DRINKRN°01 The Classics Issue

A field guide to drinking well · Est. 1806 – 1983

TheClassicsIssue

Twelve drinks that built the bar. The recipes, the histories, the myths and the cameos — poured neat, no filler.

Open the index 12 entries · 1 long evening

Every drink in this issue survived something — Prohibition, fashion, the nineteen-seventies. What follows is the canon: twelve cocktails whose recipes fit on an index card and whose stories do not. Each entry carries the spec as it should be made, the history as it can best be verified, and the legends exactly as untrue as they’ve always been. Pour something. Take your time.

  • 12classic pours
  • 177years, first to last
  • 3disputed birthplaces, minimum
  • 1dirty stinker
The Index

Twelve pours, in order of appearance

  1. 01 Old Fashioned Bourbon or rye · c. 1880s · United States Spirit, sugar, water, bitters. The definition of a cocktail — and the drink that refused to be improved. Read the entry →
  2. 02 Sazerac Rye whiskey · c. 1850s · New Orleans Rye, sugar and Peychaud’s in an absinthe-washed glass. New Orleans in liquid form — theatrical, perfumed, unbending. Read the entry →
  3. 03 Whiskey Sour Bourbon · 1862 · High seas → America Whiskey, lemon, sugar — the golden ratio that keeps every sour on earth in balance. Add egg white and it wears silk. Read the entry →
  4. 04 Manhattan Rye whiskey · c. 1870s · New York City Rye sharpened by vermouth, rounded by bitters, crowned with a cherry. The first great cocktail of the vermouth age. Read the entry →
  5. 05 Martini Gin (dry vermouth attending) · c. 1880s–1911 · United States Gin and dry vermouth, stirred to just above freezing. The most argued-about drink on earth, and the most photographed glass. Read the entry →
  6. 06 Daiquiri White rum · 1898 · Daiquirí, Cuba Rum, lime, sugar — nothing to hide behind. The bartender’s handshake and the truest test of touch in the trade. Read the entry →
  7. 07 Mojito White rum · c. 1910s (roots 1586) · Havana, Cuba Rum, lime, sugar, mint and soda over crushed ice. Four centuries of Caribbean history disguised as a summer afternoon. Read the entry →
  8. 08 French 75 Gin & champagne · c. 1915 · Paris A gin sour given a champagne engine. Named after a field gun, dressed for a wedding, dangerous as advertised. Read the entry →
  9. 09 Negroni Gin, Campari, vermouth · 1919 · Florence One part gin, one part Campari, one part sweet vermouth. Equal parts, infinite swagger — bitterness as a lifestyle. Read the entry →
  10. 10 Margarita Tequila · c. 1936–48 · Mexico (disputed, gleefully) Tequila, lime and orange liqueur behind a salt rim. The most contested origin story in cocktails, and America’s most ordered drink. Read the entry →
  11. 11 Mai Tai Aged rum · 1944 · Oakland, California Aged rum, lime, curaçao and orgeat over crushed ice. The best drink in the world, according to the first person who tasted it. Read the entry →
  12. 12 Espresso Martini Vodka & espresso · 1983 · Soho, London Vodka, fresh espresso and coffee liqueur shaken to a crema crown. The youngest classic — born from one immortal request. Read the entry →