The Best Classic Cocktail Recipes, According to Experts

Since 2016, we’ve set the lofty goal of finding the ultimate expression of every classic cocktail. After asking dozens of America’s best bartenders to submit their finest recipes for Rob Roys, Jungle Birds, Martinis and beyond, we blind tasted them all with a panel of experts to crown a winner. In search of the platonic ideal, we’ve discovered that some first place winners strictly adhere to traditional recipes (the case for the Manhattan and the Bamboo), while others look to unorthodox and potentially controversial methods—such as orange juice in a Whiskey Sour or a Negroni that forgoes an equal parts construction. Here, we’ve rounded up the best of the best classic cocktail recipes.