34. Oaxaca Old Fashioned
A new entry on this year’s list, the Oaxaca Old Fashioned takes the venerable whiskey-based drink and gives it a decidedly Mexican spin. This contemporary classic was created around the year 2007 at New York’s Death & Co by bartender Phil Ward – who went on to open agave-specialist bar Mayahuel, sadly closed in 2017 – and it’s gone on to be listed on menus the world over.
Ward replaced the original’s base spirit with tequila and mezcal, and switched out the sugar for agave syrup, while opting for nothing more complicated than Angostura when it came to the bitters.
33. Bee’s Knees
This enduring Prohibition-era classic, most commonly found as a combination of gin, honey and lemon juice, and sometimes with additional orange juice, has more than a few origin stories. Some claim that its creator was American socialite and Titanic survivor Margaret Brown, also known as Molly Brown, while others give the credit to Frank Meier, head bartender at the Ritz in Paris in the 1920s. Regardless of its origins, the Bee’s Knees is still going strong today, both in its original form and in various twists, such as the yuzu-based variant at Amaro Bar in London.
32. Caipirinha
After nearly dropping off this list, the Caipirinha has deservedly climbed up into the middle ranks this year. The signature cocktail of Brazil, and of its national spirit cachaça, is defined by its laid-back attitude and unfussy preparation, with limes muddled with sugar in the glass before adding ice and spirit.
The Caipirinha has spawned countless variations and riffs, such as the vodka-based Caipiroska, as well as many involving a variety of fruits. Indeed, at Viajante 87 in London’s Notting Hill, a sharing-style Caipirinha serve, in either a 50cl or 1-litre carafe, comes with syrups and fresh fruit for customisation.
31. Clover Club
Named for a group of businessmen that used to meet at Philadelphia’s Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in the early 1900s, this mix of gin, vermouth, lemon juice, raspberry syrup and egg white was only popular for a short time before falling into obscurity – amid no small amount of mockery. Thankfully, many years later, it’s been revived in recent times.
Proving the versatility of this inspired combination of ingredients, Jake Burger reimagined the classic into the Clover Club Fizz not too long ago, lengthening it with soda and making use of fresh raspberries instead of syrup.
30. Paper Plane
Milk & Honey alumnus Sam Ross – also responsible for the Penicillin in 12th place on this list – created the Paper Plane in 2008 for the opening of Chicago’s The Violet Hour, drawing on the Last Word’s equal-parts structure, and replacing its ingredients with bourbon, Aperol, amaro and lemon juice.
Among the twists on the Paper Plane created in subsequent years, perhaps the most prevalent is Joaquín Simó’s Naked & Famous, at 27th place on this list. More recently, the Paper Glider has been on offer at London’s Scarfes Bar, combining Highland Park 12, Aperol and a peach and maple verjus.
29. Dark & Stormy
After a few years of decline on this list, the Dark & Stormy makes a leap of 10 spaces this year, reaffirming the appeal of rum and ginger beer that dates back, at least in Bermuda, to the 1800s. Visiting Americans took to the drink during Prohibition, and brought it home with them after repeal.
It wasn’t until the 1970s that Bermuda rum Goslings trademarked the Dark ’n Stormy. Among the many contemporary variations is the Perfect Storm, with Skipper dark rum, plum brandy, fresh ginger, lemon and honey, by Alastair Burgess of Happiness Forgets in London and No Nuisance in St Albans.
28. Mezcal Margarita
Margarita twists don’t come much simpler, or more effective, than this one, switching out the original’s tequila for fellow agave spirit mezcal, resulting in a generally punchier drink, and benefiting from mezcal’s often-smoky characteristics. And as mezcal’s star has continued to rise in recent years, so has the popularity of the Mezcal Margarita – joining the constellation of currently on-trend agave-spirit drinks such as the Paloma and Spicy Margarita. The Mezcal Margarita is effective as a classic triple-sec Margarita, as well as in Tommy’s form, with nothing more than lime juice and agave syrup allowing the mezcal to shine through.
27. Naked & Famous
Drawing on two classics, the well-established Last Word and the more recent Paper Plane, and what its creator Joaquín Simó describes as “the bastard love child born out of an illicit Oaxacan love affair” between the two, the Naked & Famous consists of mezcal, Yellow Chartreuse, Aperol and lime juice. Simó was working at New York’s Death & Co in 2007 when he created it.
