Vermouth Cocktail

The Vermouth Cocktail illustrates the flavorful beauty of good vermouth, with just a little adornment. If you're prone to dismiss this drink out of hand because it's based on vermouth, then you're denying yourself the opportunity to see what the original fuss from the nineteenth century was all about.

Old Cuban

Branch out from a mojito with this bubbly, minty rum drink.

Yusho's Two Tribes

Bar manager Alex Bachman's delicious, spirit-forward rendition of an Old Fashioned features a house-made barrel-aged stone fruit bitters. Bachman emphasizes the importance of aging the bitters in a used American oak barrel, which can be difficult to source. He either uses seasoned casks from Willett or the distillery's smaller 20-liter new oak barrels, which he then seasons with grain neutral spirit to remove primary wood tannin. Do not use new oak, he notes, as the wood tannins will overwhelm s...

Italian Buck (Amaro and Ginger Beer Highball)

This fizzy, spicy, sweet-tart, and bitter drink was created by Jamie Boudreau of Canon in Seattle, and appears in Amaro by Brad Thomas Parsons. It's a little like a bitter, gutsy take on a Dark 'n Stormy, but instead of rum, the drink is made with two bittersweet Italian liqueurs: orangey Montenegro and vegetal Cynar.

Bijou Cocktail

With equal parts gin, sweet vermouth, and green Chartreuse, accompanied by a dash of orange bitters, the Bijou is bombastically herbaceous.

The Bombay Cocktail

Here's a brandy-based classic that dates to at least 1930: the Bombay Cocktail. I first tasted this drink several months ago at Bar Agricole in San Francisco. Medium-bodied and full of flavor without coming on too aggressive, the Bombay Cocktail offers a glimpse at another time, when brandy was one of the regents of the cocktail kingdom.

Larchmont

One of the most highly sought-after books is The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks, a volume first printed in 1948, written not by a bartender but by a New York lawyer named David Embury who was determined to establish a system of proper rules for mixing drinks. Most of the drinks he covered were ones that were already in regular rotation in New York bars. Here's one of his originals, the Larchmont.

Mango-Ginger Cocktail With Cilantro

The round sweetness of mango gets a kick from spicy ginger and tart lemon in this tequila cocktail. If you have it, use reposado tequila, which lends a warm oakiness to the drink, balanced here with a touch of bright, grassy cilantro.

The Union Bar's Banga #1

This playful concoction from Arthur Wynne at The Union Bar in Vancouver is juicy and thirst-quenching. You'll need a lidded glass jar for each cocktail.

DIY Sweet Vermouth

Sweet vermouth has a delicate balance of rich, spicy, sweet, and bitter flavors, and is an essential ingredient in dozens of classic cocktails.