Best Selling 2016

The Top 20 best selling cocktails in 2016 based on Drinks International

Based on 100 of the world's best bars to rank their top ten best-selling classics. Here are the results

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20: Rum Old Fashioned 

Tres Paises

Goncalo de Sousa Monteiro, of Buck & Breck in Berlin, made a breakthrough Rum Old Fashioned in 2009. His recipe sees Taylor’s Velvet Falernum liqueur enter the mix, along with overproof white rum and dark rum. While customers may order Old Fashioneds like they are going out of fashion, it’s increasingly likely you’ll see this variation on a menu of the world’s best bars. 

19: Aperol Spritz

Celebrating Sweets

The Aperol Spritz sees three parts wine, two parts Aperol and one part soda make friends in a glass. As an Italian aperitivo, it is suitable for the hot-weather occasion so its recent popularity in dark, brooding bars isn’t logical. Probably this one came from the consumer, not the trade. Root cause aside, this drink has its own roots in northern Italy, so for authenticity the wine should be from Veneto, preferably Prosecco. 

18: Aviation

Liquor

Dropping a little altitude in the list but still the fifth best-selling gin cocktail at the World’s Best Bars is the Aviation. Essentially a refined Tom Collins with some maraschino, this is a top 10 seller in about 15% of polled bars. The recipe first appeared in Hugo Ensslin’s 1916 Recipes for Mixed Drinks, where crème de violette provided an extra floral dimension.

17: Gin Fizz 

Liquor

Somehow the humble but effervescent Gin Fizz failed to make the top 50 classics list last year, but it’s here now, with 15% of the world’s best bars we polled attesting to its selling power. It’s gin, lime or lemon, sugar, egg (optional) and soda. This is more of a blank canvas drink, yearning for embellishment.

16: Gimlet

Punch

This gin-and-lime twosome is a top-10 seller in 18% of the word’s best bars. It’s essentially gin and juice but somehow has credibility beyond its ingredients. Whether with lime cordial or lime juice sweetened with sugar, the ratio was originally 50/50, but that was when people didn’t care much for their teeth. Now a 75/25 gin-to-Roses lime cordial seems to be about the standard.

15: French 75

Difford's Guide

Popularised in Paris in the ’20s, perhaps now the French 75’s louchey heyday is behind it. But the French 75 is up 10 places in our list, with about 20% of polled bars saying it was among their top-10 sellers. At Arnaud’s – home of the drink in New Orleans – it’s made with Courvoisier VS, fresh lemon juice, freshly squeezed, simple syrup, a lemon twist and Mumm Cordon Rouge champagne.

14: Pisco Sour

Cookpad

Is the Pisco Sour the son of Peru or is it Chile? It’s a long story, but it’s probably Peruvian, with weekend access for the Chileans. All we know is Pisco is fast becoming the new spirit de hipster and the Pisco Sour is the classic cocktail that all pisco drinks must measure up to. White Rabbit from Santiago was one of 22 bars in our poll that named the Pisco Sour a top-10 classic cocktail. 

13: Mai Tai

Liquor

One of the machinations of the mind of Victor Jules Bergeron, the Mai Tai has been swept along by the tiki revival and come ashore in many of the world’s best bars. Though down four places in our chart this year, it is a kitsch classic loved by bartenders in their less serious moments. Requested at Artesian last year, it was two parts golden rum, one part orange curacao, one part lime, half part Disaronno and half part simple syrup, all shaken up with ice, strained and served.

12: Dark ’n’ Stormy

Cocktail Kit

This Bermuda highball is almost too simple for the label ‘cocktail’. In essence, it is rum’s version of the Moscow Mule. The history goes that British seafarers brought the ginger beer and local distiller Gosling’s met them half way with its rum. They threw in some lime, and there you have it, the Dark ’n’ Stormy. Twists, riffs and embellishments aside, this is a recipe blokes with beards and tats use in the world’s best bars and the world’s best boats. Slipping one place this year it is a top 10 seller in 20% of the bars that featured in our poll.

11: Bloody Mary

Liquor

Up three from last year and a top 10 selling classic in a quarter of bars polled is the Bloody Mary. You can argue about the makeup of this drink, but only until you have tried the Connaught’s version. Ago Perone uses Ketel One vodka, fresh tomato juice, a homemade spice mix, fresh lemon juice and celery air. Yes, celery air. It will convert even the bloody-minded Bloody Mary hater.

10: Mojito

BBC Good Food

Down two from last year, this Cuban drink has felt the brunt of changing fashion and now feels like a vestige of the last decade. Yet it remains a true classic. Havana’s La Bodeguita is the place for a mouthful of mint and though never a top 50 bar, our Academy has thrown a few votes its way over the years.
It makes its Mojitos with rum, lime juice, soda, brown cane sugar, fresh mint and ice.

9: Moscow Mule

Liquor

Up from 12, the Moscow Mule has seen an unlikely comeback in the past few years. It’s a crowd pleaser in just under a third of our 100 bars, with popularity seemingly springing up from the US. Clover Club, one of The World’s 50 Best Bars all-time achievers, sells vodka, lime, ginger and soda during happy hour, which keeps the less adventurous punters satisfied.

8: Sazerac

Liquor

Down from no.3 to no.8, the Sazerac remains a top 10 in a third of bars. Cure apparently makes the best in NOLA, birthplace of the drink. The Bonded Sazerac is EH Taylor rye whiskey, demerara syrup (2:1), two or three drops of Peychaud’s bitters, a splash of Nouvelle Orleans absinthe, lemon peel and dense ice.

7: Margarita 

Racheal

The Margarita is frozen at no.7 this year, though mostly not served frozen at the third of our bars that said it was a best seller. As Tommy’s was among the World’s 50 Best Bars this year, let’s drop by there for the recipe. The Tommy’s Margarita, by Julio Bermejo, is reposado 100% agave tequila, plus fresh lime juice and agave syrup.

6: Whiskey Sour

BBC Good Food

Up from 10 to six is the Whiskey Sour, a top 10 favourite of a third of our 100 polled bars, though only one said it was number one. That’s not too surprising as this is an everyman’s drink, hardly a house signature. The recipe is bourbon, lemon juice and a teaspoon of sugar. Egg white is optional, but anything to add interest seems worthwhile. 

5: Dry Martini 

Liquor

No.5 at the world’s best bars is the Dry Martini. In the UK, Duke’s is the AOC of this classic, but in light of Barcelona’s Dry Martini (a stalwart of The World’s 50 Best Bars) opening in London, we shall defer to Javier de la Muelas. His bar uses half and half gin to French vermouth, a dash of orange bitters, a squeeze of lemon rind and a green olive. If it’s a Martini for Muelas, drop the lemon.

4: Daiquiri

Gourmet Sleuth

Up two places to fourth is the Daiquiri. In just under half the bars we polled, this was a top classic and in 10% it was their no.1 yesteryear mix. We could ask La Floridita in Havana for the recipe but in memory of Sasha Petraske – a two-time champion of 50Best – we shall use his. That’s fresh lime juice, 1:1 simple syrup and Plantation Three Star white rum for punch. 

3: Manhattan

Liquor

Up a place from last year, the Manhattan was in the top 10 in half the bars we polled, but rarely is it the top classic. Its origin is an enigma but heading to NYC for a recipe can’t be far wrong. Jim Meehan of PDT suggests rye whiskey, sweet vermouth and two dashes of Angostura, stirred with ice, strained into a
chilled coupe and garnished with brandied cherries.

2: Negroni

Punch

The Negroni was a top 10 best-selling classic in more than two-thirds of our 100 bars, and again second to the Old Fashioned. It is the most popular gin cocktail out there. Don’t mess with the recipe, says received wisdom, including Gaz Regan. It’s a third, a third, a third of Campari, sweet vermouth and gin. And for Count Negroni’s sake, stirred, not shaken.

1: Old Fashioned 

Liquor

As last year, the Old Fashioned is anything but at the world’s best bars. Three-quarters of bars polled said it was among their top 10 best-selling classics and a quarter said it was their number one. Our bars opt for bourbon, but The World’s 50 Best Bars host David Wondrich suggests rye would probably have been the likely choice way back when. He goes with: 1 sugar cube – wetted with three dashes of Angostura Bitters and a little soda – crushed, stirred with a large ice cube and two ounces of rye.