In 2012, internationally renowned bartender Sam Ross of Milk & Honey NYC (now Attaboy) presented a training session on cocktail families to a group of bartenders at The Loft in Sydney. He approached the cocktail education event as if the audience were a new member of staff at the esteemed New York bar. This article is part of the “looking back” series.
Sam Ross on Cocktail Families – Photo © Cocktails & Bars
Before Death & Co authors released The Cocktail Codex in 2018, Sam Ross was educating bartenders on the concept of cocktail families. He explained how any cocktail can be traced back to five or six cocktail families, such as the Sour, the Collins and the Gimlet. Speaking in ounces instead of mls (1 oz = 25 ml; 2 oz = 50 ml; ¾ oz = 20 ml), he also presented the simple formulas of balance between the spirit and the lemon/sugar components.
Cocktail Families: The Sour
A Sour is in essence 2 oz spirit, ¾ oz lemon juice and ¾ oz sugar syrup, served up. The Traditional includes egg white, with bitters being optional, whereas a Non-Traditional has no egg white. If this balance is kept, any 2 oz of spirit (or 1 oz of two spirits) can be used between the lemon and sugar components. ¼ oz of sugar or lemon over or under will alter the balance whereas ¼ oz of spirit won’t do so.
He prepared a Traditional Rye Sour using the “dry shake” technique (shaking without ice) invented by Milk & Honey bartender, Christie Pope. He explained that when egg white is shaken with ice, it needs a longer time to emulsify, and shaking it for an extended time results in dilution and alters the flavour of the drink.
Cocktails in the Sour family include the Bees Knees, Clover Club, Pink Lady, Penicillin, Aviation, Ward 8, Cameron’s Kick.
Cocktail Families: The Collins
The Collins is a non-traditional (ie no egg white) gin sour with club soda and ice. The formula is 2 oz of spirit, ¾ oz lemon juice, ¾ oz simple syrup, ice and soda. The difference between a Collins and a Sour is in the water content. Again, if shaken then strained over ice and served, it becomes too diluted.
As a rule, Ross explained that anything served on ice needs to be shaken less to prevent dilution as the water content should come from the club soda and not from ice dilution.
Part of the Collins family, a Fizz to a Collins is what a Traditional Sour is to a Non-Traditional Sour, which means it lacks the egg white component. Adding any fruit or a dash of bitters yields a cocktail with a different name.
Cocktails in the Collins family include the Hayes Collins (a Collins with Absinthe rinse), Morning Glory Fizz, Ramos Gin Fizz, Ross Collins and Golden Thistle.
Cocktail Families: The Gimlet
Keeping with the basics of the cocktail families, a Gimlet is essentially a non-traditional gin Sour with lime instead of lemon. Lime and lemon behave differently, the latter being more acidic, lime juice needs to be bumped up slightly in the ratio. The formula becomes 2 oz of Gin, 1 oz of lime juice (instead of ¾ oz ) and ¾ oz of simple syrup.
According to Ross, dilution often gets overlooked in cocktails. A drink without ice will only get warm. It needs to be shaken long and hard to get it chilled. On the flip side, a drink served with ice should not be shaken for too long. He drew attention to the wash line which is the level of the drink below the rim of the glass. If a cocktail is shaken for too long, the wash line will be right at the top, making it awkward to drink without spillage.
Cocktails in the Gimlet family include the Jack Rose, Pegu Club, Bennett (Gimlet with bitters), Pan American Clipper.
Cocktail Families: The Rickey
The Rickey is basically a Gimlet served long with club soda. The formula is 2 oz gin, 1 oz lime juice and ¾ syrup topped with soda.
Cocktails in the Rickey family include the Southside Rickey (Rickey with mint, bitters optional), Gin-Gin Mule (Southside Rickey with ginger) and Mexican Firing Squad (Tequila Rickey with grenadine and bitters).
The Daiquiri & Caipirinha
Sam Ross termed the Daiquiri and Caipirinha as “peasant style drinks”, regarded as rough spirits with the addition of a sweetener to counter it. They remain a variation of a Gimlet but with muddling lime with granular sugar to counteract the bitterness from the citrus skin.
“Don’t pulverise the citrus,” he said. “It’s a gentle abuse of the lime.” 6 lime chunks and 1 sugar cube to abrase the skin of citrus is the equivalent of 1 oz of lime juice. Adding ¾ oz of simple syrup and 2 oz of the spirit is the classic formula. Muddling at the end gives more wiggle and it’s easier than dry muddling. Straw testing every drink is imperative when muddling citrus to ensure the correct balance.
The formula for the Daiquiri is 2oz white rum, 1 oz lime juice, ¾ oz simple syrup. The Caipirinha is 2oz cachaca, 6x lime chunks, ¾ oz simple syrup, sugar cube and cracked ice.
Cocktails in the Daiquiri family include the Cloak & Dagger (with aged and dark rum), Cuban #2 (with grenadine) and La Floridita #1 (Daiquiri with Maraschino). Cocktails in the Caipirinha family include the Caipirissima (with white rum), Caiphirita (with tequila), Brazilian Mojito (with mint) and Mojito Criollo (mint Caipirissima with a splash of club soda).
The Sidecar
The formula for the Sidecar is 1½ oz Cognac, 1oz Cointreau, ½ oz lemon juice (3:2:1 ratio)
Cocktails in the Sidecar family include the Chelsea Sidecar (gin Sidecar), White Lady (Chelsea Sidecar with egg white) and Between the Sheets (Sidecar with Cognac and rum).
The Smash
The Smash is made up of 2 oz of spirit, 3 lemon wedges, ¾ oz simple syrup, 6x mint leaves, muddled, shaken and strained over cracked ice with bitters being optional. The spirit can be bourbon, rye, dark rum, light rum, whisky, whiskey, brandy or Applejack.
Cocktail Families: The Martini & The Manhattan
When it comes to stirred drinks such as the Martini and the Manhattan, as a rule anything that can be seen through is stirred.
“There is a difference between shaking and stirring; both are chilling and diluting but they do it in different ways. Shaking is chilling and diluting but it is also aerating. Stirring is for heavy drinks that should be syrupy and silky on the tongue.”
The Martini and the Manhattan generally follow the same formula: 2 oz spirit with 1 oz of modifier, usually a dry vermouth or a liqueur.
The Martini formula is 2 oz gin, 1 oz dry vermouth, olive.
Cocktails in the Martini family include the Perfect Martini (half sweet vermouth and half dry vermouth), Alaska (Martini with Yellow Chartreuse, orange bitters ans no vermouth), Tuxedo #1 (martini with absinthe rinse and lemon twist), Martinez (sweet Martini with dash of Maraschino and orange bitters).
The Manhattan formula is 2 oz rye, 1 oz sweet vermouth,bitters, cherry.
Cocktails in the Manhattan family include the Rob Roy (Manhattan made with Scotch whisky), Bobby Burns (Rob Roy wth Benedictine and lemon twist), Remember the Maine (Manhattan with dash of Cherry Heering, absinthe rinse and twist) and the Vieux Carré (Rye & Cognac Manhattan, Benedictine rinse, rocks glass)
Cocktail Families: The Old Fashioned
The Old Fashioned family is essentially 2 oz bourbon, white sugar cube, Angostura bitters, lemon and orange twist. He recommends it be served “slightly hot”, undiluted and under-stirred. At Milk & Honey, it was served using one big block of ice that sits at the bottom of the glass and above the wash line. A stirrer and an explanation were given with the drink. The first sip is undiluted and warm. After a stir, water gets into drink and improves the taste.
Cocktails in the Old fashioned family include the Monte Carlo (Rye whiskey, Benedictine. Angostura Bitters, lemon twist, no sugar), American Trilogy (Rye & Applejack, orange bitters, brown sugar cube) and Chet Baker (aged rum, barspoon honey, 2 barspoons sweet vermouth, bitters and orange twist).
The Penicillin
Many regard Sam Ross’ The Penicillin to be a modern classic, a cocktail that has sparked and inspired many riffs and variations around the world. The Penicillin is essentially a whisky Sour with sweetened ginger juice and honey and a float of a smoky whisky on top. He prepared his cocktail using 2 oz blended Scotch whisky, straight ginger juice stirred with granulated sugar, ¾ oz of honey, and a drizzle of Islay whisky.
“We don’t feel we invent drinks. We adapt them,” he said.
“Sam Ross on Cocktail Families” is part of the ‘Looking Back’ series which casts a historical lens on key industry personalities. The article is based on one originally published on our sister website Gourmantic.
Next in the ‘Looking Back’ series… Brian Nation on Jameson Irish Whiskey
