Post #389736 by Cammo on Thu, Jun 26, 2008 10:13 AM

Yeah, I know, another list thread. But I searched and searched and couldn't find a single discussion of the Greatest Cocktails (Tiki AND those other ones) of all time.
Here's the rub, bub -

• They have to have a specific birthplace (usually a bar, natch) where they were made under that name for the first time. Or lots of history pinning their birth down to a specific time and region. Lots of drinks have long histories leading up to their birth, where they were made under other names or with slightly different ingredients. That crap doesn't matter.

• They have to have been so popular that they flipped ideas of what a good cocktail actually IS, often making them the genesis of a whole style of drink.

• The word 'cocktail' herein refers to the modern accepted meaning of the word; any mixed single drink of three or more ingredients, not counting ice. Simple two-ingredient 'cocktails' such as mimosas do not count. Punches do not count. Beer is out as an ingredient.

• This is an Anglo-American style list. If you wannna submit the Greatest Hits from Lower Zchechnolopia, please do; we ain't ethnocentric, just eccentric.

So here's a place to start, with approximate dates (and this list was so hard it's actually 11 long, but who's counting?):

1. Tom & Jerry (1820's)
2. Mint Julep (1824)
3. Manhattan (1870's)
4. Old Fashioned (1880's)
5. Tom Collins (1880's)
6. Daquiri (1905)
7. Planters Punch (1908)
8. Singapore Sling (1910)
9. Martini (1910?)
10. Sidecar (1917)
11. Zombie (1935???)

Laytah!

[ Edited by: Cammo 2008-07-26 14:46 ]