Classic Bar Drinks

By: Jason Petrina



One of the most important aspects of good social entertaining is keeping a well stocked bar so that you can offer your guests some of the more popular bar drinks when you entertain. While it may be impossible to keep your repertoire and bar stocked with the right ingredients to make all the most popular bar drinks, it is a good idea to stock the items you will need for some of the most classic items and learn now to prepare them as well.

Some of the more classic bar drinks that have been around for a number of years include the following: White Russian, Mudslide, Martini, Tom Collins, Screwdriver, Bloody Mary and Manhattan.

In order to prepare these classic bar drinks, you will need the following ingredients: vodka, coffee liqueur, light cream, Kahlua, Bailey’s Irish Cream, orange juice, tomato juice, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce, salt and pepper, gin, dry vermouth, sweet vermouth, superfine sugar, club soda, bourbon, bitters, lemon juice, lime juice, limes, lemons, olives, oranges and cherries. You will also need bar glasses, a blender and drink shaker.

White Russian

Ingredients:

2 ounces vodka
1 ounce coffee liqueur
Light cream

Directions:

Mix vodka and coffee liqueur over ice cubes in glass. Fill the remainder of drink with light cream.

Mudslide

Ingredients:

2 ounces vodka
2 ounces Kahlua
2 ounces Bailey’s Irish Cream

Mix all ingredients along with cracked ice in a drink shaker. Serve in a chilled glass.

Screwdriver

Ingredients:

2 ounces vodka
Orange juice

Directions:

Place about three ice cubes in a glass and pour in vodka. Next, fill the remainder of glass with orange juice. Stir and serve.

Bloody Mary

Ingredients:

1 ½ ounces vodka
3 ounces tomato juice
1 dash of lemon juice
½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
3 drops of Tabasco hot sauce
1 lime wedge

Directions:

Mix all ingredients except lime wedge with ice and strain into a glass over ice cubes. May add salt and pepper according to taste. Garnish with lime wedge and serve.

Martini

Ingredients:

2 ½ ounces of gin
1 ½ teaspoons of dry vermouth
1 lemon peel twist

Directions:

Fill a glass halfway with ice cubes. Combine gin and vermouth and pour into glass. Stir well. Strain into a glass and garnish with lemon peel twist. May also garnish with an olive according to taste.

Tom Collins

Ingredients:

2 ounces of gin
1 ounce of lemon juice
1 teaspoon superfine sugar
3 ounces of club soda
1 cherry
1 orange slice

Directions:

Fill shaker halfway with ice cubes. Next, mix gin, lemon juice and sugar. If you do not have superfine sugar, you can run regular granulated sugar through a food processor quickly in order to produce superfine sugar. Do not substitute granulated sugar unless it has been processed. It will affect the drink. Next, shake well. Strain into the glass with ice cubes. Add club soda, stir and garnish.

Manhattan

Ingredients:

¾ ounces sweet vermouth
2 ½ ounces bourbon
Bitters
Ice cubes
Cherry
Orange peel twist

Directions:

Mix vermouth, bourbon, bitters and about three cubes of ice together in a mixing glass. Stir gently. This is important because vigorous stirring may bruise the spirits which can result in a cloudy drink. Place cherry in chilled glass and strain drink mixture over the cherry. Next rub the edge of the orange peel over the rim of the glass and gently twist it over the drink. This will release the oils from the orange into the drink.



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