Garden of the TZar Cocktail

The sour was first served on the high seas - but forget the cocktail lounge of a luxurious ocean liner. Think sailors in the Royal Navy. On those arduous sea journeys, water supplies could be unreliable to say the least, and often undrinkable. These hardy sailors added spirits and lemons to the water to improve the taste - which is why in the US, the British are known as "Limeys" to this day. They topped the drink with sugar and water and the sour was born. This refreshing cocktail is still loved today.

Iconically pink, the Cosmopolitan was born at the hands of Cheryl Cook, bartender and owner of The Strand in Miami. Her words describe the birth of the drink better than anyone else: "It was about 1985; the Martini was making a comeback, with its classic glass. The women didn't seem to like cocktails very much but wanted to be seen with the martini glass in hand. This gave me the idea of ​​creating a cocktail that would appeal to everyone, and fit in this classic glass. So, I took the ingredients: Absolut Citron, a dose of triple sec, a drop of Rose's Lime and enough cranberry to make it deliciously pink."
In a short time the cocktail was mentioned by the famous Cosmopolitan magazine, from which Cook took inspiration for the name.

The Gin Sour is one of the oldest cocktails around and has become the blueprint for myriad modern cocktails. You could say it's where the art of mixing began - although nobody quite knows where, when, or how. We do know that revered mixologist Jerry Thomas was the first to write it down. Before that, Royal Navy sailors famously mixed sour drinks on board, adding citrus to their spirits and then sweetening the blend slightly. If they didn't invent the cocktail, they certainly popularized it when they came ashore. Now discover if the Gin Sour rocks your boat.

It's simple: Milan is the birthplace of Campari. Turin is the home of sweet vermouth. Mix the two together in a glass. garnish with orange peel, and you have the perfect classic. Legend has it that Gaspare Campari first served the Milano Torino at his Milan cafe in 1860. The Mi-To proved so popular it became the template for the next generation of bittersweet cocktails, like the Americano (with a splash of soda) and the Negroni (with an equal measure of gin). Ours includes Cocchi vermouth, from a family recipe that's over 100 years old.