Help me pick some basic cocktails to try

Cafe Society
1

At times, I like to grab a quick cocktail at a bar. I have time for just one drink.

I’d like to try a different drink each time, but I’m not much of a drinker, so I don’t know what to ask for. I end up falling back on the same few things when i sit at the bar and can’t think of any basic drinks.

So I get on my phone and Google cocktails, but I end up with websites that list every drink ever made, most of which, I assume, would be foreign to your average bartender.

So how do I pick some simple and fairly well-known cocktails that won’t make a bartender think I’m playing games when I order my refreshment?

2

Vodka Soda
Vodka Tonic
Vodka Gimlet
Tom Collins
Gin & Tonic
Gin Gimlet
Whiskey* & Soda
Whiskey & Coke
Whiskey & Ginger Ale
Rusty Nail

Just a few basic ones - btw, with whiskey, there’s Scotch, Irish, Sour Mash, Canadian, Bourbon, Rye, many others, but I’d recommend going with Bourbon, like say Maker’s Mark or Jim Beam.

3

Here are some of the ones I’ve tried, some just because I had heard of them somewhere once before:

Vodka Tonic
Vodka Cran
Gin & Tonic
Rum & Coke
Cap & Coke
White Russian
Margarita
Martini
Manhattan
Mai Tai
Long Island Iced Tea
Screwdriver
Harvey Wallbanger
7&7

4

How about a Detroit Martini? It’s vodka, a dash of sugar syrup and orange bitters, and a couple of sprigs of mint.
In the list of the ones you’ve tried, Bearflag70, which ones did you really like?

5

Bourbon and 7
Scotch and soda, rocks or neat
There’s all sorts of variations on a martini. At the very least also try one that’s dirty or very dirty.

6

You should check out the cocktail builder. It’s supposed to work by typing in the ingredients that you have, and it will tell you what drinks you can make, but you could use it to plug in ingredients that have flavors you like and it will tell you what drinks are made with them.

7

Whiskey Sour
Salty Dog (vodka and grapefruit juice, with a salted rim)
Bloody Mary
Black Russian
Tequila Sunrise
Cosmopolitan
Sex on the Beach

8

An old fashioned. What can go wron with an old fashioned?

9

What do you like to drink that is not a cocktail? Do you have a preference for any hard liquor at all?

And Old Fashioned is a good whiskey cocktail as is a Manhattan (but it’s hard to find someone who makes it right).

Martini’s are good gin cocktails, so are gimlets.

Margaritas are, of course, the classic tequila cocktail (NOT BLENDED!). Tequila Sunrises are nice if you want a change of pace. I just made myself something the other day that was Tequila and triple sec 2:1 with a splash of roses lime juice and topped 50/50 fruit punch and seltzer over ice. It was awesome. It probably already exists, but give that a shot.

There are a thousand and one rum drinks. If you are into rum, I’m not really. Mai Tai’s are nice though.

Vodka drinks are also plentiful. I like a salty dog on occasion, I don’t like screwdrivers but many people do (I like them better if you add grenadine I don’t remember what that is called), but usually if I am drinking vodka I just have it cold with lime.

For something from another era, try a sidecar. Tasty and rare these days. Can be made with Bourbon but usually made with Brandy.

__ and Soda or __and coke or ___ and tonic aren’t really cocktails. There isn’t anything wrong with them, but if that’s all you were going to do you wouldn’t really need advice.

10

On a hot summer day (or night) you can’t go wrong with a mojito. Just know that once you order one, everyone is going to want one too.

Also along those lines I also like a good mint julep.

11

It depends on the bar. If it looks like they don’t do complicated mixed drinks, stick to gin and tonics, or bourbon and soda, rum and coke, etc.

Old fashions are great in a real bar and in addition to the mojito mentioned above, I really like Campari and soda in the summer (it is an aquired taste).

12

Especially if you have it made with a good rye whiskey.

Sazeracs are pretty great - absinthe, rye, cognac and bitters.

A dark and stormy is a solid summertime/early fall drink - dark rum and ginger beer.

13

Yeah, the type of bar is important. I’ve been in a fair number of bars and restaurants that can’t make an Old Fashioned (probably because they don’t keep bitters on hand, since I assume they have bourbon, an orange, and a sugar cube sitting around, and bitters is the only other ingredient [OK, and soda water if you roll that way.])

But, anyway, I like Old Fashioneds, especially with rye as Mr. Excellent mentioned. (I’ve been in a lot of bars that don’t have rye, either. Fuckers.) Even with bourbon they are quite nice. And, I have read that they were FDR’s favorite cocktail, so I always break out my imaginary top hat and long cigarette holder when I have one!

14

My experience is in those type of bars they either try to make it with Canada Club or Jack Daniels if you don’t call your whiskey. Both of which as very very wrong for a variety of reasons.

15

Sometimes they do have rye but it is dreadful, bottom shelf stuff. If they don’t have a good rye for my old fashioned, I go with Woodford Res. bourbon if they have it. If not, then Maker’s Mark, and if not that, then a beer.

Also, you can’t go wrong with bourbon, rye, or scotch on the rocks, or with a splash. God I wish I wasn’t at work right now.

16

Mmmm…drool… If I’m in a place where I would get a sideways glance for ordering a mixed drink, and I don’t feel like a beer, I default to Beam or Jack on the rocks. I take my scotch neat, though. Last time I was shopping for booze, I decided I’d been good and I deserved a bottle of Dalwhinnie. So, that’s what’s occupying my booze shelf as I type. Countdown to scotch… about 9 hours. Sigh…

17

Lately we’ve been drinking shots of Crown Royal Black, with a splash of soda, shaken over ice, then strained. It’s very smooth and slightly sweet.

We call it a Yo Mama, because there is a mother/daughter pair of bartenders, and that’s what the mom drinks.

18

I’d recommend the following cocktails:

  1. Manhattan. Old school, and essentially un-mutated in 150 years.

  2. Daiquiri- The real deal, not some strange frozen drink in New Orleans. Rum, lime juice, sugar. Shake with ice. A really good variation is the La Floridita daiquiri that includes grapefruit juice and maraschino liqueur.

  3. Mojito - it’s essentially a daiquiri, with muddled mint and soda water.

  4. Caipirinha - Brazilian cachaca drink- basically muddled limes, sugar and cachaca shaken with ice.

  5. Old Fashioned- bourbon, muddled orange, sugar.

  6. Singapore Sling- interesting but good drink.

  7. White Russian - vodka, kahlua, milk or cream.

19

We’ve had a lot of fun at a certain type of bar (ones where there are lots of bottles and a bartender) in talking to the bartender and having them “make something up.” You don’t tend to get classic cocktails, but you get interesting cocktails. Don’t be afraid to talk to your “mixologist.”

20

I’ve been slowly making my way through the drinks mentioned here.

TOPS
Rusty Nail
White Russian
Cadillac Margarita

WOULD ORDER IT AGAIN
Vodka Tonic
Vodka Gimlet
Vodka Cran
Rum & Coke
Cap & Coke
Margarita
Mai Tai
Long Island
Bloody Mary
Old Fashioned (didn’t notice what they used)

WOULD TRY TO ORDER SOMETHING ELSE BESIDES THIS
Gin & Tonic
Martini
Manhattan
Screwdriver
Harvey Wallbanger
7&7
Bourbon & 7
Mojito

UNTESTED
Vodka Soda
Tom Collins
Gin Gimlet
Whiskey Soda
Whiskey & Coke
Whiskey & Ginger Ale
Whiskey Sour
Salty Dog (I don’t like grapefruit)
Black Russian
Tequila Sunrise
Cosmopolitan
Sex on the Beach
Sidecar
Mint Julep
Campari & Soda
Sazeracs
Dark & Stormy
Bourbon Rocks
Rye Rocks
Scotch Rocks
Daiquiri
Caipirinha
Singapore Sling
Scotch & Soda