Cocktail Hall of Fame

Caipirinha

If you are European or in North America you're probably used to this drink being served with crushed ice, but until you have tried it with cubed ice you

Californian Margarita

To quote a long time Californian and frequent visitor to America's Southwest, this recipe is a classic Margarita but with a few tweaks. Usually a silver/blanco

Cameron's Kick

Faintly peaty honeyed whisky with a cleansing hint of lemon, rounded by almond.

Canchànchara

Your choice of honey and indeed rum will greatly affect the flavour, and indeed the success of the finished cocktail. More flavoursome honey demands a

Cantaritos

Juicy (freshly squeezed orange, grapefruit and lime) and refreshing slightly salty tequila invigorated with sparkling grapefruit soda. Wetting the porous

Casino (Savoy spec.)

This recipe is a very broad interpretation of Ensslin's 1916 original and the Casino recipes that follow in other classic tomes. Although, as Ensslin merely

Champagne Cocktail

This classic cocktail remains as popular as ever. Starts bone dry and becomes slightly sweeter as you reach the dissolving cube at the bottom, depending

Champs-Elysees

A great after-dinner drink for lovers of cognac and Chartreuse.

Charlie Chaplin

Dilution is key to this fruity sweet 'n' sour cocktail, hence, depending on your ice, the Charlie Chaplin may benefit from the addition of a splash of

Chartreuse Swizzle

A swizzle for people like me - Chartreuse lovers. Best enjoyed on a hot summer's evening.

Clover Club No.3 (Difford's recipe)

Easy drinking and creamy in texture – with notes of raspberry, gin, citrus and delicate spice.

Comte de Sureau

Sprays of oils from both orange and lemon zest twists aid the fine balance of this bittersweet aperitivo, which fittingly has become known by many as an

Corn'n'Oil Cocktail

Rum slightly sweetened and flavoured with the lime and clove flavours of falernum. There is much debate over the Corn 'N' Oil, particularly over the type

Coronation No.1

Medium-dry and wonderfully aromatic with faint notes of almond from the fino sherry and delicately fruity maraschino. Delicious.

Corpse Reviver No.2 (Savoy Recipe)

Well-balanced with zesty lemon and absinthe just shining through. We've cheekily added the merest dash of sugar but depending on your personal tastes,

Cosmopolitan (Difford's recipe)

The Cosmopolitan was originally made with citrus vodka but this recipe works just as well with unflavoured vodka, and when a good quality cranberry juice

Cuba Libre

Basically a rum and coke with a squeeze of lime, but Cuba Libre has much more of a ring about it. And it is much more of a drink, the zesty lime and dashes

Daiquiri 10:3:2 ratio (Difford’s)

Crisp, light and refreshing. Delicately simple yet with perfectly balanced complexity of flavours. Grind white caster sugar in a mortar and pestle to

Daiquiri 6:2:1 ratio (popular)

This 6:2:1 (6 parts rum, 2 parts lime and 1 part sugar) Daiquiri recipe emerged after an afternoon's Daiquiri experimentation with five of the UK's most

Daiquiri 8:2:1 ratio (Embury's)

Traditionally a Daiquiri should always be based on light rum but if I should feel like breaking with tradition and using aged rum, I find Embury's 8:2:1

Daiquiri on-the-rocks

Light and refreshing. No one flavour predominates - sweet and sour are in harmony with the rum.

Daiquiri (frozen)

Blend with too much ice and you will have a tasteless slushy drink that will give you brain-ache if you drink it too fast. However, made correctly and

Dark 'n' Stormy (Difford’s recipe)

A Daiquiri made with pungent dark rum, topped and made refreshing with spicy ginger beer. Part of the Mule family - but is distinctive due to the strong

De La Louisiane

A rye-based Sweet Manhattan made even sweeter with herbal Bénédictine liqueur and bittered with Peychaud's and absinthe. Originally made with equal parts

Death in the Afternoon

Bravado (absinthe) dominates this drink, alongside hints of biscuity champagne. I've added a touch of sugar to tame this hardman's cocktail.

Diamondback

This potent cocktail marries apple spirit with rye whiskey and rich herbal Chartreuse. An after-dinner/nightcap tipple.

Dirty Banana

Long, creamy and filling banana drink with a 'dirty' flavour and colour courtesy of coffee liqueur. The riper the banana used in this cocktail the better.

Dirty Martini

This drink varies from delicious to disgusting, depending on what's making it Dirty. This is traditionally the liquid from a jar of olives and if using

Division Bell

A mezcal inspired variation of the Last Word with a refreshing, spirit-forward blend of ingredients.

Dry Martini (2:1.5 ratio) “Sopping Wet”

Herbal vermouth flavours pervade this Sopping Wet Martini.

Dry Martini (1:1 ratio) “Fifty-Fifty”

A very 'wet' but wonderfully Dry Martini which demands an olive, not a twist. Before you start - Craddock calls for it to be shaken, but it's better stirred.

Dry Martini (2:1 ratio) “Wet”

Reputed to be a favourite of HRH Prince Charles.

Dry Martini (3:1 ratio)

Three to one may be unfair odds in a fight but vermouth shines in this stirred off-dry Martini. Through experimentation we have found that 3:1 Martinis

Dry Martini (4:1 ratio)

A stirred four-to-one Martini is indeed a delicious thing. But is a five-to-one Martini even more delicious? Try both, and perhaps also a three-to-one.

Dry Martini 'Preferred Stirred' (5:1 ratio)

We have chosen a 5:1 ratio as our 'preferred' stirred Dry Martini specification in deference to David Embury who writes of this drink in his The Fine Art

Dry Martini (7:1 ratio) “Embury’s”

Readers of Embury will know he had a bone dry palate and Martinis made to his specification are just that, and with the correct dilution, fabulous.

Dry Martini 'Preferred Shaken' (10:1 ratio)

There's something about shaking a Dry Martini (as opposed to stirring a Martini) that amplifies the vermouth notes meaning that shaken Martinis need less

Dry Martini (15:1 ratio) “Montgomery’s”

Bone dry - a superbly cleansing Martini. Through experimentation we have found that 15:1 Martinis are better shaken rather than stirred. Conversely 3:1

Dry Martini (15:5 dumped) “Franklin”

A Dry Martini named after Franklin Roosevelt and garnished with two olives.