MacElhone bought Europe's oldest cocktail bar this day

On this day in 1923, Harry MacElhone finally achieved his dream and bought the New York Bar on 5 Rue Daunou, Paris, where he had worked more than a decade

20 best Valentine's Day Cocktails

Valentine's Day cocktail names tend to be as corny as the cards and due to strawberries being uncannily heart-shaped, many Valentine's cocktails have strawberries

Pisco Sour (Difford's recipe)

All the Peruvian bartenders I've met prefer their Pisco Sours blended rather than shaken. Indeed, it is a brilliant cocktail when blended but I prefer

Dirty Shirley

Fruity, refreshing, slightly sweet and mildly alcoholic.

Cab Calloway

A sherry-forward, rye whiskey-laced aperitivo with delicate rich apricot.

Atonement

Quinquina and spirituous spice from the whiskey and run balance the rich notes of the raisiny sherry and particularly the nutty orgeat. Dilution also seems

Negronic

A cocktail which Robert Simonson, the creator's partner, aptly describes as Negroni crossed with a Gin & Tonic. It is surprisingly delicious with the bitter

Frank Lloyd Wright

An Old Fashioned-style cocktail with pear and walnut liqueurs along with a touch of peated malt whisky.

ONIS glassware

Made by Leerdam Crisal Glass, the ONIS glassware range is designed specifically for the hospitality industry and many of these glasses benefit from Xtratuff

Difford’s Guide to Cocktails Book 17th Edition

Perhaps the world's biggest cocktail book! Certainly, our biggest yet, 624 pages, 6cm (2.3inch) thick and weighing 2.25kg (5lb). Our Seventeenth Edition

Peaty Monte

Peated whisky replaces mezcal in this riff on the bartenders' favourite M&M.

Cherry Bakewell

I've seen the same cocktail with equal parts amaretto, cherry brandy and vermouth but's a recipe for an overly sweet cocktail – even for a dessert cocktail.

Midnight Bouquet

Spirit-forward and bittersweet with faint floral elderflower and whisps of mezcal.

Undead Gentleman

This riff on Donn Beach's classic Zombie has a tad more gentlemanly refinement in its serve but doesn't hold back in flavour.

Belvedere No. 1

As its creator says, a split-base sour for lovers of the Sidecar.

Nearest And Dearest No.2

A bittersweet, hibiscus Old Fashioned.

Rising Sun

Lovechild of the Mezcal Margarita and the Hemingway Special Daquiri.

Monte Carlos

The honeyed botanical notes of Bénédictine combine brilliantly with añejo tequila to amplify pleasing earthy notes in the agave. A brilliantly simple

Golden Glow No.2

Adapted from a recipe in Stanley M. Jones' 1977 Jones' Complete Barguide.

Olympic Class

Créole shrubb replaces orange curaçao in this riff on the classic, equal parts, Olympic cocktail which was named after the RMS Olympic, an Olympic-class