The Bar, Examined

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The Drink Hotel bars have long been laboratories for the most enduring cocktails, and an around-the-world trip provides drink recipes for every hour and occasion. Just make sure your glassware is up to snuff (weve poured our liquor in this falls finest). 1. Singapore Sling (Rock-cut highball by Tiffany & Co., $30) Raffles Hotel, Singapore This drink was created at the Raffles in the early 1900s for British ladies looking to discreetly sip on something stronger than lemonade. Today the hotel slings about 2,000 of them daily. 1 ounce gin, 1/2 ounce Heering cherry liqueur, 4 ounces pineapple juice, 1/2 ounce lime juice, 1/4 ounce Cointreau, 1/4 ounce Dom Benedictine, 1/3 ounce grenadine, dash Angostura bitters Shake and garnish with pineapple and cherry. Serve in a highball. 2. Sazerac (Birch rocks glass by Roost, $7.50) The Sazerac Bar, Roosevelt Hotel, New Orleans The Sazeracs history is as convoluted as politics in the Big Easy, but the Sazerac is largely acknowledged as the worlds very first cocktail, created around 1850. 1 sugar cube, 1 ounces rye whiskey, 1/4 ounces absinthe (or Herbsaint), 3 dashes Peychauds bitters, lemon peel for garnish Pack an old-fashioned glass with ice. In a second old-fashioned glass, place the sugar cube and add the bitters, then crush the sugar cube. Add the rye whiskey to the second glass. Empty the ice from the first glass and coat the glass with the Herbsaint. Empty the whiskey/bitters/sugar mixture from the second glass into the first glass and garnish with lemon peel. 3. Corpse Reviver No. 2 (Mami martini glass by Alessi, $125 for six) Bar Hemingway, Ritz Hotel, Paris In a city not known for cocktail culture, leave it to Ernest Hemingway to inspire and become chief patron of what is now considered Europes -- if not the worlds -- premier mixology mecca. Save 30 Euros and make this hangover cure at home. 3/4 ounce gin, 3/4 ounce Cointreau, 3/4 ounce Lillet Blanc, 3/4 ounce fresh lemon juice, 2 dashes absinthe, Herbsaint, or other pastis Combine in a shaker with cracked ice, shake, and strain. Garnish with a stemless cherry. 4. Bellini (Namb Contour flute, $75 for two) Harrys Bar, Cipriani, Venice More than a million Bellinis have been served at Venices Harrys Bar since it opened its dock for business in 1931. The drinks rosy hue inspired creator Giuseppe Cipriani to name it after Renaissance painter Giovanni Bellini. 1/3 part fresh white peach juice, 2/3 part Prosecco (sparkling wine) To make peach juice, peel and slice 2 pounds of white peaches. Blend the peaches with crushed ice and two teaspoons of sugar. Add 2 1/4 cups of water and 3/4 cup fresh lemon juice. If necessary, add a little raspberry or cherry juice to make it distinctly pink. 5. Original Red Snapper (Double old-fashioned glass by Match, $62) King Cole Bar, the St. Regis, New York City You probably know her better by her drag name, Bloody Mary, but when this cocktail was created 75 years ago at the King Cole, it was given a more demure moniker. 1 ounce vodka, 2 ounces tomato juice, 1 dash lemon juice, 2 dashes salt, 2 dashes black pepper, 2 dashes cayenne pepper, 3 dashes Worcestershire sauce6. The Martinez (Martini pitcher by Match, $193, and spoon, $66) The Dorchester, London Using their own bespoke gin and bitters based on 17th-century recipes, the Dorchesters signature drink is considered the original martini, dating as far back as 1862. 1 ounce Haymans Old Tom Gin, 1 1/2 ounces Punt e Mes, 1/2 ounce Maraschino Luxardo, dash Dorchester bitters Shake and strain into a martini glass. Squeeze an orange twist and drop in.