10 Essential Cocktails - What is your list?

[slkinsey]

For me, in no particular order:

Improved [spirit] Cocktail

Old Fashioned (which includes the Sazerac)

Negroni

Martini

Martinez

Hemingway Daiquiri

Manhattan

Silver Fizz

Swizzle

Julep

[eje]

To be difficult, I'll add another you should have down or with a substitution ready: The Lemon Drop.

Daiquiri or Sidecar instead seem like the obvious suggestions...

Edited September 4, 2008 by eje (log)

[KatieLoeb]

Sam:

And I thought my cocktails were well balanced...

On the list of things I shouldn't like, only unsweetened coffee, tea and quinine stand out. I love cruciferous veggies, asparagus, artichokes, etc. And clearly alcohol isn't an issue, at least now. However I did come to drinking a bit later in my life than most folks, and definitely started with the sweeter "training wheels" sorts of cocktails, so I guess my palate continues to evolve. I'm down to only one packet of Splenda in my coffee too!

[evo-lution]

And hey, it's faster to make than a Mojito.

Not if you make them this way.

50ml Light rum (Havana 3, Flor de Cana 4, 10 Cane, Bacardi Superior, etc.)

25ml Fresh lime juice

2-1 sugar syrup to taste (15-20ml should suffice)

8-10 mint leaves

Splash of soda

Procedure - Add first four ingredients to glass, fill with crushed/cracked ice and churn. Top with crushed ice and a splash of soda

Glass - Collins/highball

Ice - Crushed/cracked

Garnish - Lime wedge & mint sprig

[thirtyoneknots]

Sam:

And I thought my cocktails were well balanced...

←

Balance is subjective to some degree; many of the recipes coming from such hallowed sources as the Pegu Club, whose pedigree is certainly beyond question, seem a bit on the sweet side to me. Clearly these are perfectly balanced to the lion's share of drinkers. There was a time when I was making drinks for customers the way I like them, and the way I like them can be a bit...difficult for some, which was reflected in the more modest following the bar program had at the time. WHen I learned to balance drinks for the more typical palate, the results showed in my tips and sales. The thing is, many of those drinks, the most popular ones at work, are sufficiently sweet to my palate that I would want only a single small one for myself, and very cold. For most people this is not a problem. Balance, like other aspects of taste, is subjective.

[thirtyoneknots]

And hey, it's faster to make than a Mojito.

Not if you make them this way.

50ml Light rum (Havana 3, Flor de Cana 4, 10 Cane, Bacardi Superior, etc.)

25ml Fresh lime juice

2-1 sugar syrup to taste (15-20ml should suffice)

8-10 mint leaves

Splash of soda

Procedure - Add first four ingredients to glass, fill with crushed/cracked ice and churn. Top with crushed ice and a splash of soda

Glass - Collins/highball

Ice - Crushed/cracked

Garnish - Lime wedge & mint sprig

←

Yeah unfortunately folks typically want a mint-flavored soft (hard?) drink flavor so I don't think I'm going to be able to get away without muddling, however more subtle the flavor may be.

One particular fellow who sometimes seemed to find his drink lacking in mintiness came in one night so I asked him if he wanted to try something similar but a little different. He agreed, so I proceeded to make him a Green Swizzle from Esquire Drinks, which is a delicious compound with a beautiful rum-lime-mint flavor balance. He complained that it was "too strong". I should have known better.

[thirtyoneknots]

So just a bit of question to stimulate discussion; are we naming drinks that are "essential" in the strict sense of the word, ie ones that we expect to be able to order and have made correctly at any cocktail bar worth it's bitters, or are we simply naming our favorite drinks? Seems to be both methods at work here. I recall reading a thread on Drinkboy some years back about "10 drinks for a desert island" or something similar. It would seem that this is a bit different that the ten most 'essential'.

[KatieLoeb]

What's even more amusing/ironic to me is that the staff at my current place of employ bust my chops for making things that are too tart.

Clearly subjective.. Can't win for losing...

[Nathan]

in no particular order:

Aviation (my first love)

Last Word

Martini

Manhattan

Sazerac

Vieux Carre

Sidecar/Margarita

Daiquiri

Corpse Reviver #2

French 75