If you’re planning on hosting a dinner party or having some friends over for drinks, you may wish to show off your hosting skills by preparing some delicious cocktails. You don’t need to be a cocktail waiter or waitress to master this art. This guide will teach you how to prepare some of the most well-known cocktails with minimal preparation. Read on to discover the top 10 cocktails to make and how to perfect them. Get your best cocktail attire out and enjoy.
1. Top 10 Cocktails – Passion Fruit Martini
You probably know this as a porn star martini, and its one of the most popular cocktails in recent years.
Ingredients
- 2 ripe passion fruits, halved
- 30ml passoa
- 60ml vanilla vodka
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- 1 tbsp sugar syrup
- prosecco , to serve
- Place the vodka, passoa, lime juice, sugar syrup, and seeds from one of the passion fruits in a cocktail shaker.
- Shake thoroughly with a handful of ice added, strain into two martini glasses, cover with prosecco, and garnish with half a passion fruit in each glass. Serve right away.
2. Top 10 Cocktails – Mojito
A mojito is a traditional Cuban highball drink. It uses ingredients native to the Caribbean island including lime, mint and sugar. It contains a combination of sweetness, citrus, and herbaceous mint flavors which complements the rum, and has made the mojito a popular summer drink.
Ingredients:
- 10 fresh mint leaves
- ½ medium lime, cut into 3 wedges
- 2 tablespoons white sugar, or to taste
- 1 cup ice cubes, or as needed
- 1 ½ fluid ounces white rum
- ½ cup club soda, or as needed
1. In a strong glass, add some mint leaves and one lime slice. To release the lime juice and mint oils, muddle the ingredients.
2. Continue to muddle the remaining lime wedges and 2 tablespoons of sugar to extract more lime juice. No straining is necessary.
3. Add ice to the glass until it is almost full. Club soda should be added after the rum has been poured.
4. Stir, taste, and, if needed, add more sugar.
3. Top 10 Cocktails – Sex On The Beach
Vodka, peach schnapps, orange juice, and cranberry juice are the main ingredients of the alcoholic beverage known as Sex on the Beach. It is an official cocktail of the International Bartenders Association.
Ingredients
- ice
- 25ml peach schnapps
- 50ml vodka
- 2 oranges, juiced, plus 2 slices to garnish
- 50ml cranberry juice
- glacé cherries, to garnish (optional)
1. Add ice cubes to two tall glasses. In a large jug, combine the vodka, peach schnapps, and fruit juices; whisk.
2. Distribute the mixture evenly between the two glasses, then swirl to blend. Orange slices and cocktail cherries are used as a garnish.
4. Top 10 Cocktails – Piña Colada
Piña colada is the Spanish term for “strained pineapple.” Among drink experts, the Piña Colada has a bit of a poor reputation. This now-classic beverage served as the blender boom’s mascot for many years, frequenting beach bars and alcohol-themed cruises. But the tropical cocktail, which is a concoction of rum, lime, coconut, and pineapple juices, dates back to the 1950s and has been pleasing tourists and Tiki enthusiasts ever since.
According to legend, Ramon “Monchito” Marrero, the chief bartender at the Caribe Hilton in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, created the Piña Colada in 1954. Perez had created a winning concoction, and the fruity beverage basked in the sun for decades before making its way to distant islands and American coasts. However, the level of quality plummeted when bartenders started preparing Piña Coladas with inexpensive, bottled mixers and serving them in absurdly enormous glasses in the 1970s.
However, the modern Piña Colada will help you forget the subpar drinks provided on Bourbon Street and at all-inclusive resorts. The sharp rum and tangy fruit in this Colada balance off the luscious coconut to create a sweet yet well-balanced drink. Don’t overlook the Piña Colada whether you’re on vacation or just mixing drinks at home. The moment you put one of them in everyone’s hands, fun is guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 2 ounces light rum
- 1 1/2 ounces cream of coconut
- 1 1/2 ounces pineapple juice
- 1/2 ounce lime juice, freshly squeezed
- Garnish: pineapple wedge
- Garnish: pineapple leaf
1. In a shaker with ice, combine the rum, cream of coconut, pineapple, and lime juices. Shake well for 20 to 30 seconds.
2. Pour into a hurricane glass that has been chilled over pebble ice.
3. Add a pineapple wedge and a pineapple leaf as garnish.
6. Top 10 Cocktails – Banana Daiquiri
If you’re sick of the strawberry equivalent, try this tropical delight, packed with fresh banana, lime juice, white rum and Cointreau.
Ingredients
- 1 banana, peeled and roughly chopped
- 50ml white rum
- 25ml lime juice
- 1 tbsp Cointreau or sugar syrup
- maraschino cherries and banana slices, to garnish
- Put the banana, rum, lime juice and Cointreau or sugar syrup in a blender and blitz until smooth.
- Pour the daiquiri into a hurricane glass. Skewer a banana slice and a couple of maraschino cherries onto a cocktail skewer, and use this to garnish the glass.
Interested in preparing a traditional French breakfast? Check out our article on how to enjoy a true French breakfast here.
7. Top 10 Cocktails – Tequila Sunrise
Tequila, orange juice, and grenadine syrup make up the “tequila sunrise.” In a large glass, the drink is served unmixed. The current beverage was first made in Sausalito, California, in the early 1970s, following the creation of an earlier version in Phoenix, Arizona, in the 1930s. The drink is so called because when it is poured, the color gradations resemble a sunrise. The tequila sunrise is typically served in a collins or highball glass and is considered a long drink. Moreover, this drink is an IBA Official Cocktail, according to the International Bartender Association.
Ingredients
- 2 ounces tequila
- 4 ounces orange juice
- Orange slice
- 1/2 ounce grenadine
- Maraschino cherry
- Pour the tequila and orange juice into a highball glass along with ice cubes. Stir Well.
- Pour the grenadine slowly along the glass’ inner edge. It will gradually rise after sinking to combine with the other components.
- Garnish with an orange slice and cherry. Serve.
8. Top 10 Cocktails – Bloody Mary
The Bloody Mary has an interesting history. According to his granddaughter, the French bartender Fernand Petiot claimed to have created the Bloody Mary in 1921, years before any subsequent claims. He was employed at the New York Bar in Paris at the time, which later changed its name to Harry’s New York Bar and served as a favorite hangout for American immigrants like Ernest Hemingway. According to the bar’s own traditions, the initial cocktail was reportedly made on the spot with just vodka and tomato juice. This concoction was originally called a “Bucket of Blood”. The White Lady and the Side Car are two other iconic drinks that Harry’s Bar claims to have invented.
The 21 Club in New York has two claims attached to it. One is that it was created by bartender Henry Zbikiewicz, who was charged with blending Bloody Marys, in the 1930s. Another claims that the comedian George Jessel, who attended the 21 Club, was responsible for the idea. One of the earliest references to this beverage in the United States was published in 1939 by Lucius Beebe in his gossip column This New York, along with the drink’s original recipe: “George Jessel’s newest pick-me-up, which is attracting attention from the town’s paragraphers, is called a Bloody Mary: half tomato juice, half vodka. It is also claimed by others.
Furthermore, it is frequently consumed in the morning or early afternoon in the US and is well-liked as a hangover remedy. Several historical figures, including Queen Mary I of England, who was referred to as “Bloody Mary” in Foxe’s Book of Martyrs for attempting to restore the Catholic Church in England, as well as mythical figures are linked to the moniker “Bloody Mary.”
Ingredients
- large handful of ice
- 500ml tomato juice
- 100ml vodka
- 1 tbsp lemon juice, plus 2 slices to serve
- few shakes of Worcestershire sauce
- few shakes of Tabasco
- pinch of black pepper
- pinch of celery salt
- 2 celery sticks, to serve
1. Fill a big jug with ice. Pour the vodka, tomato juice, and lemon juice directly into the ice after measuring them.
2. Add a shake or two of Tabasco, three shakes of Worcestershire sauce, and a touch of celery salt and pepper. After vigorously stirring until the jug’s exterior feels cold, pour the cocktail into two tall glasses.
3. Fill both glasses to the brim with fresh ice, garnish with a celery stalk and a lemon slice, and then sip.
9. Top 10 Cocktails – Rum Punch
If you’re after a delicious Caribbean cocktail that’s easy to make, Rum Punch is the answer. Rum and fruit juice are such a simple pairing and this is one of the earliest known cocktails. You should feel free to get creative with this recipe and change it up somewhat if you wish.
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 ounces dark rum
- 1 1/4 ounces light rum
- 1 ounce orange juice, freshly squeezed
- 2 ounces pineapple juice
- 1/4 ounce lime juice, freshly squeezed
- 1/4 ounce grenadine
- Garnish: brandied or maraschino cherry
- In a shaker with ice, combine the grenadine, light and dark rums, pineapple, orange, and lime juices. Shake vigorously until well-chilled.
- Pour over new ice in a hurricane glass after straining.
- Add a maraschino or brandied cherry as garnish
10. Top 10 Cocktails – Amaretto Fizz
Finally, we have the Amaretto Fizz.
Ingredients
- 400ml Disaronno
- 2 x 75cl bottles of sparkling wine
- 600ml orange juice
- strips orange zest
- Simply, mix the Disaronno, orange juice and sparkling wine in a jug.
Check out this video for tips on how to mix cocktails.