23 Popular Drinks Every Bartender Should Know How to Make

These 23 most popular cocktail recipes, every bartender should know, no matter what their niche bar market is—because their simple, profitable, and highly satisfying. 

These are taught in bartending schools and for alcohol server certification because they form almost all the must-know drinks for bartenders—and for anyone learning mixology to become a bartender. Whether at a sports bar, a cocktail bar, or country clubs, bartenders cannot escape these drinks—and for good reason. They pair well with bar snack foods, and with practice can lead to some really great customer reviews.

Effective, elegant, and efficient simplicity is a virtue at BinWise, so we’ve prepared this quick-and-easy bartender drink guide. If you master them at your bar, prepare to pour through liquor. Then, everyone can worry less about inventory management. (Who wants to find out the hard way if wine can go bad, anyway?)

Learn them, know them, mix them in your dreams—like all your other crucial bartender duties in this competitive, dynamic industry.

Key Takeaway: Add these lists to your restaurant tech collection for better profits and guest retention.

Essential Bartender Recipes: Drink List for Every Bartender

These 23 drinks for all bartenders are the most popular cocktails out there. The cocktail recipes fit the bill when you're having a happy hour, hosting brunch, or serving at black-tie events. If you want more, check out some of the best bartending books for an extra kick of inspiration. 

As reliable happy hour ideas, signature cocktail basics for your debut bar promotion, make sure you know how to make each of them. No matter your bar’s ideal happy hour time, these masterful classics can help protect the true meaning of happy hour. 

From martinis to the margarita and manhattan—these 19 drinks are timeless cocktails. Almost anyone will order them as a safe bet at a new restaurant, new bartender, or personal favorite. These drinks every bartender should know are crucial knowledge wherever drinks are sold—bars, restaurants, events, and beyond.

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You’ve likely already stocked a full bar liquor list with everything you’ll need for our “basic drinks” section. (If not, you'll learn d what one part means pretty quickly.) After them are the classic drinks. These may not be the most popular, or the easiest, but every bartender worth their salt knows them, and they’re profitable cocktails. 

For each cocktail on the list, you’ll see cocktail ingredients, recipe steps, and key historic points. So if you’re looking for bartender drinks, roll up your sleeves. These are the top drinks bartenders should know—from common mix drinks to classic cocktails featuring different types of alcohol.

For more mixology, check out our in-depth guides for every season of drinking: spring cocktails, summer cocktails, fall cocktails, and winter cocktails.

Key Terminology Every Bartender Needs to Know 

It’s true—bartending can get a little technical. You don’t have to be intimidated by the idea of a pop quiz on dictionary definitions, but you should wrap your head around key terms when you’re learning about digestifs, drink recipes for sake, comparing tequila vs. Mezcal.

Explore other key terms and jargon in classic bartending vocabulary before you dive into practicing these well-known, high-reward cocktails. (After all, what is a shot? And, how many does the standard liquor bottle size really hold?)

Original Vintage Cocktails Bartenders Need to Know

Prohibition and vintage cocktails are timeless for so many reasons it’s easy to lose count. To this day, their mixology pairs perfectly with contemporary menus peppered with newcomers like natural wine, biodynamic wines or popular premium sake brands.

While your sharp French 75 bridges the gap between brunch and luxury evenings—add a splash of uniqueness with Champagne cocktails at social events that enjoy a more casual, lower ABV.

Vintage Cocktails Takeaway: Differentiate your menu with revived rarities (e.g., Aviation, French 75) that align with modern trends like Instagrammable visuals and low-ABV preferences, while maintaining 68-75% margins.

Pair these drinks with vintage glassware to enhance presentation, and add more prohibition-era vintage cocktails so your list always shines from crowd to event and across generations.

Aviation (cir. 1916)

For the century-old Aviation, you need just four ingredients (nothing more, and not one less).

• 2 oz gin
• ½ oz maraschino liqueur
• ¼ oz crème de violette
• ¾ oz lemon juice

Steps

1. Chill the glassware in advance.
2. Shake up the ingredients with ice.
3. Strain, and then double-strain.
4. Garnish with a cherry or peel.

Tips

• Use quality ingredients, like Rothman & Winter's signature crème de violette.
• Upsell this as the "Instagram cocktail" because it's lovely to look at.

Sidecar (1920s)

The side car takes even fewer ingredients, but it is arguably more successful than its more complicated counterpart above.

• 1.5 oz cognac
• 0.75 oz Cointreau
• 0.75 oz lemon juice

Steps

1. Sugar-rim the glass to prepare.
2. Shake and strain the three ingredients.
3. Garnish with a candied or simple orange twist.

Tips

• Make ready-to-pour batches of the sidecar for a busy brunch
• Pair with dark chocolate and feature as a pairing on the dessert menu.

Corpse Reviver No. 2 (1920s)

Intriguing by name alone, the Corpse Reviver’s flavors are anything but morbid. The floral notes of quality gin are lively against lemon juice and Lillet.

Ingredients

• 0.75 oz gin
• 0.75 oz Lillet Blanc
• 0.75 oz lemon juice

Steps

1. Do an absinthe rinse.
2. Shake & strain.
3. Add lemon twist.

Tips

• Market this one as a "Hangover Cure," where it jokingly gets its title.

French 75 (cir. 1915)

Discover the sophistication and uniqueness of the French 75, one of the most cherished cocktails because of its surprising, almost-contemporary use of Champagne with gin.

Ingredients

• 1 oz gin
• ½ oz lemon
• ½ oz syrup
• 3 oz Champagne

Steps

1. Shake up base ingredients.
2. Top with the Champagne
3. Pop in the colorful lemon twist.

Tips

• Use Prosecco for save a little on inventory costs.
• This drink goes easily with a Cognac upsell.

Hanky Panky (1920s)

Ingredients

• 1.5 oz gin
• 1.5 oz sweet vermouth
• 1 barspoon Fernet-Branca

Steps

1. Stir & strain the gin, vermouth, and Fernet.
2. Express your orange peels.
3. Serve with a flourish.

Tips

• Pair this beloved cocktail with a salty and savory charcuterie plate.

Common Cocktails Every Great Bartender Knows

The most common cocktails in the US, these staple sippers appear on more than 80% of bar menus. Their long-standing presence stems from their universal appeal and relative ease. The tangy crispness of a Margarita and the sophistication of a Martini can satisfy almost anyone as a team. 

Mastering these common cocktail drinks isn’t optional. These drinks can form the cornerstone of customer loyalty and make or break repeat business. As you learn, stick to the standard liquor pour (or standard wine pour) to make sure you’re maximizing the number of cocktails you can mix up from  well liquor.

Common Cocktails Takeaway: Master margaritas, martinis, and other high-demand drinks to meet customer expectations and capitalize on their 50%+ contribution to U.S. cocktail sales.‍

3 Drink Tips Every Bartender Wants to Know

Use these high-margin drinks for happy hour promotions. Considering the standard pour cost, these classics work for customers and bar managers with an eye on efficient, profitable inventory management. Try these pro tips to keep things interesting and engaging without too much stress or investment from the back-of-house:

• Use the standard wine pour guide to ensure consistency for the drink’s pricing choice, whether you’re making sparkling cocktails like the Aperol Spritz or something more exotic..
• Feature your basics prominently. No matter your type of menu layout—these drinks are more than able to please customers new, loyal, and long-standing.
• Evolve them into new cocktails by swapping ingredients (like sparkling sake in a Gimlet), adding cocktail spices, or using seasonal drink presentations.

Margarita

The margarita is the most popular cocktail in America. It’s also the most popular cocktail in every major U.S. market except Chicago, where margaritas are strangely not even in the top 5. 

What’s even more remarkable is that margaritas cost almost 50 cents more than the national average cocktail price of $9 and they’re still the most popular cocktail. 

Bartenders can’t afford not to know how to make margaritas at the drop of a hat. Especially during afternoons and early evenings, when margaritas are most popular. They're also the perfect chance to try and upsell a customer.

Margarita Ingredients

• 2 oz. tequila
• 1 oz. Cointreau
• 1 oz. lime juice
• 1 lime slice
• 1 pinch salt (for salted rim)

How to Make a Margarita

1. Create salted rim (coat rim of glass with salt) and fill with ice
2. Add tequila, Cointreau, lime juice, and ice to a shaker. Shake.
3. Strain into glass
4. Garnish with lime slice

Tips for Making a Margarita

• Shake, never stir, a margarita
• Always use 100% agave tequila

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Martini

Martini recipes are probably the easiest to make in the whole wide world. 

They definitely deserve a spot in our easy, basic cocktails section. If not for one thing: they’re ridiculously popular. They are the 2nd most popular drink in the U.S. behind the margarita. They’re also most frequently enjoyed at night. That says a lot about the martini. 

Gin is included in some aphrodisiac drinks, after all. That depends on what gin is made from. There are so many gin brands. Since its invention in 1863, it’s held a sort of effortless mystique perfectly at home when darkness falls. Learn to make a perfect one.

Martini Ingredients

• 3 oz. gin
• 1.5 oz. dry vermouth
• 1 speared olive or lemon twist

How to Make a Martini

1. Pour gin and vermouth into a mixer with ice cubes, stir
2. Strain into a chilled martini glass
3. Garnish with an olive or lemon twist

Tips for Making a Martini

• Chill some martini glasses in a freezer to make sure you have properly chilled glasses ready to go
• Stir for 30 seconds
• Cut the lemon twist over the martini glass, to capture any falling zest

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Old Fashioned

The old fashioned is the original cocktail. There was a time when there weren’t thousands of cocktails. There was just one cocktail. And it was defined in 1806 as “a potent concoction of spirits, bitters, water, and sugar.” 

If you had spirits, bitters, water, and sugar, you could make the cocktail. Make it with bourbon, brandy, or rye, it didn't matter. It was a simpler time. Of course, it wasn't old fashioned back then. 

It was only after the invention of hundreds of new cocktails that the drinking community looked back at the original recipe with nostalgia. “Give me a cocktail,” they’d say. “What kind?” the barkeep would ask. “One of those old fashioned ones.” 

Old Fashioned Ingredients

• 1.5 oz. bourbon whiskey
• 1 sugar cube
• 2 dashes Angostura bitters
• 1 teaspoon water
• 1 orange slice or cherry

How to Make an Old Fashioned

1. Place sugar cube in old fashioned glass and cover in bitters
2. Add a teaspoon of water, muddle until sugar cube dissolved
3. Fill glass with ice, add whiskey
4. Garnish with orange slice or cherry

Tips for Making an Old Fashioned

• The traditional recipe calls for bourbon, but rye whiskey, scotch, and brandy are popular types of whiskey substitutes for those who want less of the vanilla and caramel notes bourbon is known for
• If sugar cubes aren’t handy or there’s no time or space to muddle, .75 oz. simple syrup can replace the sugar cube

Mimosa

The mimosa is the 4th most popular cocktail in the U.S. It’s, unsurprisingly, most popular during the morning and afternoon. 

It’s said that a bartender at the Ritz in Paris invented the mimosa in 1925. It’s also said that it was invented around the turn of the 20th century in the Mediterranean. Though, that’s maybe doing some disservice to the Spaniards who have been drinking orange juice and sparkling wine for centuries. Who can really say where these things come from? 

It gets its name from the yellow-flowering mimosa plant. That we do know. If you have a brunch service, expect to go through many wine bottle sizes or cases of wine on this wine cocktail.

Mimosa Ingredients

• 2.5 oz. Champagne or sparkling wine
• 2.5 oz. orange juice
• 1 orange slice

How to Make a Mimosa

1. Pour Champagne in Champagne flute
2. Add orange juice
3. Garnish with orange slice

Tips for Making a Mimosa

• Use a dry sparkling wine with sweeter fresh-squeezed orange juice and a sweeter sparkling wine with tart orange juice from concentrate
• If you’re making pitchers of mimosas, don’t pre-mix it too far in advance or you’ll lose the carbonation; 10-15 minutes before serving is about as far in advance as is ideal

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Moscow Mule

The Moscow Mule is the 5th most popular cocktail in the good ol’ U.S.A and one of the most popular vodka cocktails in general. That was surprising to us because Moscow Mules require a set of hardware that a lot of popular cocktails don’t. To serve a Moscow Mule properly, you need chilled mugs of copper. 

Either every bar across the country has those or they’re not serving Moscow Mules in copper mugs. Either way, it’s okay. We’re not the Moscow Mule police. Enjoy as you would enjoy, for the Moscow Mule is enjoyable if it's anything.

Moscow Mule Ingredients

• 4 oz. ginger beer
• 1.5 oz. vodka
• 1 teaspoon lime juice
• 1 lime slice

How to Make a Moscow Mule

1. Combine ginger beer and vodka in a highball glass full of ice
2. Add lime juice, stir
3. Garnish with lime slice

Tips for Making a Moscow Mule

• Choose a spicy, extra-gingery ginger beer to avoid the feeling of a vodka ginger ale
• Serve the drink in a chilled copper mug

Cosmopolitan

The cosmopolitan is credited to Toby Cecchini of Manhattan’s The Odeon restaurant in 1987. 

In the grand scheme of cocktails, the cosmo is young. There is a similar recipe from the 1930s that calls for gin, Cointreau, lemon juice, and raspberry syrup. Like most cocktails, there are multiple sources claiming multiple creation stories. 

What we do know is that it gained popularity like mad in the 1990s on the back of Carrie Bradshaw and now single-handedly represents a certain social sophistication.

Cosmopolitan Ingredients

• 1.5 oz. vodka
• 1 oz cranberry juice
• .5 oz. Cointreau
• .5 oz. fresh lime juice
• 1 lime or lemon wheel

How to Make a Cosmopolitan

1. Pour vodka, cranberry juice, Cointreau, and lime juice into a shaker with ice cubes, shake
2. Strain into cocktail glass
3. Garnish with lime or lemon wheel

Tips for Making a Cosmopolitan

• Cut the lemon twist over the cocktail glass to capture any falling zest
• Shake vigorously until the shaker is so cold your hands sting

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Bloody Mary

The origin of the name Bloody Mary, like the drink’s origins, are murky. Queen Mary I of England, Hollywood star Mary Pickford, the girlfriend of the owner of a bar called Bucket of Blood. All potential origins for the name. It’s hard to say how this cocktail got its name. So let’s just appreciate it for what it is: a cool name.

The Blood Mary is a concept at this point. Like a sandwich or a taco. There isn’t a single recipe, but some general rules to follow when making one. But whatever recipe you end up with, you’ll have a classic fall cocktail on your hands. The Bloody Mary recipe here is very simple, yet very delicious. 

Bloody Mary Ingredients

• 2 oz. vodka
• 6 oz. tomato juice
• 1 tablespoon ground horseradish
• 2 dashes hot sauce
• 2 dashes Worcestershire sauce
• 1 pinch celery salt
• 1 pinch ground black pepper
• 1 lemon slice
• 1 celery stalk
• 2 speared green olives

How to Make a Bloody Mary

1. Coat the rim of a highball glass with celery salt, fill with with ice
2. Squeeze juice of lemon slice into shaker, add vodka, tomato juice, horseradish, hot sauce, worcestershire sauce, and black pepper and shake with ice
3. Strain shaker into highball glass
4. Garnish with a celery stalk and green olive spear

Tips for Making a Bloody Mary

• Any hot sauce can be used, though Tabasco is the traditional choice
• Anything goes with garnishes: meat sticks, pickled vegetables, cheese
• Serve with a sidecar of beer for best possible guest experience

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Basic Cocktails Every Bartender Should Know

Basic can mean easy, but it doesn’t mean unimportant. Good basic bartending drinks are simple to whip up on a busy shift. Recommend them when you’re slammed, and you’ll set everyone up for efficient satisfaction and success. Such is the magic of basic everyday drinks.

Mastering foundational drinks is critical for thriving during high-volume shifts and seasons. Whether you’re handling happy hour drinks or catering to post-theater rushes, these cocktails make up around 65% of all U.S. drink orders. They’re always approachable, great flavors, and quick to prepare. Most can be made in under two minutes. 

Their simplicity makes them ideal for training new staff, ensuring consistency across your bar program. For example, a perfectly balanced Whiskey Sour cocktails (tart-sweet with a frothy finish) can become a signature order that boosts repeat visits, while the Gimlet, a crisp Gin cocktail, aligns with the growing demand for citrus-forward, low-effort refreshers.

‍Basic Cocktails Takeaway: Perfect quick-serve staples like Aperol Spritz and Whiskey Sours—their under-2-minute prep times and 65-75% profit margins make them non-negotiable for high-volume shifts.

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Aperol Spritz

Padua, Italy, 1919. The precocious Barbieri brothers got together to pull off their greatest stunt yet: creating a fun, refreshing alternative to the Venetian combination of white wine and soda. 

The great part about the Aperol spritz is that Aperol is a potable bitters. If you truly want to craft the entire cocktail, you can learn how to make bitters using a bitters recipe. It’s good for your digestion. It’s also relatively low in alcohol, with 11%. The ingredients and the method are simple, making it a masterful basic bartending drink. 

All together, the Aperol Spritz is a perfect light afternoon drink for a summer lunch.

‍Aperol Spritz Ingredients

• 3 oz. Prosecco
• 3 oz. Aperol
• Club soda
• 1 orange slice

How to Make a Aperol Spritz

1. Add ice to rocks or old-fashioned glass
2. Pour in Aperol, then Prosecco
3. Top with club soda
4. Garnish with orange slice

Whiskey Sour

The whiskey sour is the single best summer bourbon cocktail. The great state of Wisconsin has the honor of being the first location this classic cocktail was mentioned in print—back in 1870. Thank you, Waukesha Plain Dealer.

“Sours” are a family of classic drinks and more accurately thought of as a principle of mixology. They're one of the oldest approaches to making classic drinks. It’s a simple, well-worn formula: base alcohol + sour mixer + sweetener. A gimlet, for example, is basically a sour because Rose’s Lime isn’t lime juice, but a sweetened lime cordial. 

Whiskey Sour Ingredients

• 1.5 oz. bourbon whiskey
• 1 oz. lemon juice
• .5 oz. simple syrup
• 1 cherry
• 1 orange slice

How to Make a Whiskey Sour

1. Add whiskey, lemon juice, and simple syrup to shaker without ice cubes, shake
2. Strain into old-fashioned glass full of ice
3. Garnish with cherry and orange slice

Tips for Making a Whiskey Sour

• Add an egg white into the shaker with the whiskey, lemon juice, and simple syrup for the most traditional whiskey sour possible
• Shake the cocktail without ice—also called a dry shake—vigorously to generate as much froth as possible
• Use 1.5 oz. of sour mix instead of lemon juice and simple syrup if desired

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White Russian

The White Russian is a Black Russian with cream added. They have nothing to do with Russia besides their use of vodka. And vodka was created in Poland. Just one of those things, I guess.

A Belgian named Gustave Tops invented the cocktail in 1949 in honor of the U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg’s visit to Brussels. We’ve now mentioned five countries in the last few sentences. You can be forgiven if you think the origin story of the White Russian doesn’t follow a logical narrative thread.

White Russian Ingredients

• .75 oz. coffee liqueur
• 1.75 oz. vodka
• 1 oz. cream

White Russian Recipe

1. Add ice to rocks or old-fashioned glass
2. Add coffee liqueur and vodka
3. Top off with cream
4. Tell them "the dude" sent you

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Gin Gimlet

The gimlet is a product of circumstance versus creativity, though honed and perfected with time. 

Its origins are at sea, when limes were mandatory rations for British sailors to battle scurvy. Gin was the drink of choice for many British sailors of the time. It was also a natural complement to the limes they were required to eat. “You must eat this lime” is a phrase sadly resigned to this part of history. 

The gin and lime juice made each other more palatable and countless seamen avoided vitamin deficiency. It’s a basic gin cocktail if we’ve ever seen one. And we love it for that.

Gimlet Ingredients

• 2 oz. gin
• 1 oz. lime juice
• 1 lime wheel

How to Make a Gimlet

1. Add gin and lime juice to shaker with ice cubes, shake
2. Strain into chilled cocktail or martini glass
3. Garnish with lime wheel

Tips for Making a Gimlet

• Use a lime cordial like Rose’s Sweetened Lime Juice instead of the fresh lime juice for sweeter drink‍
• Gin can be switched out for vodka, creating a popular variation (the vodka gimlet)

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Daiquiri

The daiquiri is a family of cocktails and holds an esteemed position in the basic cocktail pantheon. It's one of the “six basic drinks” in The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks, an epic and influential 1948 cocktail book. 

The name is from a Cuban iron mine where an American mining engineer named Jennings Cox was stationed in Cuba in the 1890s. And that iron mine takes the name of the nearby beach, Daiquiri Beach.

The drink found its way to the NYC bar scene in the early 1900s and stayed under the radar until the 1940s. Rum was much easier to come by during WWII than whiskey and vodka. FDR’s “Good Neighbor” policy increased trade incentives between the U.S. and Latin America.

Daiquiri Ingredients

• 1.5 oz. rum
• 1 oz. lime juice
• .5 oz. simple syrup
• 1 lime twist

How to Make a Daiquiri

1. Pour all ingredients into a shaker with ice cubes, shake
2. Strain into chilled cocktail glass
3. Garnish with lime twist or wedge

Tips for Making a Daiquiri

• Make your own simple syrup using 2:1 cane sugar to water in a saucepan
• Shake until the shaker tin frosts on the outside

Classic Drinks for Every Bartender to Know

Rooted in drinking culture across centuries, cocktails like the Sazerac and Manhattan are more than recipes. They’re a heritage that connects modern bars to a golden age of craft cocktails, where creativity and pleasure blossomed at bars.

These drinks demand precision, from absinthe rinses to perfect vermouth ratios, offering guests an experience steeped in tradition and artistry.

Master these to elevate your bar’s reputation, turning casual patrons into devoted regulars who crave their stories and flavors.

‍Classic Cocktails Takeaway: Elevate your bar’s prestige with pre-Prohibition gems like the Sazerac and Manhattan whose fine techniques and historical lore appeal to drinkers across demographics.

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Boulevardier

Credit to Erskine Gwynne, an American writer based in Paris, for the creation of this perfect classic cocktail in the 1920s. With the completion of the redesign of Paris’s urban environment in the late 19th century, there appeared across the city huge, wide-open boulevards. 

For one of the first times in history, a city was designed to be experienced instead of simply lived in and used. The folks who took to leisurely strolling these new boulevards and open spaces were known as flâneurs or boulevardiers. They embraced a sort of fashionable urban exploration.

The original boulevardier recipe is made with bourbon. But most bartenders today recommend rye because the spice creates a rounder flavor with the sweet vermouth. And rye boulevardiers are fantastic, no doubt. But around here we stick with Erskine’s original recipe.

Boulevardier Ingredients

• 1.5 oz. rye or bourbon whiskey
• 1 oz. Campari
• 1 oz. sweet vermouth
• 1 orange twist

How to Make a Boulevardier

1. Add whiskey, Campari, and vermouth to shaker with ice, stir
2. Strain into rocks glass with a few ice cubes in it
3. Garnish with orange twist

Tips for Making a Boulevardier

• Serve in a lowball glass for maximum class
• Like the other famous cocktail with whiskey and vermouth, the Manhattan, a cocktail cherry can be used as a garnish for a sweeter, more playful version

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Gin Fizz

The defining feature of a fizz, which is a family of cocktails, is the combination of acidic juice and fizzy water. 

Created in New Orleans around the 1870s, the drink became popular in the U.S. in the first half of the 20th century. It got so popular, in fact, that bars needed to hire entire teams of bartenders to take shifts making the darn things.

And then around 1950, the domestic U.S. popularity couldn’t contain itself. The drink went international. The rest is history. Folks usually put gin, whiskey, and in fizzes, but gin is the most popular. It’s certainly one of our favorite classic cocktails.

Gin Fizz Ingredients

• 1.75 oz. gin
• 1 oz lemon juice
• .75 oz. simple syrup
• Club soda
• 1 lemon wedge

How to Make a Gin Fizz

1. Pour all ingredients in a shaker with ice cubes, shake
2. Strain into an 8 oz. glass with no ice in it
3. Top with club soda
4. Garnish with lemon wedge or twist

Tips for Making a Gin Fizz

• Maximize the froth by shaking once without ice, then adding ice for another shake.
• Add an egg white into the shaker for the traditional gin fizz

Sazerac

If you’ve ever heard of Peychaud’s bitters, you’ve heard of the apothecary who is credited with creating the Sazerac.

Antoine Amédée Peychaud came to New Orleans from the Caribbean islands in the early 19th century and set up shop selling bitters from a proprietary family recipe. A local barkeep used imported Cognac to make a cocktail that a local apothecary had created. And it grew evermore popular with the years.

Learn what is absinthe, one of the ingredients in this cocktail, by reading our article on it.

Sazerac Ingredients

• 1.5 oz. Cognac
• .25 oz. absinthe
• 3 dashes Peychaud’s bitters (here's a little primer about what bitters are made of and used for)
• 1 teaspoon water
• 1 sugar cube
• 1 lemon peel

How to Make a Sazerac

1. Rinse chilled old-fashioned glass with absinthe, set aside
2. In mixing glass, muddle bitters, sugar cube, and water
3. Add whiskey or Cognac to mixing glass, stir
4. Strain into old-fashioned glass, garnish with lemon peel

Tips for Making a Sazerac

• Add a combination of Angostura and Peychaud’s bitters for a more complex flavor profile
• Substitute the Cognac with rye whiskey for a slightly spicier, drier cocktail

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Negroni

James Bond, in the stories and movies, has at least twice ordered an Americano cocktail. It’s Campari, sweet vermouth, and sparkling water. And Bond prefers Perrier in his Americanos, thank you very much.

Sounds like a pretty refreshing drink, the Americano. Imagine coming home from a hard day’s work and sipping on one. Pretty good. Now imagine coming home from a really hard day’s work and sipping on one. Could probably be a little stronger.

That’s what Pascal-Olivier de Negroni thought when he was enjoying his favorite cocktail after a hard day’s work as a general in the French military. When you spend your days worrying about all sorts of men-at-arms, armored cavalry, and the looming Prussian threat, you need a little something more than Campari to take the edge of. He asked a bartender to throw a shot of gin in his Americano, and the Negroni was born.

Negroni Ingredients

• 1 oz. gin
• 1 oz. Campari
• 1 oz. sweet vermouth
• 1 orange peel

How to Make a Negroni

1. Add all ingredients to a shaker with ice cubes, stir
2. Strain into rocks glass full of ice
3. Garnish with orange peel

Tips for Making a Negroni

• Don’t rub the orange peel on the glass rim
• Use a full-bodied, bold gin to compete with the very flavorful Campari for a balanced flavor

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Manhattan

Back in the 18th and 19th centuries, the Frisian island of Fohr was known for its whaling community. It’s not far from mainland Germany, but has access to the whaling bounty of the North Sea. The pursuit of whales took these folks all the way to America—New England to be precise. That's where much of the whaling industry had consolidated.

At the tail end of the whaling era, mixing rye whiskey, sweet vermouth, and bitters became popular in New York City. And it spread to the rest of the region—Hartford, Connecticut, specifically. The whalers from Fohr picked up the habit there. Heading back to their homeland because work dried up, they brought the recipe and their appetite for it with them.

To this day, the little island of less than 9,000 people is in love with it. They drink it for lunch, for dinner, as a nightcap, for special occasions. Pictures of it adorn restaurants and drink menus. Bartenders specialize in it. And people seek it out constantly.

Manhattan Ingredients

• 2 oz. rye, bourbon, or Canadian whiskey
• .75 oz. sweet vermouth
• 1 dash Angostura bitters
• 1 cherry

How to Make a Manhattan

1. Pour whiskey, vermouth, and bitters into a shaker with ice cubes, stir
2. Strain into chilled glass
3. Garnish with cherry

Tips for Making a Manhattan

• Shake with cracked ice to get a better mix; crack the ice cube in the palm of your hand with the back of a bar spoon
• A maraschino cherry is best, though a lemon twist can be used instead of the cherry for a dressed-down version

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Mojito

Mojitos may seem like a newer, trendy drink, but their history reaches back many centuries. 

Native Cubans used mint leaves, sugar cane juice, and lime for medicine. The European presence in the Caribbean around that time encountered it and it soon evolved into a recreational drink with the addition of types of rum. 

The combination of cool mint leaves in mojitos complements the punch of citrus exquisitely. Making a mojito isn’t difficult, but making an excellent one is, so practice! There are worse fates in the world than disposing of practice mojitos.

Mojito Ingredients

• 1.5 oz. rum
• 1 oz. lime juice
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 6 mint leaves
• Club soda

How to Make a Mojito

1. Muddle 4 mint leaves with sugar and lime juice
2. Fill glass half full with crushed ice, add rum, and stir
3. Top off with club soda
4. Garnish with leftover 2 mint leaves and optional lime wheel or wedge

Tips for Making a Mojito

• Slap the mint leaves with your hands before putting them in the glass to muddle; it releases the mint leaves’ essential oil
• Stir gently to avoid mint leaves ripping
• Use dark rum to create a deeper flavor profile

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Frequently Asked Questions about Basic Bar Drinks

The world of cocktails is important for bartenders, mixologists, and everyone in between to understand. Our answers to these frequently asked questions will give you even more information about the drinks every bartender should know.

What are simple drinks to order at a bar?

Simple drinks to order at a bar often include anything that has rum, whiskey, tequila, or vodka. 

Any of the drinks from this list with those base liquors are simple to make because they pair well with so many flavors. You can never go wrong with a Screwdriver, a daiquiri, or a rum and coke.

What drinks should I stock in my bar?

You should have enough liquor types and mixers to be able to make any of the drinks on this list. A bar should be able to accommodate any of the basic drinks. The drinks on this list are a good place to start.

How do you stock a simple bar?

To stock a simple bar, you should have at least two options of each type of liquor, and mixers for at least three drinks to go with each liquor. 

From there, you need garnishes as well. You can also include red wine, white wine, sparkling wine, and different types of beer.

What is the most commonly ordered drink at a bar?

Margaritas are consistently the most commonly ordered drink at bars. 

They're enjoyable with nearly any meal, and can come in so many flavors. Margarita ingredients should always be a part of your inventory.

What is the difference between a highball and a lowball drink?

A highball is a drink served in a tall glass, typically with a larger volume of drink mixer. A lowball drink is served in a shorter glass with a higher ratio of spirit to mixer. 

Examples of highball drinks include the Gin and Tonic, while a classic Whiskey Sour is a lowball drink. These are both drinks every bartender should know how to make in the perfect ratio.

What is the difference between neat, on the rocks, and straight up?

Neat means a spirit is served undiluted, without ice. On the rocks drinks are served over ice. Straight up drinks are shaken or stirred with ice but strained into a glass (so, no ice). 

Cocktails are served in different ways and there is a large list of drinks every bartender should know how to make so they look and taste great.

Which are the classic cocktail garnishes?

Classic cocktail garnishes include citrus twists or slices, olives, cherries, and mint sprigs. The choice of garnish should complement the flavors of the drink, as well as the look. 

Using classic garnishes for cocktails is something every bartender should know. They should use different ones only if they want to change up the look or it's a requirement from the bar or restaurant they work in. Cocktail garnishes are sometimes used in a way that complements the branding of the establishment.

What is a “well” drink?

A well drink, also known as a rail drink, is an alcoholic beverage or mixed drink made with the more affordable liquors kept in the bar's "speed rail," "speed rack," or "well." 

These are shelves or racks located at a lower level than the bar, within easy reach of the bartender for quick preparation of bar drinks.

What is the difference between a shaken and stirred drink?

Shaking a drink dilutes and chills it faster and is typically used for cocktails with fruit juices, cream liqueurs, or other thick ingredients. 

Stirring is used for spirit-forward cocktails to blend and chill them without diluting too much.

How do you muddle ingredients in a cocktail?

Muddling involves pressing ingredients (such as herbs or fruit) with a muddler or a wooden spoon to release their flavors before adding them to a drink. 

Muddling of ingredients is commonly done when making some basic bar drinks.