Contemporary Classic Cocktails
Words by Simon Difford
What has become known as the cocktail renaissance, the period when skilfully crafted and balanced cocktails were rediscovered by bartenders and embraced by Discerning Drinkers at large, properly took off in the 1990s. However, its real beginning dates back to the mid-1980s and the fathers of contemporary bartending, Dick Bradsell and Dale DeGroff.
Dick created the Vodka Espresso in 1983; it is the earliest cocktail from the modern bartending age that has proved enduring – particularly in its Espresso Martini form – so is also the oldest cocktail to appear in this collection of cocktails to emerge during this period.
Contemporary classics are cocktails:
- Modern – created after 1985.
- Enduring – perhaps even more popular now than when created.
- Travellers – appearing on bar menus &/or in publications beyond the city or country of origin.
- Good - Worthy of making and drinking.
- Replicatable - easily made in bars around the world and even by home cocktail enthusiasts.
Originally inspired by and published soon after the release of Robert Simonson's Modern Classics of the Cocktail Renaissance app in 2016. That original page was updated and made part of this more encompassing selection of cocktails in April 2024. Link to original Contemporary Classic Cocktails/Renaissance Classics page.
