12 Classic Cocktails: Ratios and Measurements
Two rules that explain every cocktail
Every classic cocktail is a balance of strong (spirit), sweet, sour or bitter, and dilution from ice. The ratio is not decoration: it is the reason the drink works. Get it right and the drink is balanced. Shift it and something dominates. The second rule is technique: stir spirit-forward drinks so they stay clear and silky; shake anything with citrus, juice or egg white so it emulsifies and chills fast. These two principles are what bartenders spend years internalising. The twelve drinks below put the numbers in one place.
Stirred classics (spirit-forward)
These four drinks contain no citrus. Stirring over ice dilutes and chills them without introducing air or cloudiness. All four are built on the same pattern: a base spirit balanced by a sweetener and a modifier, usually vermouth or bitters. The ratios look different but the logic is the same in every glass.
Old Fashioned
2 oz bourbon, 1 tsp sugar, 2 dashes Angostura bitters. Build in glass. Garnish: orange twist.
Manhattan
2 oz rye, 1 oz sweet vermouth, 2 dashes bitters. Stir 30 s, strain. Garnish: cherry.
Negroni
1 oz gin, 1 oz Campari, 1 oz sweet vermouth (1:1:1). Stir over ice, strain. Garnish: orange twist.
Dry Martini
2.5 oz gin, 0.5 oz dry vermouth (5:1). Stir 30 s, strain into chilled glass. Garnish: twist or olive
Shaken sours
The sour formula is 2 parts spirit to 0.75 parts acid to 0.75 parts sweet. That tighter ratio (2:0.75:0.75) is the modern standard; older recipes used 2:1:1 which reads sweeter. The Cosmo adds a fourth ingredient (cranberry) for colour and a mild berry note, but the spine is the same. If you remember one ratio, remember 2:0.75:0.75.
Daiquiri
2 oz white rum, 0.75 oz lime juice, 0.75 oz simple syrup (2:0.75:0.75). Shake hard, double-strain.
Gimlet
2 oz gin, 0.75 oz lime juice, 0.75 oz simple syrup (2:0.75:0.75). Shake, strain into chilled coupe.
Whiskey Sour
2 oz bourbon, 0.75 oz lemon juice, 0.75 oz syrup. Optional: 0.5 oz egg white (dry-shake first).
Cosmopolitan
2 oz citron vodka, 1 oz triple sec, 1 oz cranberry juice, 0.5 oz lime. Shake, strain into coupe.
Highballs and long drinks
These three are built rather than shaken or stirred: spirit goes in first, then ice, then the non-alcoholic mixer poured gently to preserve carbonation. The mojito is the exception: mint needs a brief muddle and the rum-lime-syrup base gets a short shake before the soda tops it. Do not shake the soda itself.
Mojito
2 oz white rum, 1 oz lime juice, 0.75 oz syrup, mint, soda to top. Muddle mint gently, shake, strain
Dark & Stormy
2 oz dark rum (Goslings), 4 oz ginger beer, lime wedge. Build over ice in highball glass.
Aperol Spritz
3 oz Prosecco, 2 oz Aperol, 1 oz soda water (3:2:1). Build in wine glass over ice. Orange slice.
Modern classics
The Espresso Martini is the most-ordered cocktail in the UK in 2026 for the third consecutive year. Despite the name it contains no vermouth: it is a shaken sour built on coffee rather than citrus, where the espresso plays the role of the acid and the Kahlua the sweet. Shake it harder than anything else in this list to get the foam.
Espresso Martini
2 oz vodka, 1 oz Kahlua, 1 oz espresso (cooled), 0.5 oz syrup. Shake hard, strain. 3 coffee beans.
The one upgrade that costs nothing: always use fresh-squeezed citrus. Bottled lime or lemon juice is pre-oxidised and muted. A single lime squeezed fresh makes a Daiquiri taste noticeably brighter. It is the single highest-return change in any of these drinks.
Egg white is optional in the Whiskey Sour but it transforms the texture. Use pasteurised shell eggs or carton egg white. Dry-shake without ice first for 15 seconds to build foam, then add ice and shake again to chill. Skip the dry shake and you get a thin, flat foam.
