Australia's Top Ten Cocktails 2021

2021... better known as 2020 the remix. Plenty of lows, lockdowns and homemade cocktails, as well as celebrations, reopenings and drinks shared with friends. Here's the top 10 recipes according to all 750,000 of you who hit the Australian site.

No.10 - White Lady - up 1 spot.
Made with gin, triple sec, lemon juice, sugar syrup and egg white, this cocktails is a simple, silky and delicious gin-laced classic with a sour finish.

No.9 - Lemon, lime & bitters - non-mover.
Lemonade, lime juice and bitters - this alcohol-free cocktail is an Aussie pub classic and hasn't lost its popularity yet.

No.8 - Gin Sour - down 1 spot.
You don't often see a classic gin sour these days, instead the Clover Club (with raspberry) and the White Lady (with triple sec) tend to be the more popular choice on cocktail menus. Not so for home bartenders though who seem to love this classic drink.

No.7 - Bramble - up 5 spots.
This is the first year the Bramble has made it on to Australia's top 10 list. It's a drink from the 1980s, but arguably the very best of that decade, using blackberry liqueur which is drizzled over a classic gin sour base of dry gin, lemon and sugar.

No.6 - Southside - up 4 spots.
Gin, lime and mint - our number 6 spot is up 4 places since last year and is a favourite fresh summer cocktail. If you like Mojitos and you like gin then this is a cocktail you need to try.

No.5 - Fluffy Duck - up 1 spot.
Light, creamy and easy drinking, this drink was wildly popular in 1980s Britain. It's an iconic drink for generations of drinkers, and something they've evidently keen to shake up on weekends to this day.

No.4 - Amaretto Sour - down 3 spots.
Sweet, frothy and with a marzipan sugariness, this drink has consistently been our most popular recipe, but 2021 saw it lose the top spot.
If you love an Amaretto Sour then try Jeffrey Morgenthaler's recipe which adds bourbon to give the drink some backbone and tones down the sweetness. Watch the video of how to make an Amaretto Sour using this recipe here.

No.3 - Tommy's Margarita - up 1 spot.
The flavour of agave is king in this simple Margarita, made without the traditional orange liqueur. Its inventor, Julio Bermejo created it in the late 1980s for his family's tequila bar and restaurant in San Francisco and it's been the preferred Margarita for tequila lovers ever since. Seeing this in our top 3 cocktails truly shows how much palates are changing and drinkers are becoming more and more discerning.

No.2 - French Martini - non-mover
Not actually a Martini at all, just like the Porn Star Martini and the Espresso Martini, this fruity cocktail is made from fresh pineapple juice, raspberry liqueur and vodka. It's wildly popular in Glasgow, of all places, and here too, in Australia.

No.1 - Porn Star Martini - up 2 spots.
A passion fruit and vanilla crowd-pleaser that's balanced with zesty lime. This one is tends to top our global list, and this is the first year it's made it to the top spot in Australia.

11-20

11. Paloma
With: Blanco tequila (100% agave), pink grapefruit juice, lime juice, agave syrup, pink grapefruit soda.

12. Espresso Martini
With: Vodka, coffee liqueur and fresh espresso coffee.

13. Fruit Tingle
With: Vodka, blue curaçao liqueur, crème de framboise liqueur and lemon-lime soda (Sprite/7-Up).

14. Corpse Reviver No2 Savoy Recipe
With: Gin, triple sec, lemon juice, Lillet Blanc, sugar syrup and absinthe.

15. Paper Plane
With: Bourbon, Amaro Nonino Quitessentia, Aperol and lemon juice.

16. Negroni
With: Gin, sweet vermouth and Campari.

17. Jungle Bird
With: Aged rum, pineapple juice, Campari, lime juice and sugar syrup.

18. Penicillin
With: Blended Scotch, ginger liqueur, honey syrup, lemon juice and a float of Islay single malt whisky.

19. Gin Basil Smash
With: Gin, fresh basil leaves, lemon juice and sugar syrup.

20. Aviation Cocktail Difford's Recipe
With: Gin, maraschino liqueur, creme de violette, and lemon juice.