The 25 Most Important Cocktails of the 2000s

Gin-Gin Mule (2000)

The Gin-Gin Mule was created by Audrey Saunders, a protégé of “King Cocktail” Dale DeGroff and a major determine throughout the early-2000s cocktail revival. Merging two in style drinks on the time — the Moscow Mule and the Mojito — the Gin Gin Mule is taken into account one of many early gin cocktails to be embraced by vodka drinkers. 

The cocktail first appeared on a menu in 2000 when Saunders was managing New York City’s Beacon restaurant. The drink didn’t attain huge acclaim till 2005, when it was featured at Saunders’s influential cocktail bar, Pegu Club, the place it rapidly grew to become a visitor favourite. —Prairie Rose

White Negroni (2001)

The White Negroni was born in Bordeaux in 2001, when London bartender Wayne Collins and Nick Blacknell of Plymouth Gin got down to make a Negroni throughout the Vinexpo commerce present. With Campari and candy vermouth unavailable, they needed to depend on French elements — Suze, a gentian-based liqueur with a singular bitterness, and Lillet Blanc, a calmly floral wine aperitif. Combined with gin, the substitution yielded a bracing but elegant variation that Collins dubbed the White Negroni.

At first, the drink unfold slowly, and few bars exterior France stocked Suze or Lillet. Its breakthrough got here in New York, the place Saunders acquired bottles of Suze to serve at Pegu Club, introducing the cocktail to the town’s rising bar scene. From there, different bartenders adopted the cocktail, and by the point Suze was formally imported to the U.S. in 2012, the White Negroni had already grow to be an authorized trendy traditional. —Dylan Ettinger

Gold Rush (2001)

The Gold Rush was created within the early 2000s at New York City’s Milk & Honey. Petraske’s childhood buddy, T.J. Siegal, who was an early investor within the bar, created this straightforward, bee-stung Whiskey Sour variation with bourbon, honey syrup, and contemporary lemon juice. The cocktail grew to become a Milk & Honey staple and the inspiration behind one other famed trendy traditional, the Penicillin.

“The Gold Rush is one of the fundamental examples of the Milk & Honey cocktail program: three ingredients, perfect balance, and no fuss,” says veteran bartender and Petraske protégé Richard Boccato in Regarding Cocktails, the 2016 ebook dedicated to Milk & Honey. —Prairie Rose

Old Cuban (2001)

The Old Cuban is a contemporary traditional that blends aged rum, lime juice, mint, easy syrup, bitters, and Champagne. Also created by Saunders whereas bartending at Beacon, just like the Gin-Gin Mule, it grew to become one in every of her signature drinks at Pegu Club. Though the bar closed in 2020, the Old Cuban lives on as one in every of Saunders’s greatest contributions to trendy mixology.

The drink is an knowledgeable instance of the way to thoughtfully and artfully mix features of two in style cocktails to create one thing acquainted and distinctive. The people-pleasing Mojito will get an improve with aged rum and borrows the addition of Champagne from the French 75. The result’s a mix of rum, lime, mint, and bubbles that’s extra refined than your typical beachside sip. —Dylan Ettinger

Porn Star Martini (2002)

Douglas Ankrah, the late Ghanaian-born bartender, created the Porn Star Martini for the opening menu at Townhouse bar in London in 2002. The luscious, sweet-tart cocktail combines vanilla vodka, ardour fruit liqueur, ardour fruit purée, contemporary lime juice, and vanilla easy syrup. The drink is historically served with a sidecar of chilled glowing wine.

Originally known as the Maverick Martini — named for a gents’s membership Ankrah visited whereas writing his cocktail ebook in Cape Town, South Africa — the identify quickly modified. “I then described it as the kind of cocktail that would be ordered by a pornstar, and the name stuck,” stated Ankrah. —Prairie Rose

Chartreuse Swizzle (2003)

When Marco Dionysos entered his mixture of inexperienced Chartreuse, pineapple juice, lime juice, and falernum right into a Chartreuse-sponsored cocktail competitors, he possible didn’t anticipate it to take first place. The refreshing Chartreuse Swizzle, impressed by Trinidad and Tobago’s beloved Queen’s Park Swizzle, has since grow to be some of the enduring and distinctive tropical cocktails of the previous quarter century.

A contemporary drink just like the Chartreuse Swizzle can not often make such a robust case for inclusion within the tropical cocktail canon, particularly one which makes use of a French natural liqueur as a base as a substitute of rum. From successful the competitors, to being on the menu at a number of San Francisco bars, to turning into a worldwide tropical staple, the Chartreuse Swizzle’s affect and endurance are simple. —Dylan Ettinger

Revolver (2004)

The Revolver, a daring bourbon and low liqueur cocktail, was created by San Francisco bartender Jon Santer round 2004. First served at Bruno’s earlier than discovering a house on the influential Bourbon & Branch, the drink rapidly grew to become emblematic of the period’s renewed creativity and SF’s place in American cocktail tradition.

Originally combined with a rye-heavy bourbon, the Revolver swapped the Manhattan’s candy vermouth for espresso liqueur, completed off with orange bitters and a flamed orange peel garnish. With its stripped-down three-ingredient components, the Revolver demonstrated how a easy reimagining of a traditional might make one of many oldest cocktail formulation really feel contemporary and accessible. It additionally helped to deliver the now-ubiquitous flamed orange garnish into the mainstream. —Dylan Ettinger

Penicillin (2005)

Few 2000s cocktails rival Penicillin’s influence. A mix of blended Scotch whisky with lemon, honey-ginger syrup, and a float of peaty Islay single-malt created by Sam Ross at New York’s Milk & Honey, it’s the uncommon trendy drink that earned traditional standing in actual time.

Created in 2005, the Penicillin appeared at simply the precise second. Because it predated smartphones and trendy social media, it saved an insider mystique that made the cocktail “in the know” order. Specs for the drink rapidly circulated the New York bar scene earlier than discovering their approach to different cities nationally, then globally. Its restrained and chic profile led many to surprise if it was some unearthed traditional from the pre-Prohibition period of bartending, regardless of it being an entirely authentic creation of Ross’s (although conceived as a riff on the Gold Rush). Helping gasoline its adoption was that the drink is lifeless easy to combine, utilizing widespread elements that may be discovered at practically any bar.

By the 2010s, the Penicillin grew to become a drink that any working bartender wanted to know the way to make, as important to their psychological repertoire as an Old Fashioned or a Negroni. It additionally spawned a brand new legion of up-and-coming bartenders, every spinning off numerous fanciful authentic creations and home cocktails, searching for to grow to be the brand new Penicillin. While many have succeeded to varied levels, none have come near the worldwide standing of Ross’s authentic. Even in 2025, it ranks among the many world’s best-selling classics. —Dylan Garret

Black Manhattan (2005)

A easy swap of conventional candy vermouth with bittersweet, natural amaro transforms a traditional Manhattan cocktail into a good richer, extra complicated, and fragrant drink: a Black Manhattan. The trendy traditional was created by bartender Todd Smith in 2005 at San Francisco’s historic cocktail bar Bourbon & Branch. Made with rye whiskey, Averna amaro, and fragrant bitters, the inky-hued, spirit-forward cocktail was emblematic of the time.

The craft cocktail revival energized bartenders throughout the nation to create a brand new catalogue of recent creations impressed by the traditional cocktails of the Nineteenth and early Twentieth centuries. At this similar time, a number of spirits, as soon as in style centuries earlier than, had been reintroduced. Amaro, a class of Italian digestifs that interprets to “bittersweet,” was generally featured as a cocktail ingredient, particularly alongside whiskey. —Prairie Rose

Hugo Spritz (2005)

When bartender Roland Gruber created what would grow to be the Hugo Spritz within the northern Italian city of Naturno in 2005, the drink was initially known as the Otto and was primarily based on a lemon balm cordial. Refashioned to characteristic St-Germain elderflower liqueur alongside Prosecco, seltzer, and mint, it remained a neighborhood favourite however struggled to interrupt out of its regional boundaries.

However, the success of the Aperol Spritz and broader spritz tradition induced the drink to leap to the U.S. within the early 2020s, after which its reputation exploded. The Hugo, now generally known as the Hugo Spritz, surged in the summertime of 2023 when it was declared the “drink of the summer” by numerous social media influencers. —Prairie Rose

Siesta (2006)

Composed of blanco tequila, contemporary grapefruit and lime juices, easy syrup, and Campari, the Siesta is a up to date riff on the Hemingway Daiquiri. Created by bartender Katie Stipe in 2006 whereas working at Pegu Club in New York City, the intense, coral-hued drink is a tequila-based trendy traditional — an outlier from a time when menus had been dominated by pre-Prohibition-influenced gin and whiskey cocktails. 

In the mid-2000s, Campari obtained a lift with the rise of the Negroni and from craft bartenders seeking to embrace complicated, bitter flavors. The Siesta was a mild introduction to bittersweet aperitif-style cocktails for a lot of customers. It is “a gateway cocktail for guests who may not love bitter [flavors] or just want to stretch beyond the simple Margarita,” says Stipe. —Prairie Rose

Basil Gimlet (2006)

The Basil Gimlet is an herbaceous tackle the traditional bitter. It’s made with gin, lime, and easy syrup, punched up with muddled contemporary basil. The botanical-forward cocktail was an early instance of utilizing contemporary herbs and elements to modernize pre-Prohibition classics in the beginning of the cocktail revival. 

In the early 2000s, after sommelier Shelley Lindgren tried a Vodka Gimlet made with basil at Boston restaurant Via Matta, her husband, Greg Lindgren, was impressed to create a gin variation. In 2006, he positioned it on the opening menu of Rye, the San Francisco bar he co-owns with Jon Gasparini, and it rapidly grew to become a menu staple. The easy, verdant improve reworked a Nineteenth-century gin cocktail into a up to date traditional, sparking an natural cocktail revolution. —Prairie Rose

Greenpoint (2006)

Aromatic and spirit-forward, the Greenpoint is made with rye whiskey, Yellow Chartreuse, candy vermouth, Angostura, and orange bitters. Created by Michael McIlroy at New York City’s Milk & Honey in 2006, it’s among the many best-known riffs on the early Twentieth-century Brooklyn cocktail.

The Brooklyn, a cousin of the Manhattan, mixes rye whiskey, dry vermouth, maraschino liqueur, and Amer Picon. During the early 2000s, Amer Picon was onerous to seek out within the U.S., so bartenders created neighborhood-named variations impressed by the unique Brooklyn template.

For the Greenpoint, named for McIlroy’s Brooklyn neighborhood, he initially reached for Green Chartreuse, then settled on the mellower, lower-proof Yellow Chartreuse for the ultimate recipe. —Prairie Rose

Oaxaca Old Fashioned (2007)

Created in 2007 by bartender Phil Ward at New York City’s Death & Co., the Oaxaca Old Fashioned marries reposado tequila, mezcal, agave nectar, and Angostura bitters — an earthy riff on the traditional Old Fashioned. 

Widely credited with introducing mezcal to a wider U.S. viewers, Ward later put the drink on the menu at his agave-focused Manhattan bar, Mayahuel. Though the bar closed in 2017, the cocktail’s affect endures. 

The cut up base of tequila and mezcal softens the smoke whereas preserving an earthy depth. Because of this, the Oaxaca Old Fashioned serves as an ideal gateway to mezcal cocktails. The trendy traditional is usually acknowledged for serving to to kick off the mezcal growth within the U.S. —Prairie Rose

Benton’s Old Fashioned (2007)

Riffs on the Old Fashioned are nothing new, however the Benton’s Old Fashioned actually modified the sport. Created in 2007 by Don Lee at New York’s acclaimed PDT, the drink launched fat-washing to the cocktail world and helped spark a wave of culinary methods in mixology. 

Lee was impressed by the smoky, savory depth of Benton’s nation ham and bacon, which are sometimes paired with bourbon in Kentucky. By infusing whiskey with rendered fats and balancing it with maple syrup, he created a cocktail that, whereas acquainted, was additionally revolutionary.

The Benton’s Old Fashioned rapidly grew to become one in every of PDT’s most talked-about drinks, influencing bartenders far past New York. The success of the Benton’s Old Fashioned popularized the strategy of fats washing amongst high-end bar circles, cementing its place as a contemporary traditional and a turning level in up to date bartending methods. —Dylan Ettinger

Paper Plane (2008)

The Paper Plane is an equal-parts bitter cocktail made with bourbon, Aperol, Amaro Nonino, and contemporary lemon juice. It was impressed by the Last Word, a pre-Prohibition drink unearthed in trendy occasions by the late bartender Murray Stenson of Seattle’s Zig Zag Café. In the summer season of 2008, Sam Ross — the famed bartender behind the Penicillin — riffed on the Last Word’s equal-parts template and taste profile, and created the Paper Plane for the newly opened Violet Hour in Chicago. Named after the M.I.A. track, it was instantly successful and has been a mainstay on cocktail menus around the globe ever since. —Prairie Rose

Gin Blossom (2008)

The Gin Blossom, Julie Reiner’s elegant riff on the Martini, was created in 2008 for the opening menu of her Brooklyn bar Clover Club. Reiner needed home variations of each a Manhattan and a Martini that may really feel timeless however distinct. She had simply gained entry to high-quality apricot eau-de-vie and liqueur. Inspired by references to apricot brandy and the lighter 50/50 Martini, she paired Plymouth gin with equal elements blanc vermouth and apricot eau-de-vie, accented by orange bitters and an orange twist.

The ensuing cocktail was a Martini variation that softened the spirit’s edge with out sacrificing complexity. Blanc vermouth introduced natural sweetness, whereas the eau-de-vie added dry, fragrant apricot character. The Gin Blossom rapidly grew to become a Clover Club favourite, changing company who won’t in any other case order a Martini, and turning into some of the influential cocktails of the century thus far. —Dylan Ettinger

Division Bell (2009)

The Division Bell, a refreshing mezcal and Aperol-driven cocktail, was created by Phil Ward at Mayahuel in 2009. The bar was among the many first New York cocktail bars to deal with tequila and mezcal with the identical reverence as whiskey or gin, introducing company to the variety and flexibility of agave spirits.

The Division Bell, a up to date riff on the Last Word, rapidly grew to become emblematic of Mayahuel’s mission to showcase agave spirits in new and complicated contexts. By utilizing mezcal because the spine of a balanced, approachable cocktail, it helped transfer the spirit past the Margarita and into the broader canon of recent cocktails. Its affect helped to safe mezcal, sotol, and raicilla a long-lasting place behind bars throughout the United States. —Dylan Ettinger

Kentucky Buck (2009)

The Kentucky Buck is a vivid, fruit-forward whiskey highball made with bourbon, contemporary lemon juice, ginger syrup, muddled strawberries, Angostura bitters, and membership soda. Created in 2009 by bartender Erick Castro for the spring menu at San Francisco’s Bourbon & Branch, the drink riffs on the buck household of cocktails — highballs that mix a base spirit, citrus, and ginger beer or ginger ale — and the identify is a nod to bourbon’s birthplace of Kentucky. 

Though it ran solely by means of spring at Bourbon & Branch, the drink discovered its viewers six months later at Rickhouse, the whiskey-centric bar the place Castro led the opening beverage program in San Francisco’s Financial District. There, the Kentucky Buck grew to become the signature order and, by Castro’s depend, offered greater than 30,000 in its first yr. —Prairie Rose

Kingston Negroni (2010)

These days, Negroni variations have practically grow to be clichés. But rewind to 2010, and it was usually tough to discover a bar that even knew the way to make the unique accurately, not to mention one which experimented with the established Negroni components. Enter bartender Joaquín Simó, who was then a companion on the now-closed New York City bar Pouring Ribbons. His Kingston Negroni is actually a traditional Negroni with a one-ingredient swap, utilizing overproof rum instead of gin. However, this straightforward tweak creates a world of recent taste, bringing grassy notes of high-proof rum and a depth that stands in stark distinction to the unique cocktail’s botanical, usually floral notes. 

What makes the Kingston Negroni so vital is that it helped popularize the back-pocket Negroni riff. Soon, each bartender price their denim apron needed to have their very own particular Negroni variation, both on the home menu or hidden away to impress company. By 2013, Negroni tradition had unfold so strongly that Imbibe Magazine and Campari launched their nonetheless ongoing Negroni Week, and the drink grew to become the cocktail-world model of a meme. But if you wish to style the riff that launched a thousand riffs, the Kingston Negroni is the place it’s best to begin. —Dylan Garret

Tia Mia (2010)

The traditional 1944 Mai Tai recipe is a timeless work of intention and steadiness. It doesn’t have to be tweaked to be mind-blowingly scrumptious, however that didn’t cease Ivy Mix from making an attempt. Created in 2010 by Mix at Julie Reiner’s Hawaiian-inspired New York bar, Lani Kai, Mix added a splash of mezcal to Trader Vic’s authentic specs. The ensuing creation was the Tia Mia, a drink that neatly merges mid-century cocktail kitsch with the agave spirit renaissance of the 2010s.

Like the drink’s identify (a playful anagram of Mai Tai), this cocktail is extra of a rearrangement than a revolution. The notes of smoky cooked agave from mezcal pair completely with a cool Jamaican rum, orgeat, and orange curaçao and create a consuming expertise that’s concurrently acquainted and surprisingly contemporary. —Dylan Ettinger

Naked & Famous (2011)

Joaquín Simó’s most well-known cocktail creation is the Naked & Famous, conceived whereas bartending at New York City’s Death & Co round 2011. 

An equal-parts cocktail consisting of mezcal, Aperol, Yellow Chartreuse, and lime juice, Simó drew inspiration from the pre-Prohibition Last Word and from Sam Ross’s Paper Plane. The Last Word makes use of gin; Ross’s Paper Plane opts for bourbon; Simó anchors the Naked & Famous in mezcal, delivering a smoky, bittersweet profile. 

Though now extensively obtainable within the U.S., when the drink debuted, just a few manufacturers exported mezcal from Mexico. Along with drinks like Phil Ward’s Oaxaca Old Fashioned, the Naked & Famous helped introduce U.S. audiences to mezcal as a class and showcase its versatility in combined drinks.

The Naked & Famous has grown in reputation since its debut — evolving right into a staple of recent bartending. —Prairie Rose

Morgenthaler’s Amaretto Sour (2012)

In 2012, bar legend Jeffrey Morgenthaler rehabilitated the Amaretto Sour with cask-proof bourbon. The authentic drink, created within the Seventies as a Disaronno model promotion, combined two elements amaretto to at least one half lemon juice. By the Eighties, because the drink gained reputation, bartenders started to include commercially produced bitter combine, leading to a syrupy candy concoction with a doubtful status.

Known for rehabilitating maligned Seventies and Eighties drinks, Morgenthaler paired amaretto’s nutty richness with high-proof bourbon for construction and saved specs easy and replicable. Fresh lemon juice gives snap, and egg white lends a silky, meringue-like froth. The result’s a vivid, whiskey-anchored bitter that redeemed the cocktail and helped return the drink to trendy menus. —Prairie Rose

Piña Verde (2012)

The Piña Verde — Spanish for “green pineapple” — is an herbaceous spin on the Piña Colada, constructed with Green Chartreuse, pineapple juice, cream of coconut, and contemporary lime juice. 

The cocktail first got here collectively within the mid-2000s, when bartender Erick Castro started to experiment with floating Green Chartreuse atop the home Piña Coladas at San Diego’s Polite Provisions bar. After dialing within the specs, he dropped the standard base spirit of rum to highlight the herbaceous liqueur and added the drink to the menu, the place workers nicknamed it the “Greenya Colada.” 

The cocktail landed in New York City in 2014 when Castro helped relaunch the East Village bar, Boilermaker. The drink rapidly grew to become a visitor favourite. From there, the Chartreuse-driven Colada unfold, turning a tropical traditional right into a vivid, natural trendy staple. —Prairie Rose

Bananarac (2014)

This banana-kissed riff on the Sazerac was created by bartender Natasha David in 2014 at her now-closed New York City cocktail bar Nitecap. 

In 2013, a yr earlier than the Bananarac’s creation, Giffard Banane du Brésil hit the U.S. market and rapidly grew to become a bartender favourite. David used its ripe, caramelized-banana character so as to add depth and heat, baking-spice notes.

Built with rye whiskey, Cognac, banana liqueur, demerara syrup, fragrant bitters, and an absinthe rinse, it nods to the Sazerac’s New Orleans brandy roots and its trendy rye base. The Bananarac unites each parts with a cut up base of rye and Cognac — a way widespread in up to date Sazeracs — for a balanced, fragrant take that feels traditional but trendy. —Prairie Rose