keystones cocktail club worcester

The Five Most Famous Cocktails and How They’re Made

Beer and wine are common at most types of social gatherings, but it takes a good mixed drink to get the party started. If you are looking for a fool proof, mood-boosting adult beverage to impress your guests, this guide to the five most famous cocktails and how they’re made should come in handy!

  1. Daiquiri

We start our countdown with Ernest Hemingway’s favourite mixed drink. Everyone knows the great author’s love for fine drinking, which gives the Daiquiri an even better reputation.

Classic Daiquiri Ingredients

  • 2 oz. white rum
  • 1/2 tsp. superfine sugar
  • 1/2 oz. lime juice
  • 1 spoon of cracked ice

How to make the Daiquiri

The recipe for the Daiquiri is easy to master from your first try. You start by squeezing a lime wedge into your shaker. Sprinkle in the sugar and add the rum. Drop the ice inside before giving it a good shake. Strain in a chilled cocktail glass and serve.

The Hemingway Special is a sugar-free Daiquiri. You can add various fruits like bananas and avocados to get even sweeter versions of the classic drink. Mixing pulverized ice will get you a Frozen Daiquiri, which may have a slushie texture, but it still packs a powerful punch.

  1. Dry Martini

We continue our list of the most famous cocktails with another mixed drink that popular culture elevated to worldwide notoriety. The Dry Martini is James Bond’s favourite drink as long as it is stirred, not shaken.

Classic Dry Martini Ingredients

  • 4 oz. gin or vodka
  • 1 oz. dry vermouth
  • 2 spoons of cracked ice

How to make a Dry Martini

Fill your shaker with ice and pour in the vermouth. Add the gin (or vodka) and stir gently. Strain it into a cocktail glass and add a green olive or a twist of lemon peel for garnish. If you add onion instead of olives, the drink becomes a Gibson. Pouring a few drops of olive juice will present you with an unorthodox, but rich-tasting Dirty Martini.

VIP at Keystones Cocktail Club

  1. Margarita

Nothing beats a chilled Margarita on a scorching summer day. This drink is perfect for those who love tequila but don’t want to drink shots in the middle of the afternoon.

Classic Margarita Ingredients

  • 2 oz. silver tequila
  • 1 oz. Cointreau
  • 1 oz. lime juice
  • Coarse salt for the rim
  • All the cracked ice you can find

How to make a Margarita

Lay a small bed of coarse salt on the bar. Take a chilled glass, rub its rim with lime juice and then dip it in the salt. Set it aside.

Pour the tequila, the Cointreau and the lime juice in a shaker. Add the ice and shake well before straining it into the glass. Garnish it with a lime wedge and serve.

Girls at Keystones

  1. Old Fashioned

We couldn’t have continued our list of the most famous cocktails without mentioning the most popular mixed drink that contains whiskey (or bourbon). The Old Fashioned is one of the oldest cocktail recipes, and one of the few that are great for any occasion.

Classic Old Fashioned Ingredients

  • 2 oz. bourbon or rye whiskey
  • 3 dashes Angostura bitters
  • 1 sugar cube (or 1/2 tsp. loose sugar)
  • Club soda

How to make the Old Fashioned

Place the sugar cube in a tumbler glass. Sprinkle the Angostura drops over it and add a splash of club soda. Crush and mix everything with a wood muddler. Add one or two ice cubes and pour the whiskey over them. Garnish with orange peel and serve.

  1. Gin and Tonic

This drink is ideal for starting a celebration or rekindling a dying party. The Gin & Tonic has a personality that it perfect for all occasions from a lawn party to an evening at your favourite restaurant.  It is fizzy, bubbly and some even say – energy boosting. It’s so ridiculously easy to prepare and popular now that most people have forgotten that it actually started out as a colonial health cocktail in India.

Classic Gin and Tonic Ingredients

  • 2 oz. gin
  • 4 oz. tonic water
  • All the ice cubes that you can find

How to make a Gin and Tonic

Fill a highball glass with ice. Add the gin and pour in the tonic water slowly while letting it hit the stirring rod first. This way, the bubbles of carbonated water will not break in your glass, but in your mouth when you sip the drink. Garnish with lime wedges, mint leaves, peppercorns, cucumber slices or juniper berries for a rich, herbal flavour.  The emergence of new craft gins means that the Gin and Tonic is becoming more elaborate again and more like a modern cocktail as we know it.

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