Cocktails by Spirit

An umbrella term for spirits distilled from fermented grain — corn, rye, barley, or wheat — then aged in wooden barrels, where the wood shapes most of the color and flavor. Bourbon leans sweet with caramel and vanilla from new charred oak; Rye runs spicier and drier. Scotch comes only from Scotland, often in reused barrels, sometimes smoky from peat; Irish whiskey is smoother and more approachable. Across styles, whiskey cocktails tend rich, warming, and bittersweet.

Whiskey

Bourbon Lemonade Cooler

Bourbon softened by lemonade and peach — the pour that gets people who "don't like whiskey" to finish the glass.

Whiskey

Bourbon Rickey

The Rickey's original spirit — before gin became the more common modern version.

Whiskey

Juneteenth Bourbon Strawberry Cooler

Muddled strawberries, bourbon, and a soda top — a drink built for the table, not the bar.

Whiskey

Kentucky Buck

Bourbon's warmth meets fresh strawberry and a bright ginger snap.

Whiskey

Manhattan

Rye whiskey and sweet vermouth, stirred cold with a whisper of bitters, into a drink that tastes like it was built around a slow evening.

A neutral spirit redistilled with botanicals, defined by one rule: juniper must lead. Classic styles build on juniper, coriander seed, angelica root, and citrus peel distilled together, with nothing added afterward. Modern styles push into florals, cucumber, or regional ingredients while keeping juniper dominant. That range is why gin cocktails read as bright, herbaceous, and aromatic rather than any one fixed profile.

Gin

Bramble

A gin sour with a bruise-purple drizzle — as pretty as it is easy.

Gin

Butterfly Effect

Starts deep blue. Squeeze the lime — it shifts to indigo-purple, right in the glass.

Gin

Cucumber-Jalapeño Gin Smash

Garden-fresh cucumber meets real jalapeño heat.

Gin

French 75

Named after a WWI field gun — for the kick a little Champagne adds to gin and lemon.

Gin

Gin Buck

The Moscow Mule's gin-forward cousin.

Defined by what it lacks: distilled and filtered until it's largely without distinctive character, aroma, or color. Made from grain, potato, or grape, refined through repeated distillation to strip out flavor. That neutrality is the point — vodka carries other ingredients rather than asserting its own, so vodka cocktails let citrus, spice, or savory elements lead instead of the spirit.

Vodka

Bloody Mary

Part cocktail, part savoury snack — the drink that started brunch's whole genre.

Vodka

Cosmopolitan

Pink, tart, and better than its reputation — a real cocktail, not just a prop.

Vodka

Moscow Mule

The copper-mug drink — vodka, lime, a proper ginger kick.

Vodka

Palm Springs

Vodka, pineapple, cranberry, and lime — four ingredients, zero fuss, straight beach-day energy.

Vodka

Vodka Martini

Two ingredients, total precision — the drink that's really about the ratio, not the recipe.

Both are Mexican agave spirits, and tequila is a narrower category within the broader mezcal family. Tequila uses only Blue Weber agave, steamed before distilling for a clean, agave-forward taste. Mezcal draws on dozens of agave varieties, traditionally pit-roasted over hot stones, which is where its signature smoke comes from. Cocktails from this family run citrus-forward and spicy, smokier where mezcal leads.

Tequila/Mezcal

Classic Frozen Margarita

The frozen drink with a documented birthday — 1971, Dallas, a repurposed soft-serve machine.

Tequila/Mezcal

Death Flip

Fernet's bitterness meets the Flip format's whole-egg richness — not a drink for the faint-hearted.

Tequila/Mezcal

El Diablo

Tequila, blackcurrant liqueur, lime, and a spicy ginger beer top — deceptively easy to underestimate.

Tequila/Mezcal

Mexican Mule

The Moscow Mule's tequila-forward cousin.

Tequila/Mezcal

Naked and Famous

Equal parts, smoky and bittersweet — modeled directly on the Last Word's structure.

Distilled from sugarcane byproducts, mostly molasses, though some styles use pressed cane juice for a grassier character. Style shifts by region: lighter rums use modern stills for a cleaner profile, while darker rums ferment slower and pick up richer, funkier notes and caramel depth from aging. Spiced rum is a newer, flavored offshoot. Rum cocktails lean tropical, fruity, and sweet.

Rum

Classic Daiquiri

Three ingredients, no garnish, nothing to hide behind — this is the one that tells you if a bar knows what it's doing.

Rum

Classic Mojito

Mint, lime, crushed ice, rum — the drink that reminds everyone why rum exists.

Rum

Cloud Nine

Soft, tropical, and almost iridescent — the drink that looks like its name.

Rum

Mai Tai

White rum, lime, orange curaçao, and orgeat — the tiki cocktail every other tiki cocktail gets measured against.

Rum

Mango Chilli Daiquiri

Mango sweetness meets a real chilli kick — the Daiquiri format, turned up.

A low-proof category defined by when it's drunk, not how it's made — traditionally sipped before a meal to open the appetite. It spans bittersweet Italian liqueurs, aromatized fortified wines like vermouth, and other herbal bitters, most well under full spirit strength. The common thread is balance: enough bitterness or herbal complexity to feel grown-up without the intensity of a full-proof spirit.

Aperitif/Liqueur

Aperol Spritz

Bitter-orange, bubbly, low-effort — the easiest cocktail on this entire site.

Aperitif/Liqueur

Campari Spritz

Bitter, bold, sunset-coloured — the spritz for someone who wants more edge than Aperol gives.

Aperitif/Liqueur

Hugo Spritz

Elderflower, bubbles, and mint — the spritz that skips Aperol's bitterness entirely.

Aperitif/Liqueur

Limoncello Spritz

Tart, citrus-bright, and underrated next to its more famous orange cousin.

Aperitif/Liqueur

Ruby Ritual

Bitter, bright, and crimson — no food colouring required.

Brandy is any spirit distilled from fermented fruit, almost always grapes, made anywhere under fairly loose rules. Cognac is a strictly regulated subset — made only in France's Cognac region, from specific white grapes, double-distilled and oak-aged for at least two years. That precision gives Cognac a more consistent, refined profile, though both share rich, fruit-forward, oak-influenced character suited to warmth over sharpness.

Brandy/Cognac

Brandy Alexander

A dessert in a coupe glass — cognac, chocolate, and cream in equal, easy balance.

Brandy/Cognac

Brandy Daisy

Brandy, Chartreuse, and lemon, finished with a splash of soda — bright, herbal, and effervescent.

Brandy/Cognac

Champs-Élysées

Cognac, green Chartreuse, and lemon — a Sidecar's more herbal, more serious cousin.

Brandy/Cognac

French Connection

Two ingredients, one glass, zero fuss — cognac and amaretto, built straight over ice.

Brandy/Cognac

Intercontinental

Armagnac, amaro, and maraschino, stirred — three countries, one glass.