Food & Drink

Authentic 1920s Speakeasy Cocktails for Home Bartenders

A curated collection of classic Prohibition-era cocktails that you can recreate at home, featuring historical accuracy, traditional ingredients, and timeless techniques to capture the essence of the Roaring Twenties.

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Items: 20
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The Old Fashioned

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The quintessential American whiskey cocktail, consisting of spirit, sugar, water, and bitters. This drink emphasizes the natural flavors of bourbon or rye without unnecessary mixers, offering a sophisticated and robust taste profile ideal for sipping slowly.

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The Bee's Knees

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A gin-based sour sweetened with honey instead of simple syrup, created to mask the taste of illicit gin during Prohibition. The floral notes of honey complement the botanicals in gin, resulting in a smooth, complex, and slightly tangy cocktail.

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The Sidecar

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A balanced blend of cognac, orange liqueur, and lemon juice, shaken with ice and served in a sugar-rimmed coupe. This elegant drink highlights the rich character of aged brandy while maintaining a bright, citrusy finish that remains popular today.

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The Gimlet

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Originally designed to help British naval officers consume lime cordial to prevent scurvy, this drink pairs gin with rose's lime juice. It offers a sharp, refreshing citrus punch that is simple yet challenging to get right, requiring quality gin and precise ratios.

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The Penicillin

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A modern classic rooted in 1920s scotch traditions, combining blended scotch, lemon juice, honey-ginger syrup, and a float of Islay scotch. The smoky peatiness of the top layer adds depth to the bright, spicy, and sweet base, creating a warming experience.

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The Corpse Reviver #2

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A potent four-way blend of gin, Cointreau, Lillet Blanc, lemon juice, and a dash of Absinthe. Historically marketed as a hair-of-the-dog hangover cure, this sharp and herbaceous cocktail requires careful balancing to avoid being too overpowering.

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The Vieux Carré

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A New Orleans classic featuring rye whiskey, sweet vermouth, Bénédictine, and Peychaud’s and Angostura bitters. This complex drink offers layers of herbal, spicy, and sweet notes, requiring patience and high-quality ingredients to achieve its legendary depth.

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The French 75

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A sparkling cocktail made with gin, lemon juice, sugar, and topped with champagne. Named after a French field gun, this effervescent drink offers a celebratory feel with a sharp citrus kick, perfect for special occasions or mimicking 1920s glamour at home.

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The Clover Club

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A visually striking pink cocktail combining gin, lemon juice, sugar, and raspberry syrup. The addition of egg white creates a silky foam top, offering a fruity, tart, and elegant drinking experience that showcases the aesthetic flair of the Jazz Age.

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The Singapore Sling

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A complex gin-based cocktail with cherry brandy, Cointreau, Benedictine, lime, and pineapple juice, often with a dash of Bénédictine. Originating from the Raffles Hotel, this fruity and vibrant drink is a tropical take on early 20th-century mixology.

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The Boulevardier

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A whiskey-based variant of the Negroni, swapping gin for bourbon or rye whiskey and often using sweet vermouth. This robust and warming cocktail delivers bitter, sweet, and spicy notes, making it an ideal choice for cooler evenings and introspective sipping.

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The Last Word

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An equal-parts cocktail of gin, green Chartreuse, maraschino liqueur, and lime juice. This rare and herbal drink was popularized in the 1920s at the Detroit Athletic Club, offering a unique balance of sweet, bitter, and floral flavors that are hard to replicate.

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The Ramos Gin Fizz

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A labor-intensive classic from New Orleans featuring gin, lemon and lime juice, cream, egg white, sugar, orange flower water, and soda. This creamy and aromatic drink requires vigorous shaking to achieve its signature thick foam, rewarding patience with a rich texture.

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The Aviation

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A gin-based cocktail with lemon juice, sugar, and maraschino liqueur, often garnished with a cherry. The subtle floral and nutty notes from the maraschino create a delicate and sophisticated drink that reflects the refined tastes of early 20th-century bartenders.

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The Hanky Panky

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A equal-parts mix of London dry gin, sweet vermouth, and Fernet-Branca, stirred and served up. This bitter and aromatic cocktail was a favorite of Harry MacElhone at the American Bar in London, offering a complex and sophisticated drinking experience.

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The Tom Collins

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A refreshing highball made with gin, lemon juice, sugar, and club soda. This tall and bubbly drink is perfect for warm days, offering a simple yet crisp citrus flavor that has remained a staple in bartending menus since the late 19th century.

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The Bijou

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A cocktail of gin, sweet vermouth, and Chartreuse, garnished with a cherry. This jewel-toned drink offers a balanced blend of herbal, sweet, and botanical flavors, reflecting the luxurious and exotic tastes of the Belle Époque and early Jazz Age.

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The Jack Rose

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A pre-Prohibition favorite made with applejack brandy, lemon juice, and grenadine. This tart and fruity cocktail showcases the distinctive flavor of applejack, a spirit that was more common before whiskey took over, offering a nostalgic taste of early American mixology.

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The Pink Lady

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A gin-based cocktail with applejack, grenadine, lemon juice, and egg white. This pink-hued drink offers a sweet and tart profile with a creamy texture, evoking the playful and colorful aesthetics of the 1920s cocktail culture and evening gatherings.

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The Drifter

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A simple yet elegant combination of rye whiskey, sweet vermouth, and Peychaud’s bitters. This lesser-known classic highlights the spice of rye with the herbal complexity of vermouth, offering a sophisticated alternative to heavier stirs for those who prefer lighter profiles.