The Espresso Martini most certainly does all that. It's a deceptively simple classic that has also become the perfect template for an array of variations. The cocktail’s continued rise in popularity in the drinks world is partly responsible for the vibrant coffee liqueur category at the moment, which has arguably led to improved versions of the classic. It’s not the only coffee classic to feature on the list – back again following its debut last year and increasingly found on cocktail menus is the Carajillo at 50.
3. Margarita
With iterations spanning everything from the delicious to the ridiculous, the Margarita is universal in nature. The tequila-based classic is, at its heart, beautifully simple, much like the pre-Prohibition drink that likely inspired it. The Daisy is a combination of spirit, lime juice and orange liqueur or grenadine. The tequila version then became known due to the Spanish word for ‘daisy’ being ‘margarita’, which in turn became a byword for sunshine and good times the world over.
In today’s world, it tends to be the more renewed takes on the Margarita that are seeing a rise, with the Mezcal Margarita returning to the list for another year. Agave-focused bars continue to create new takes, with London’s Hacha most recently introducing its Jack Fruit Mirror Margarita.
2. Old Fashioned
Believe it or not, there was a time back in the mid-to-late 1800s when the art of the cocktail was somewhat too fancy for some people's tastes. What was once a cocktail specification of spirit, sugar, water and bitters was becoming more complicated and starting to include garnish ingredients such as maraschino liqueur or even absinthe. Disagreeing with this early days experimentation, and as if in protest, cocktail conservatives demanded their drinks be made the old-fashioned way, hence the birth of this classic.
By definition, the Old Fashioned is unfussy and gets right to the point, so it's fitting that one of the best modern takes follows suit and is similarly unpretentious. The Oaxacan Old Fashioned, attributed to New York bartender Phil Ward, circa 2007, revisits each ingredient and gives them a Mexican twist. To create the modern take, whiskey becomes tequila and mezcal, and sugar is replaced with agave, leaving some room for interpretation when it comes to bitters – Ward kept it simple with classic Angostura. The result is considerate to the ethos of the original, but also something entirely different.
1. Negroni
The aperitivo clearly isn't going anywhere. The Italian influence on the global bar scene remains, with the Negroni securing the top spot for the fourth time and Aperol Spritz in eighth position for another year running.
The classic Negroni cocktail is steeped in heritage and its popularity is greater today than ever. Made with equal parts gin, sweet vermouth and Campari, it's punchy and bold by nature, and due to the bitters can often be quite an acquired taste, yet it prevails. There are plenty of easier-drinking cocktails on this list, but unapologetically bold with depth and complexity, the Negroni is an undisputed classic, and easy to reproduce too.
With a contested history, the Negroni is a descendant of the Americano – sweet vermouth and Campari lengthened with soda water – and the Milano Torino before it, without soda water. The most common Negroni origin story is of an eponymous Italian count walking into a bar and ordering a boozier Americano, so the bartender drops the soda and adds gin, creating the Negroni. The bartender was supposedly Fosco Scarselli at Caffè Casoni in Florence around 1919.
Being a twist on a classic itself, the Negroni has proven adaptable over the years, with bartenders swapping out any and all of its trio of ingredients to create new drinks and expand on the definition of a Negroni – it's become more than just a cocktail. Among the most revolutionary is the White Negroni in all its forms, but there's a near-endless array of versions made with spirits such as tequila, mezcal and rum. One noteworthy variant, created in the 1970s and further popularised via TikTok in recent times, is attributed to Milan bartender Mirko Stocchetto. It's said that while reaching for the gin for a Negroni, he accidentally grabbed a bottle of prosecco instead, creating a Spritz-like variant that has become known as the Negroni Sbagliato.
