Make Five Classic Cocktails

The five cocktails in this plan cover the complete range of bartending technique: shaking (Margarita, Daiquiri), stirring (Old Fashioned, Negroni, Manhattan), and the fundamental balance of sour, sweet, and spirit that underlies most classic drinks. Master these five and you understand enough structure to build most other cocktails, because the classic families all derive from the same underlying formulas — a Daiquiri and a Margarita are structurally identical, with different base spirits.

The session moves through each cocktail in order of technique complexity, starting with the Margarita because it demonstrates fresh citrus, proper salting, and shaking all at once. The Old Fashioned teaches the opposite approach — stirring builds a different dilution and texture than shaking, and the choice is not interchangeable. The Negroni and Manhattan then demonstrate the bitter-vermouth-spirit balance that defines a whole family of drinks with equal parts logic.

Fresh citrus is where the plan draws its hardest line. Pre-made sour mix cannot be disguised by spirit quality — the preservatives and artificial flavoring are immediately identifiable. The difference between a cocktail made with lime squeezed that day and one made with bottled juice is tasteable in the first sip. After this session, that distinction — and the dozen small techniques that separate a good cocktail from a great one — become instincts rather than rules to remember.