Daiquiri

Rum, lime, and sugar define the classic daiquiri; no garishly-colored slushies, please.

Journalist Cocktail

The Journalist Cocktail goes back to at least 1930, when it appeared in the Savoy Cocktail Book. Essentially a perfect martini—"perfect" in the cocktail sense meaning it's made with equal parts dry and sweet vermouth—with a dash of this and that for flavorful accents, the Journalist is dry and crisp, yet has a complexity and hint of richness that make it especially endearing.

Nacional

Riffing on the classic Hotel Nacional cocktail, which uses apricot brandy for a touch of fruity sweetness, Morgenthaler introduced Fee Brothers Peach Bitters to the mix--and it raises the refreshment bar while tossing in another layer of flavor complexity.

Test Pilot

This Don the Beachcomber classic was created around 1941. As Paul Clarke notes on his blog, Cocktail Chronicles, the key is the combination of Angostura bitters and Pernod.

Gramercy Tavern's Expat

Sometimes on a cold fall evening all you want to drink is a bright, sunny cocktail to remind of warmer days recently passed. This Gramercy Tavern creation draws inspiration from both the classic Hemingway Daiquiri and Audrey Saunders' Old Cuban. It's at once tart and refreshing with a touch of richness from the golden rum.

Hemingway Daiquiri

This recipe makes a drink--which, just to make things even more confusing, is also known as a Daiquiri No. 3--that is much less tart than the citrus bombs the Floridita was serving, and with a potency that's more likely to put you in a pleasant mood on a late-summer day than to steer you into a long, grisly night that ends with you waking up on a fishing boat drifting somewhere south of Key West.

The Two-One-Two

Created by New York bartender and consultant Willy Shine, the Two-One-Two is brilliantly simple, yet has an engagingly complex flavor. Composed of a base of reposado tequila—Partida, one of the better brands to emerge in recent years, is recommended here—the Two-One-Two includes a couple of the agave spirit's most agreeable companions: fresh grapefruit juice, and the Italian amaro Aperol, a bright, bitter liqueur rich with orange peel and rhubarb.

Prado

Pairing the agave spirit with its old friend, fresh lime juice, the Prado substitutes the margarita's orangey triple sec for a dose of aromatic maraschino liqueur, with the white of half an egg added for extra body (since accurately dividing an egg white can be a pain, you can go ahead and mix two drinks and share one with a friend).

El Floridita Daiquiri

The El Floridita Daiquiri was popularly prepared in Havana in the 1930s, and is a slight variation on the original daiquiri that's worth adding to the regular drinks rotation.

El Presidente

A classic rum cocktail that hasn't gotten the attention it deserves.