Items12The creator’s order
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Cable Car (cocktail)Proof that spiced rum can make a serious drink. Tony Abou-Ganim built it in 1996 for the Starlight Room atop San Francisco's Sir Francis Drake Hotel, where the Nob Hill cable cars pass by. Those cable cars gave the drink its name and the bar its line about sitting "between the stars and the cable…0 - 2
Breakfast martiniA barspoon of orange marmalade shaken with gin, triple sec and lemon, and the result is bright, bitter-edged and easy to love. Salvatore Calabrese created it in 1996 at the Library Bar in London's Lanesborough Hotel after a breakfast of marmalade on toast.
It has lasted because it is almost…0 - 3
Gin-Gin Mule (cocktail)Picture a Mojito and a Moscow Mule meeting halfway, with gin doing the talking. Audrey Saunders created it in 2000 at Beacon in New York, the same bartender behind the Old Cuban a year later.
Gin, lime, mint and ginger beer make it long, spicy and very refreshing, and the gin's botanicals keep it…0 - 4
Old CubanAudrey Saunders called it "a Mojito in a little black dress," and that is exactly right. Aged rum, lime, mint, sugar and Angostura bitters are shaken, strained and topped with Champagne, so you get the Mojito's freshness with more depth and a lot more polish.
It debuted in 2001 and had its big…0 - 5
White Negroni (cocktail)The Negroni with the red taken out: gin, gentian liqueur such as Suze and Lillet Blanc in equal measure, stirred and served cold. Wayne Collins created it in 2001 at VinExpo in Bordeaux, and it caught on after Audrey Saunders put it on the menu at Pegu Club in New York.
Expect something drier,…0 - 6
Porn star martiniSnobs roll their eyes, and it keeps turning up on menus anyway. Douglas Ankrah created it in 2002 at The Townhouse in Knightsbridge, London, first calling it the Maverick Martini after a Cape Town club, and it now sits on the International Bartenders Association's official list.
Vanilla vodka,…0 - 7
Chartreuse swizzleA tiki-style crushed-ice drink built on green Chartreuse, the intense French herbal liqueur, which is usually a supporting player. Marcovaldo Dionysos devised it for a Chartreuse competition in San Francisco, it first appeared on a menu in 2003 at Harry Denton's Starlight Room, and it took off…0 - 8
Spicy FiftyVanilla vodka, elderflower cordial, lime, honey and two thin slices of red chili, shaken hard. Salvatore Calabrese made it a signature drink on the first menu at his London bar Fifty, which opened in February 2005, and it is now on the International Bartenders Association's official list.
The heat…0 - 9
Hugo (cocktail)The spritz for people who find the Aperol version too bitter. Roland Gruber created it in June 2005 at his bar in Naturno, South Tyrol, as a riff on the Spritz Veneziano, first calling it Otto before renaming it.
Today it is prosecco, elderflower, soda and fresh mint over ice: light, floral and…0 - 10
Nuclear Daiquiri (cocktail)Not a drink for the timid. Gregor de Gruyther created it in 2005 at LAB bar in London, pairing overproof unaged Jamaican rum with a big pour of green Chartreuse, lime and falernum.
It tastes like a Daiquiri turned up to full volume: funky, herbal, sharp and seriously strong, served straight up in…0
