The history of cocktails is not the history of spirits or sugar or bitters. It's the history of the men and women behind the stick who had the confidence—or the recklessness—to combine those elements into something that would stick around for decades. Jerry Thomas didn't invent the daisy because he was bored. Harry Craddock didn't curate the Savoy Cocktail Book because he had time on his hands. These were people who understood something fundamental about the relationship between technique, hospitality, and culture.
The bartender—the true bartender, not the person pouring well shots into plastic cups—occupies a peculiar position in restaurant history. They're part chemist, part entertainer, part therapist, and entirely responsible for whether the person sitting in front of them walks out thinking "that was incredible" or "never again." The evolution of bartending from the rough taverns of early America to the precise, ingredient-forward cocktail bars of today didn't happen by accident. It happened because certain people decided things should be different.
What follows is not an exhaustive history. It's a map of the people who moved the needle. The ones who changed what was possible, what was expected, and what was worth drinking. Some of them never left their city. Some traveled the world. What they share is a stubborn insistence on craft in an industry that often doesn't value it. That matters now more than ever. For the modern era — Dale DeGroff, Sasha Petraske, Ryan Chetiyawardana, and the bartenders who defined the cocktail renaissance — see our companion piece on legendary bartenders and the bars they made famous.
01
Jerry Thomas
1830s–1880s
New York & San Francisco
The Foundation
Jerry Thomas is called the "father of American mixology" for good reason. Working in New York and San Francisco during an era when bartending was barely a profession, Thomas published the first bartender's guide in 1862 and treated cocktail-making as a legitimate craft. He documented formulas, insisted on quality ingredients, and trained an entire generation in consistency and precision. The famous Jerry Thomas mint julep remains the benchmark.
Known for: First professional bartender's manual and the Jerry Thomas mint julep that defined the drink in America.
02
Harry Craddock
1920s–1930s
London, England
The Canonist
The head bartender at the Savoy Hotel's American Bar during Prohibition, Craddock created the blueprint for the modern cocktail establishment. He published the Savoy Cocktail Book in 1930, a work that remains essential today. Craddock understood that a cocktail bar needed gravitas—it needed standards. He trained bartenders like they were apprentices in a respected trade. His bar became the standard by which all others were judged.
Known for: The Savoy Cocktail Book and establishing the Savoy American Bar as the gold standard of elegance.
03
Ada Coleman
1900s–1940s
London, England
The Pioneer
Coleman was the first female head bartender at a prestigious hotel bar—the American Bar at the Savoy, no less. Working under and eventually alongside Harry Craddock, she invented the Hanky Panky cocktail and managed a legendary bar at a time when women behind the stick were nearly unheard of. Her presence at the Savoy during the 1920s proved that bartending talent had nothing to do with gender. She commanded respect through skill and stayed there for twenty years.
Known for: The Hanky Panky cocktail and breaking the gender barrier in high-end bartending.
04
Sasha Petraske
1990s–2010s
New York, USA
The Modernist
Petraske opened Milk & Honey in 2000 and single-handedly changed what a cocktail bar could be. No menu, no beer, no shortcuts—just bartenders with encyclopedic knowledge and the confidence to tell you what to drink. His bar became the template for the craft cocktail renaissance that followed. Every sophisticated cocktail bar operating today is either influenced by Milk & Honey or in direct opposition to it. His early death in 2015 was a loss the industry is still processing.
Known for: Milk & Honey's speakeasy model and elevated craft cocktail standards that defined 2000s bartending.
05
Dale DeGroff
1980s–present
New York, USA
The Educator
DeGroff at the Rainbow Room in the 1980s proved that fine dining and serious cocktails belonged together. He studied cocktail history obsessively, trained bartenders with rigor, and brought classical techniques back into the conversation at a moment when cocktails were barely a consideration in fine dining. His books and seminars have educated multiple generations of bartenders. DeGroff's legacy is one of insistence: that cocktail bartending is a skill worth mastering formally.
Known for: Elevating cocktails in fine dining and extensive bartender education through books and mentorship.
06
Dick Bradsell
1980s–2010s
London, England
The Innovator
Bradsell created the Bramble at the Bar at Soho in 1984 and proved that cocktails could be modern, accessible, and still completely uncompromising. The Bramble—blackberry crème de mûre, vodka, fresh lime, a touch of lemon, crushed ice—looked like a bartender was just having fun, but it was precisely calibrated. Bradsell's approach to bartending was playful but never lazy. He taught London's bartenders that innovation and tradition weren't enemies.
Known for: Creating the Bramble and bringing creative modernism to London cocktail bars.
07
Colin Field
1990s–present
Paris, France
The Perfectionist
Field has been the head bartender at Bar Hemingway at the Ritz Paris since the mid-1990s, a tenure of unmatched longevity in the luxury hotel bar world. His approach is respectful, technical, and utterly refined—he's not trying to reinvent cocktails, but to perfect them. Field represents an older tradition of bartending where discretion, knowledge, and impeccable presentation matter more than flash. His bar is where you taste what a cocktail truly should taste like.
Known for: Decades leading Bar Hemingway at the Ritz, representing timeless elegance in cocktails.
08
Agostino Perrone
2000s–present
London, England
The Technician
Perrone has headed The Connaught Bar since 2008 and quietly built one of the best cocktail programs on Earth. His approach is ingredient-driven and technique-forward—dry ice and smoking glass might be involved, but never as gimmick. At The Connaught, a cocktail is treated as seriously as a plate of food. Perrone's bar has earned consistent recognition because the drinks simply taste exceptional. He represents the new generation of bartenders who studied their craft the way fine dining chefs did.
Known for: Leading The Connaught Bar with ingredient-driven innovation and technical precision.
09
Audrey Saunders
1990s–present
New York, USA
The Architect
Saunders opened Pegu Club in 2005 and brought architectural precision to cocktail building. She treats each drink as a structure with distinct components working in concert—citrus balance, spirit harmony, flavor hierarchy. Her influence extends through everyone who's worked at Pegu, which has become a training ground for some of the city's best bartenders. Saunders proved that bartending could be cerebral, physical, and emotionally intelligent all at once.
Known for: Pegu Club and a scientific, architecture-based approach to cocktail balance.
10
Imbue Bartenders Collective
2010s–present
San Francisco, USA
The Collective
Imbue represents something new in bartending: a group of equals committed to elevating bartending as a discipline. Rather than a single visionary, Imbue's model emphasizes collaboration, shared knowledge, and continuous improvement. The bar's cocktails are technically excellent and frequently surprising—seasonal, ingredient-focused, and never dismissive of tradition. They represent what the next generation of bartending might look like: collaborative rather than hierarchical, inclusive rather than exclusive.
Known for: A collaborative model elevating bartending as a shared practice and discipline.
