Editorial
The history of cocktail culture begins with a simple premise: spirit alone is too much for most occasions, too little for others, and the interval between those two extremes is where every bartender who has ever done interesting work has chosen to operate. The first recorded use of the word cocktail in its modern sense dates to 1806 — a spirit, sugar, water, and bitters — and in the two centuries since, the variations on that formula have multiplied into an entire civilisation of drinks, techniques, and rituals. Here is how that happened, and where you can still taste the different chapters.
Jerry Thomas published The Bartender's Guide in 1862, the first comprehensive cocktail manual in history, and in doing so established the profession of bartending as something worthy of documentation and codification. Thomas was famous in his lifetime — he toured Europe performing his signature Blue Blazer, a flaming whisky drink thrown between two cups — and his book defined the canon of American mixed drinks for the 19th century. The Old Fashioned, the Manhattan, the Whisky Sour, the Tom Collins: these drinks were already understood as classics by the time Thomas was writing about them.
This first golden age of cocktail culture was distinctly American, driven by the abundance of rye whisky, the growing quality of American spirits production, and a bar culture in cities like New York and New Orleans that was sophisticated enough to have opinions about technique. Prohibition ended it. When the 18th Amendment took effect in 1920, many of America's best bartenders left for Europe, taking their knowledge with them and planting the seeds of what would eventually become the international cocktail culture.
The Old Absinthe House stands at 240 Bourbon Street in New Orleans, in a building from 1807 that has poured drinks since 1815. The Absinthe Frappe was popularized here, dripped through the marble fountains still fixed to the bar. Business cards cover the walls. Best in the afternoon before Bourbon Street fills. It anchors the pre-Prohibition chapter of American drinking.
Tujague's opened in 1856 and is the second-oldest restaurant in New Orleans. It moved a short way to 429 Decatur Street in 2022, carrying its long cypress stand-up bar with it. The Grasshopper was created here. Order one, or a house Sazerac. Best for an early evening at the bar over a full sit-down. It holds the 19th-century Creole chapter.
When Prohibition drove America's best bartenders to Europe, they found a continent that was already developing its own cocktail culture through different channels. The American Bar at The Savoy in London, where Harry Craddock published The Savoy Cocktail Book in 1930, became the centre of gravity for exiled American cocktail expertise combined with European ingredients and sensibility. The result was a distinctly international cocktail culture that would outlast Prohibition and ultimately influence the American renaissance decades later.
The Sidecar, the White Lady, and the Corpse Reviver were all codified during this period. The Dry Martini evolved from a sweet vermouth-dominant drink into the gin-forward, vermouth-restrained version we recognise today. The history of cocktail culture during Prohibition is largely the history of what American bartending looked like when it was forced to adapt to European ingredients and European palates. For a focused look at the venues that changed everything, see our guide to the bars that changed cocktail culture forever.
The American Bar at The Savoy on the Strand is the oldest surviving cocktail bar in Britain. Harry Craddock ran it through the 1920s and published the Savoy Cocktail Book in 1930, codifying the White Lady and the Corpse Reviver. It still ranks on the World's 50 Best Bars. Best for a jacketed evening with the resident pianist. Reserve, since walk-in seats are scarce.
Harry's New York Bar opened at 5 Rue Daunou in Paris in 1911 and became the landing pad for American drinkers and exiled bartenders. The Bloody Mary and the French 75 are both claimed here. The downstairs piano bar drew George Gershwin. Best in the early evening at the wood bar with a Sidecar. It marks the exile years, when American bartending crossed to Europe.
The modern cocktail renaissance is usually dated to Sasha Petraske opening Milk and Honey in New York in 1999. Petraske's bar operated by strict rules — no standing, no name-dropping, reservations required, no obnoxious behaviour — and made cocktails with the precision and seriousness that had been absent from American bar culture since the pre-Prohibition era. The effect was immediate and far-reaching. Within a decade, serious cocktail bars were opening in every major city in the world, all drawing on the same tradition of craft, precision, and respect for the historical canon. For the complete story of how that movement took shape, from Dale DeGroff's Rainbow Room to Death and Company, see our a look at the rise of the craft cocktail movement.
Death and Co opened in the East Village on East 6th Street in 2007 and became the template for the modern American cocktail bar. The dark, narrow room won Spirited Awards and produced books that bartenders still work from. The drinks are precise and the menu deep. Best on a weeknight, when the wait for a seat stays short. It carries the renaissance chapter.
The Bon Vivant opened on Thistle Street in Edinburgh in 2008 and helped carry the craft revival into Scotland. The narrow bar and bistro built a name on a bartender's-choice approach, reading the drinker rather than the menu. Small plates run alongside. Best for a relaxed seat at the bar with a made-to-taste cocktail. It shows the renaissance spreading beyond the big capitals.
The history of cocktail culture is the history of how a practical solution to the problem of unpleasant spirits became an art form. Jerry Thomas made it a profession. Prohibition scattered it across the world. The modern renaissance brought it back with more historical knowledge and technical precision than any previous generation of bartenders had possessed. The bars in this guide are where that history is actively maintained rather than merely commemorated.
If you want to understand where cocktail culture came from, visit New Orleans and order a Sazerac. If you want to understand where it is now, visit Death and Co in New York or The Connaught Bar in London. Both chapters are essential, and the line between them is shorter than it seems. To trace that line through one of its most enduring symbols, read our deep history of the Negroni — from 1919 Florence to global dominance.
Fredrik Filipsson covers flagship-city bars for barsforKings. He rates Tujague's for the clearest line back to the 19th century and Death and Co for the room that set the modern template.