one-third juice.

  • fresh orange juice
  • brut champagne

Fill a quarter of a champagne flute with fresh orange juice. Top up with champagne. Stir gently.

Caipirinha

Possibly the best-loved Brazilian cocktail, full of lip-smacking flavor. Literally translated it means "peasant's drink", and it has a reputation as the cocktail that could replace the malaria shot! It gets its kick from the cachaça, a Brazilian spirit distilled from sugarcane juice. In the 1920s and 1930s car king Henry Ford outlawed the Caipirinha in Fordlandia, his company town located in Brazil .

  • 5cl cachaça
  • 1 small fresh lime
  • 11/2 teaspoons caster sugar

Wash the lime and slice off the top and bottom, and cut into small segments from top to bottom. Add the lime slices and the sugar to an old-fashioned glass. Crush the lime to make juice, and muddle to make sure the sugar has dissolved Add ice cubes and the cachaça and stir. Serve with a stirrer. A straw is optional.

Collins

Usually a summer drink, a Collins is made with lots of ice in a highball. The original Collins cocktail was a John Collins, and its origin can be traced back to John Collins, the headwaiter at a hotel and coffeehouse named Limmer's, in London, around 1790 to 1817. His original version used genever, a Dutch-style gin, soda water, lemon, and sugar. It wasn't until the 1880s that the drink found popularity in the United States -it was viewed as an upscale gin sling. When an enterprising bartender used Old Tom Gin, a London gin with a sweet flavor, the Collins became known as a Tom Collins. Currently, bartenders serve a Collins made with London dry gin, and in America , if you are served a Collins made with bourbon or whisky, it is a John Collins.

  • 5cl gin
  • 2cl fresh lemon juice
  • 2 dashes gomme syrup
  • soda water

Add the lemon juice, gomme syrup, and gin to a highball filled with ice. Top up with soda. Stir. Drop a slice of lemon in the drink. Serve with a stirrer

Cosmopolitan

The original recipe used vodka, Cointreau, and cranberry juice. What we do not know, however, is whether the original cocktail used lemon vodka or straight vodka. What we do know is that the original recipe did not use lime juice. Using lime juice binds the ingredients together and gives it a more refreshing taste.

  • 5cl vodka
  • 1/3oz/1cl Cointreau
  • 1/3oz/1cl cranberry juice
  • 1/3oz/1cl fresh lime juice

Pour all ingredients into a shaker with ice. Shake. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a wedge of lime.

Daiquiri

The most-repeated myth about its origins concerns American engineer Jennings Cox, working near the East Coast town of Daiquiri in Cuba . In the long, hot summer of 1896 Jennings Cox is said to have run out of his gin supplies when expecting important guests. His local colleagues drank a mixture of rum and lime juice and it was this, with the addition of granulated sugar, that he offered his guests, naming it a Daiquiri after the town. Admiral Lucius W. Johnson had met Jennings Cox and introduced the cocktail to the Army & Navy Club in Washington , D.C. A plaque hangs in the club's Daiquiri Lounge. Additional fame came to the humble daiquiri when President John F. Kennedy proclaimed it his favorite predinner drink. The German actress, Marlene Dietrich, when in London , liked to sip a daiquiri at the Savoy 's American Bar.

  • 5cl white rum
  • 2cl fresh lime juice
  • 2 to 3 dashes gomme syrup

Pour all ingredients into a shaker with ice. Shake. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a wedge of lime.

French 75

A creation from Henry of Henry's Bar in Paris to celebrate the fire power of the famous French 75 light field gun used in the First World War. Originally called the "75 Cocktail," the combination was added to by Harry of Harry's New York Bar in Paris after the war and became known as the French 75. He added champagne to a short drink.

  • 2cl gin
  • 2cl fresh lemon juice
  • dash gomme syrup
  • champagne

Pour all the ingredients, except champagne, into a shaker. Shake. Strain into a champagne flute. Top up with champagne. Stir.

Harvey Wallbanger

In the 1960s, a surfer named Harvey wiped out in a surf championship, then drank too much vodka and Galliano at Pancho's Bar, Manhattan Beach , California . Drunk, he banged his head against a wall until he was stopped by concerned friends.

  • 5cl vodka
  • 15cl fresh orange juice
  • 2cl Galliano

Pour the vodka and orange juice into a highball filled with ice. Stir. Float the Galliano over the back of a barspoon. Garnish with a slice of orange. Serve with a straw and a stirrer.

Irish Coffee

A soothing drink that was born at a freezing cold airfield at Shannon Airport, near Ireland's Atlantic Coast, just after the Second World War. The airport was a refueling stop for transatlantic aircraft, and while on the ground, the passengers were refueled by Irishman Joe Sheridan . He took the traditional Irish drink, whisky in tea, and substituted coffee for tea to suit the Americans' tastes. Adding a thick whirl of lightly whipped Irish cream on top, and sugar, he served this in a stemmed glass to his customers.

The first Irish coffee recipe was taken to San Francisco by the late writer, Stanton Delaplane, and served in 1952 at the Buena Vista bar at Fisherman's Wharf.

  • 2 teaspoons brown sugar
  • 5cl Irish whisky
  • 10cl hot coffee
  • 2cl whipped cream

Pour the whiskey into a heatproof, large goblet. Add the brown sugar and stir. Add the hot coffee and stir with a teaspoon. Gently float the whipped cream over a barspoon to create a final layer. Do not stir. Serve while hot.

Long Island Iced Tea

This is the drink that guarantees you will have a hangover the next day. Extremely alcoholic, it makes you tipsy quickly. Dating from the Prohibition era, this delicious long cocktail was originally made with any available spirit, hence there are many different recipes around today.

Basically, it was made with five spirits: light rum, vodka, gin, tequila, and Cointreau. It is simple to make, too. Measure each spirit exactly to maintain the correct balance of flavor. If triple sec is omitted, this is a Texas Tea; if blue curaçao is used in place of triple sec, this is a Miami Iced Tea.

  • 1cl light rum
  • 1cl vodka
  • 1cl gin
  • 1cl tequila
  • 1cl Cointreau
  • 2cl fresh lime juice
  • cola, chilled

Pour all ingredients, except cola, into a highball filled with ice. Stir. Top up with chilled cola. Garnish with a wedge of lime. Serve with a straw and a stirrer.

Mai Tai

The origin of this cocktail is a tale of two bartenders: Don Beach at The Beachcomber restaurant in Hollywood in the early 1930s; and Victor "Trader Vic" Bergeron of his Emeryville bar, Hinky Dinks, in 1944. Trader Vic mixed a cocktail of 17-year-old dark Jamaican rum, the juice of a fresh lime, a few dashes of orange curaçao, Orgeat, and rock candy syrup. After shaking it, he poured it into a glass filled with shaved ice, garnished it with a wedge of lime and a sprig of mint, and presented it to Eastham and Carrie Guild, friends from Tahiti. After a sip, they pronounced it: "Mai tai-Roa Ae," which meant: "Out of this world. The best."

  • 2cl dark rum
  • 2cl golden rum
  • 1cl triple sec/Cointreau
  • 1cl Orgeat (almond syrup)
  • 2cl fresh lime juice
  • 3 dashes grenadine

Pour all ingredients into a shaker with ice. Shake. Strain into a goblet. Garnish with a tropical orchid or a wedge of lime. Serve with a straw and a stirrer.

Manhattan

  • 6cl Canadian Club whisky
  • 3cl sweet vermouth
  • dash Angostura bitters

Pour all ingredients into a mixing glass. Stir. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a maraschino cherry.

Dry Manhattan

  • 6cl Canadian Club whisky
  • 3cl dry vermouth
  • dash Angostura bitters

Garnish with a twist of lemon.

Perfect Manhattan

  • 6cl Canadian Club whisky
  • 1.5cl dry vermouth
  • 1.5cl sweet vermouth
  • dash Angostura bitters

Garnish with a maraschino cherry and a twist of lemon dropped in the drink.

Margarita

The Margarita was, without a doubt, created after the mid-1930s. The locations of its discovery range from Mexico to California, and even New Mexico or Texas. One of the legends involves a Mrs. Margaret Sames, of Texas. In December 1948, she and her husband entertained friends at their villa in Acapulco. Mrs. Sames took her favorite liqueur, Cointreau, added tequila and lime juice, and added a little salt on the rim.

To celebrate the success of this drink over the period of the house party, her husband bought two glasses with the name "Margarita" etched on them-it being the Spanish equivalent of Margaret.

To others, however, the day that a young starlet named Marjorie King walked into the Rancho La Gloria restaurant, owned by Carlos "Danny" Herrera and located near Tijuana, Mexico, is the true "M" day. Herrera mixed and named this cocktail especially for her because she was allergic to every spirit but tequila. Others contenders to the claim include one Doña Bertha, proprietor of Bertita's Bar in Tasca; Pancho Morales of Tommy's Place in Juarez; and Daniel Negrete, of the Garci Crespo Hotel, in Puebla.

Songwriter Jimmy Buffet's late 1950s melody, Margaritaville, created a demand for the cocktail throughout America and the rest of the world. Hence, a cult cocktail was born.

  • 3cl silver tequila
  • 3cl fresh lime juice
  • 2cl Cointreau

Rub a wedge of lime around the rim of a Margarita glass. Dip it into a saucer of fine salt. Pour all ingredients into a shaker with ice. Shake. Strain into the glass. Garnish with a wedge of lime.

Martinez

The Martini was born! Created in 1870 by "Professor" Jerry Thomas, using sweet vermouth, not dry, as is used in the recipe below.

  • 3cl gin
  • 3cl dry vermouth
  • 2cl maraschino liqueur
  • 2 dashes orange bitters

Pour all ingredients into a shaker with ice. Shake. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a twist of lemon.

The Martini

Today's Martini bears little resemblance to the original cocktail. It's now mostly made with vodka.

The small town of Martinez, California, proclaimed that bartender Julio Richelieu mixed the first Martinez-a small drink with an olive dropped in it-which became the Martini. Richelieu left for San Francisco, making the Martinez his specialty. This was prior to 1887. In fact, Jerry Thomas had included a Gin Cocktail that resembled the Martini in The Bon Vivant's Guide, published in 1862. By 1887, the gin cocktail had become the Martinez, and Thomas was claiming credit.

The myth continues: a traveler walked into the San Francisco Occidental Hotel bar and Thomas mixed him the first Martinez. But the people of Martinez claim the traveler was on his way to San Francisco from Julio's bar. Richelieu mixed the cocktail for him so he could get change from a gold nugget-to buy a bottle of whiskey. In 1929, the town erected a brass plaque stating that Martinez was the birthplace of the Martini.

  • Keep the gin in the freezer, and put the glasses in the freezer to chill. A great Martini is one that stays very cold for as long as you drink it.
  • 9cl gin
  • 1 to 2 drops extra dry vermouth

Take the chilled cocktail glass from the freezer, handling it by the stem only. Pour the chilled gin directly into the glass. Fill a clean Angostura bitters bottle with dry vermouth so that you can shake a few drops of vermouth through its pourer into the gin. Float two to three drops of vermouth over the top of the drink.

Cut a thin twist of lemon, then face the twist upside down over the glass and twist it to drop a few tears of juice in the drink. Rub the twist around the rim for the final touch. An olive is optional.

Mimosa

A classic cocktail from 1925, created at the Ritz Hotel in Paris, it is named after the tropical flowering shrub.

  • 2oz/6cl fresh orange juice
  • 2 dashes Grand Marnier
  • champagne

Fill a champagne flute to one quarter with orange juice. Add the Grand Marnier. Top up with champagne. Stir.

Mint Julep

The drink's name is derived from an Arabic word translated as "julab," meaning "rose water." The bourbon-based cocktail possibly originates from Virginia.

Other states lay claim to its origin, although a 1975 treatise, by Richard B. Harwell, states: "Clearly the Mint Julep originated in the northern Virginia tidewater, spread soon to Maryland, and eventually all along the seabord and even to Kentucky."

By 1800 it had become Americanized, made with brandy until after the Civil War, when bourbon became more available.

  • 5cl bourbon
  • bunch fresh mint leaves
  • 1 teaspoon caster sugar
  • 1 tablespoon cold water
  • soda water

Place the mint in an old-fashioned glass. Add the sugar and water. Muddle until the sugar is dissolved. Add the bourbon. Fill the glass with crushed ice. Stir. Garnish with a sprig of mint. Serve with a straw and a stirrer.

Mojito

This is a classic Cuban cocktail, revived during the Prohibition era. The Bodeguita del Medio Bar in Havana is famous for its Mojitos. The bar is unchanged from the day it opened. All the walls are signed.

  • 5cl white rum
  • 1 teaspoon caster sugar
  • 2cl fresh lime juice
  • bunch fresh mint on the stem
  • sparking water

Put the sugar and lime juice in the bottom of a highball with a thick base. Add the mint leaves and muddle with the end of a barspoon or a wooden muddler. This releases the essence from the mint. Add the rum and fill the glass with crushed ice. Top up with sparkling water. Stir. Serve with a stirrer.

Moscow Mule

This 1940s cocktail was the marketing idea of John G. Martin, who worked for Heublein & Co., a spirits distributor. In the 1930s, vodka was unknown in America, and in 1934 Martin bought the American rights to a Russian vodka, Smirnoff. The decision became known as "Martin's folly" so he set out to sell the "new" spirit around the West Coast. In Hollywood, he dined at the Cock 'n' Bull, owned by Jack Morgan, who had a glut of ginger beer stock. Morgan had a friend who had to offload some copper mugs. The three of them sat down and concocted the Moscow Mule, which was to be sold in a copper mug stamped with a kicking mule to warn of its kick.

  • 5cl vodka
  • 1cl fresh lime juice
  • ginger beer

Pour the vodka and the lime juice into a highball filled with ice. Top up with ginger beer. Stir. Garnish with a wedge of lime in the drink. Serve with a stirrer.

Pimm's No. 1 Cup

Created in 1840 as a digestive tonic by James Pimm and served at his Oyster Bar in London's financial district, this concoction of herbs and quinine caught on. By the 1920s, Pimm's No. 1 was distributed throughout England and exported to the Colonies. After the Second World War, the Pimm's company introduced Pimm's No. 2 with Scotch as a base, No. 3 with brandy, No. 4 with rum, and No. 5 with rye whiskey as a base. No. 6 had a vodka base.

Pimm's No. 1 Cup has a recipe which, as legend has it, is known to only six people. To make in bulk, multiply the ingredients by the number of guests.

  • 5cl Pimm's No. 1 Cup
  • lemonade or ginger ale
  • few slices lemon
  • few slices orange
  • few strips cucumber peel
  • sprig fresh mint

Pour the Pimm's into a highball filled with ice. Top up with 7Up or ginger ale. Add the fruit and stir. Garnish with a slice of lemon and orange, the peel of a cucumber, and a sprig of fresh mint in the glass. Serve with a straw.

Piña Colada

The most infamous of the coladas is the Piña Colada-its title means "strained pineapple." This exotic number originated in Puerto Rico, and there are two contenders who claim to have invented the recipe. Ramon Marrero Perez of the Caribe Hilton is adamant he mixed the first in 1954; Don Ramon Portas Mingot of La Barrachina Restaurant Bar staked his claim a decade later-1963.

You can use pineapple juice from a can, or you can use the juice and the fiber from pineapple crushed in a blender. Use the freshest, top-quality fruit you can buy. When made, all of the drink should be milky white, not separated into clear liquid and froth.

  • 5cl white rum
  • 10cl pineapple juice
  • 5cl coconut cream
  • crushed ice

Pour the pineapple juice into the blender. Add the coconut cream and the rum. Blend. Add the crushed ice and blend. Pour into a colada glass. Garnish with a wedge of pineapple and a maraschino cherry. Serve with a straw.

Old-Fashioned

Colonel James E. Pepper, a Kentucky-based bourbon distiller, and the bartender of the Pendennis Club in Louisville, were jointly responsible for the creation of this cocktail around 1900. Once called a "palate-paralyzer," this cocktail has a song in its honor, Make It Another Old-Fashioned , Please, by lyricist Cole Porter.

  • 5cl bourbon
  • dash Angostura bitters
  • 1 sugar cube
  • soda water

Place a sugar cube in an old-fashioned glass and soak with Angostura. Add a dash of soda, just enough to cover the cube, and crush it with the back of a barspoon. Add the bourbon, then top up with soda. Stir. Garnish with a slice of orange and a maraschino cherry. Drop a twist of lemon in the drink.

Pink Gin

Angostura bitters was perfected as a remedy for stomach complaints by Dr. Johann Siegert, a surgeon for the Prussian army at the Battle of Waterloo, for a military hospital at Angostura, on the Orinoco River, in Venezuela. He named it after the town.

Word of this herbal, plant-based remedy reached officers in the British Navy, who added it to the officers' medicine kit and their Plymouth gin rations. Hence, the spread in the upper echelons of the drink, "Pink Gin." Some prefer their Pink Gin cocktail with a splash of iced water; others like it straight. Always serve it ice cold.

  • 5cl gin
  • 2 dashes Angostura bitters

Pour the gin and bitters into a mixing glass with ice. Stir with a barspoon. Strain into a cocktail glass.

Pisco Sour

Pisco is a South American brandy, distilled from Muscat grapes and matured in clay jars. It is named after the town of Pisco in Peru. It is drunk in small bars and cafés

throughout Peru, Argentina, and South America. The egg white binds together all ingredients.

  • 5cl pisco
  • 2cl fresh lime juice
  • dash eggwhite powder
  • 2 dashes Angostura bitters
  • dash gomme syrup

Pour all ingredients into a shaker with ice. Shake. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a wedge of lime.

Pousse-Café

This is always served after dinner, and each liqueur has a different density, allowing one to sit on top of another. Syrups are heavier than liqueurs, and spirits are even lighter. Pour the heaviest ingredient first, usually the first one listed. You can use any combination to make a pousse-café. This is the accepted classic recipe.

  • 1cl grenadine
  • 1cl green crème de menthe
  • 1cl Galliano
  • 1cl kummel
  • 1cl brandy

Pour the grenadine into a shot glass as a base. Over the back of a barspoon, gently add the crème de menthe. Pause, add the Galliano the same way. Pause, add the kummel and, finally, the brandy. Serve carefully.

Ramos Fizz

In 1888, Henrico C. Ramos bought the Imperial Cabinet Saloon, New Orleans, where he created this cocktail. The recipe was a secret until the saloon closed at the start of Prohibition. Henrico's brother, Charles Henry Ramos, gave the recipe to the world.

  • 5cl gin
  • 1cl fresh lime juice
  • 1cl fresh lemon juice
  • 3 dashes orange flower water
  • 1 teaspoon eggwhite powder
  • 5cl double cream
  • 1 teaspoon caster sugar
  • soda water

Pour all ingredients, except soda, into a shaker with ice. Shake. Strain into an old-fashioned glass filled with ice. Top up with soda. Garnish with a wedge of lime.

Rattlesnake

  • 2cl Kahlua
  • 2cl white crème de cacao
  • 2cl Irish cream liqueur

Pour each ingredient, in the order listed, over the back of a barspoon into a shot glass.

Rusty Nail

A classic cocktail with orange and honey flavors. It hits the nail on the head after dinner.

  • 6cl Scotch
  • 3cl Drambuie

Pour the Scotch into an old-fashioned glass with ice. Add the Drambuie and stir. Garnish with a twist of lemon.

Sangria

There are many versions of Sangria, a classic Spanish party drink. Sangria is the Spanish word for bleeding, and comes from sangre, meaning the color of blood. It is drunk at many festivals with much theatricality-it is poured directly into the mouth from a long-spouted jug.

Serves 4

  • 1 bottle Spanish red wine
  • 12cl Spanish brandy
  • 3cl triple sec/Cointreau
  • 2 teaspoons superfine (caster)sugar
  • 1.5cl fresh lemon juice
  • 1.5cl fresh orange juice
  • half each : apple, orange, lemon, and lime, sliced
  • soda water (optional)

Pour all ingredients, except soda, into a pitcher or punch bowl, starting with the sugar. Stir to dissolve sugar. Leave to marinate in the refrigerator for a few hours before serving. When guests arrive, add the slices of lemon, orange, lime, and apple. Add large ice cubes and soda. Serve in goblets.

Sazerac

This cocktail made its film debut in the James Bond movie Live and Let Die . Its story, however, begins in New Orleans. In the early 1800s, Antoine Peychaud created it in the French Quarter, and named it for his favorite cognac, Sazerac-de-Forge et fils. In 1870, the cocktail was changed when American rye whiskey was substituted for the cognac. A dash of absinthe was also added by Leon Lamothe, a bartender. Today, he is regarded as the originator of the drink we now sip. In 1912, absinthe was banned, so Pernod is used instead.

  • 5cl bourbon
  • 1cl Pernod
  • dash Peychaud bitters
  • dash Angostura bitters
  • 1 white sugar cube
  • dash soda water

Place a sugar cube in an old-fashioned glass and soak with the Angostura and Peychaud bitters. Add enough soda to cover the sugar and crush it with the back of a barspoon. Add the bourbon. Stir. Float the Pernod over the top. Garnish with a twist of lemon.

Sidecar

Created by bartender Harry at Harry'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. The name of this captain remains elusive, but one thing is for sure: The proportions of this cocktail are firmly laid down-two measures strong, one measure sweet, and one measure sour. The cocktail glass must be ice cold; a sugar-coated rim is optional.

  • 3cl brandy
  • 2cl Cointreau
  • 2cl fresh lemon juice

Pour all ingredients into a shaker with ice. Shake. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a maraschino cherry.

Singapore Sling

By definition, a sling can be traced back to 1759, and its name is possibly derived from the German word schlingen, meaning to swallow quickly. Its origin is uncertain and there might be a connection to the Collins.

This original recipe, revered by British expatriots living in the Far East, is simple to make and refreshing. Most give credence to the legend that the Singapore Gin Sling was created at the Raffles Hotel, in Singapore, in 1915 by bartender Ngiam Tong Boon.

By 1930, when the name Singapore Sling arrived in Europe and the United States, it had lost its fruit juices and was distilled down to gin, cherry brandy, fresh lemon juice, and soda.

Raffles Singapore Sling

  • 2cl gin
  • 2cl cherry brandy
  • 1cl Coi ntreau
  • 1cl Bénédictine
  • 1cl fresh lime juice
  • 7cl fresh orange juice
  • 7cl pineapple juice

Pour all ingredients into a shaker with ice. Shake. Strain into a highball filled with ice. Garnish with a slice of pineapple and a maraschino cherry. Serve with a straw and a stirrer.

Singapore Sling

  • 4cl gin
  • 2cl cherry brandy
  • 2cl fresh lemon juice
  • soda water

Place all ingredients, except soda, into a shaker with ice. Shake. Strain into a highball filled with ice. Top up with soda. Stir. Garnish with a slice of lemon and a maraschino cherry.

Stinger

This cocktail was considered "a wholesome and well concocted" recipe by American bartender Patrick Duffy, a legend during the 1920s and 1930s. The author Somerset Maugham was known to have imbibed one or two of these during his lifetime, as was Evelyn Waugh the writer who, after drinking several of them, proclaimed it was to be his signature drink. Usually served straight-up in pre-Prohibition days, most people request it on the rocks in an old-fashioned glass.

  • 5cl brandy
  • 2cl white crème de menthe

Pour the brandy, then the crème de menthe, over ice in an old-fashioned glass. Stir. Serve with a stirrer and a glass of ice water on the side.

Tequila Sunrise

A Mexican concoction created in the late 1920s, this colorful long drink has maintained a certain chic. The trick for a successful two-tone drink is to add the grenadine slowly so it settles on the bottom of the glass, creating the sunrise effect.

  • 5cl tequila
  • 15cl fresh orange juice
  • 2 dashes grenadine

Pour the tequila and orange juice into the highball filled with ice. Stir. Add the grenadine slowly and watch it trickle down through the drink. Stir just before drinking to create a fabulous sunrise effect. Garnish with a slice of orange in a spiral. Serve with a straw and a stirrer.

Tom and Jerry

A hot drink invented by "Professor" Jerry Thomas in 1852 at the Planter's House Bar, St Louis, Missouri. He refused to serve it before snowfall.

  • 1 free-range egg
  • 4cl dark rum
  • 1.5cl brandy
  • 1 teaspoon caster sugar

Beat the egg yolk and the egg white separately, then combine in a heatproof toddy glass. Add the spirits and sugar. Fill with boiling water. Grate fresh nutmeg over the drink.

Vampiro

This is the national drink of Mexico. It's a strange combination of orange and tomato juice, all the spices, the sweetness of the honey, and the surprise of onion.

  • 5cl silver tequila
  • 7cl tomato juice
  • 3cl fresh orange juice
  • 1 teaspoon clear honey
  • 1cl fresh lime juice
  • half slice onion, finely chopped
  • few slices fresh red hot chili
  • few drops Worcestershire sauce
  • salt

Pour all ingredients, starting with the juices and then the tequila, into a shaker with ice. Shake well to release the flavor of the chili. Strain into a highball filled with ice. Garnish with a wedge of lime on the rim of the glass and a chili (green or red) for anyone devilish enough to dare to take a bite of it!

Velvet Hammer

There is a recipe using vodka, Tia Maria, and cream in the same proportion is also known as a Velvet Hammer. But this is the accepted classic recipe.

  • 3cl Tia Maria
  • 3cl Cointreau
  • 3cl double cream

Pour all ingredients into a shaker with ice. Shake. Strain into a cocktail glass.

Vesper

This is the cocktail that James Bond ordered in the movie, Casino Royale , in memory of double agent Vesper Lynd, whose demise he mourned.

  • 6cl gin
  • 3cl vodka
  • 1cl Lillet

Pour all ingredients into a shaker with ice. Shake. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a twist of orange.