Classical training

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Champagne Cocktail It’s sexy in its simplicity: Place one cube of sugar in a Champagne flute, add bitters and fill with Champagne. Finish with a twist of lemon.

Dark n’ Stormy Created by the Gosling Brothers’ distillery, this highball calls for Black Seal rum topped with ginger beer.

Harvey Wallbanger After losing a competition, a California surfer consoled himself by drinking screwdrivers topped with Galliano to the point of banging into walls drunk.

Manhattan Its origin leads to late-19th-century Manhattan, which was a rye town in those days. It consists of rye whiskey, sweet vermouth and bitters over ice.

Margarita The margarita has been taken to the extreme, but the original is almost equal parts tequila, lime juice and orange liqueur served in a salted glass.

Martini It’s been a hazy trip for the martini—from its inception as a blend of gin, dry vermouth and orange bitters to a suffix meaning anything served in a martini glass.

Moscow Mule In 1950s California, the heavily marketed Moscow Mule, served in a copper mug, was concocted as a way to move an overstock of Smirnoff vodka and ginger beer.

Negroni The Italian Count Negroni wanted to stiffen up his Americano cocktail, so he asked the bartenders to add gin to the mixture of sweet vermouth and Campari.

The “Old-Fashioned” Whiskey Cocktail Modern versions bare little resemblance to the original recipe of sugar, bitters, lemon peel and whiskey served over one ice cube.

Rob Roy Created to celebrate the 1894 Broadway play by the same name, this drink is a Manhattan with Scotch whiskey.

Sidecar Named after the sidecar in which a WWI army captain traveled to his favorite bar, the tart mixture of brandy, lemon sour and orange liqueur is balanced by a sweet sugar rim.

Singapore Sling The essentials of this drink, created at Singapore’s Raffles Hotel, are gin, cherry brandy, Cointreau, Bénédictine, pineapple juice, bitters, grenadine and lime juice.

Tom Collins and Gin Fizz Each contains gin and lemon sour topped with soda water. The Tom Collins, however, contains a sweeter gin and is served iced in a 12-ounce Collins glass; the fizz is served in an eight-ounce highball without ice.