14 Easy 4-Ingredient Cocktails You Can Memorize

This might sound like a gimmicky thing, cocktails with four ingredients or less. But in reality, it’s a return to the classics, where two to four ingredients, and that’s including garnish, were carefully calibrated to yield a distinctive effect. This is why choosing good ingredients is key, because each one will play such a major role in the drink. Note: We said “good” ingredients, not necessarily “top-shelf.” Nuanced gins will get lost (or dominate) in a martini, and extra-gold whiskeys are wasted in a Manhattan. This is also part of the beauty of these drinks. They are time-tested, but they are also great equalizers. No mixologist is necessary. Anyone can enjoy one tonight, regardless of skill level or budget.

Much like martinis, margaritas are cocktails that are more known today for their fruity (and sometimes even slushy!) iterations than for what they originally stood for. Geoffrey Zakarian would like to remedy that phenomenon with this very minimal version, where you can truly taste the tequila and lime, the signature ingredients. A dash of orange liqueur will add a hint of sweetness.

The beguiling Sazerac is the official cocktail of New Orleans, and is connected to two iconic cocktail brand names, the cognac Sazerac de Forge et fils, as well as Antoine Peychaud (of Peychaud bitters fame). History dictated a change in the recipe over time: When the cognac supply was cut off to the U.S. by France, rye whiskey was swapped in, Americanizing it. And when absinthe was banned in the U.S. itself, bartenders turned to other herby, anise-y drinks to pick up the slack.

We end on a light note, with these part-juice, part-bubbly drinks that can fit in equally well with brunch as with the cocktail hour. Its more ubiquitous cousin, the mimosa, is arguably the queen of brunch, with its anyone-can-mix-one combination of orange juice and bubbly. Here, the substitution of peach juice makes it a bellini, and we’d argue it makes it a little more special, too.

The 1990s saw a sudden boom of interest in cocktails. With some exceptions, prior to that time, “martini” really meant one thing: Gin plus vermouth plus garnish (typically an olive). You could also get away with a vodka martini, where the vodka replaced the gin, but it was understood that you’d have to specify: Asking for a “martini” would get you the gin-based version, so you’d be smart to order a “vodka martini” for the latter. By the 1990s, virtually any drink, now infused with fruit juices and sweet garnishes, could be called a martini if served in an “up” glass. Suddenly apple and hazelnut and espresso martinis abounded. Perhaps the most iconic of the time was the lychee martini, also corresponding with a craze for food and drinks from Japanese, Chinese, Korean and of course “Asian fusion” restaurants, which were now ubiquitous even in tiny cities that just a few decades prior might have only had a Chinese restaurant.

Unlike many of these cocktails, the French martini is relatively young, dating back to the 1980s, and its origin is fairly well-documented. The drink was said to be a product of the New York City restaurant Balthazar, and it zhuzhed up a vodka martini with the inclusion of pineapple juice and Chambord. Here, Ina Garten, herself a fan of all things French and French-adjacent, gives her own version.

Geoffrey Zakarian is always a champion for a classic, and this martini recipe is no exception. Truth be told, this is a slightly dirty version, with the inclusion of some olive brine, but this is a gin version of it. It’s a good reminder of how simple can often reign supreme.

That iconic cloudy look is what gives a dark-and-stormy its name, and to experience one, you must seek out actual ginger beer, a non-alcoholic carbonated beverage with a much more pronounced and much spicier ginger flavor than you’ve had with ginger ale (do not be tempted to substitute). Also not to be substituted is white rum—how can it be dark-and-stormy with anything but dark rum? And some say it has to be Gosling’s dark rum specifically, a nod to how inextricably linked this drink is to Bermuda, where Gosling’s is made.

The lemon drop was the iconic drink to come out of San Francisco in the 1970s trend of “fern bars,” those that were decorated in frilly feminine touches to attract women (where previous bar culture was more masculine) and fruity drinks were mixed to match. It truly is a simple drink, and when mixed to order, it hits just right, a little sour and a little sweet but with the edge of vodka. Despite its link to the ladies of yore, this isn’t some low-alcohol spritz; it’s a powerful cocktail, and a delicious one, too.

A Negroni always feels like a smart way to go—that bitter-sweet edge tastes just as at-home poolside as it is with a collection of salty apps by the fire. Lore posits that in 1919, in Florence, Italy, one Count Camillo Negroni asked bartender Forsco Scarselli to fortify an Americano cocktail by swapping out the soda water for gin. Scarselli obliged, and replaced the Americano’s lemon peel in favor of an orange peel; the rest is history.

This heady fortified Champagne cocktail gets its name from a weapon that came to prominence in the early 20th century. That weapon was a product of the French, a 75-millimeter gun that could be fired 15 rounds per minute and was capable of damaging tanks and aircraft, a formidable jump in weapons technology during World War I. Though many jokes have been made about how weapon and drink alike will “knock you flat,” the drink, at least, is a sophisticated sip.

Sidecars, the cars, hardly have a place in today’s vernacular. The sidecar is actually what it sounds like—a tiny little car, capacity: one, that attaches to a motorcycle (and rides low, resulting in quite the spectacle). In the context of the drink, however, there is some debate to why this citrussy cognac bears the name. Cocktail guru Dale DeGroff has contended that it’s named for the phenomenon of when a bartender has a little bit of drink left at the bottom of the shaker and pours it into a shot glass to serve on the side of the main cocktail. Which sounds about as adorable as the sidecar itself.

For those who love a gin or vodka martini, the olives are part of the appeal. Imagine: the genius of a drink served with its own snack! Inspired, surely, by those martini lovers who appreciate the flavor that the olive leaves behind in the drink, the dirty martini takes it a step further, tossing some of the olive brine right in with the drink. Here, Ree takes it yet another step into even dirtier territory, for delightful results: Gorgonzola-stuffed olives will be that ne plus ultra move that you will never be able to go back from.

The Aperol spritz has seen a big jump in popularity in the last decade, most likely due to how well its low alcohol content (relatively speaking) lines up with trends toward lower-alcohol drinks worldwide. (It also required Aperol to arrive Stateside, which did not happen until 2006.) It looks as festive as a Negroni, but its spritz status makes it a wonderful drink for sipping all throughout a party.