This Obscure Gin Drink Is Now One of the World’s Most Popular Cocktails
Drinks International recently announced The Cocktail Report 2025, the latest iteration of its annual list of the 50 most popular cocktails in the world. The list unveiled some blossoming industry trends, saw a revival of some old favorite drinks, and even debuted a shocking new entry.
As it does each year, Drinks International polled 100 of the world’s best bars, which are drawn from over 30 countries and based on each bar’s ranking on both local and international lists. Each bar then shared their top 10 bestselling classic cocktails (as opposed to original creations). Europe represented 43 percent of the pool surveyed, though Asia also made a large contribution to the list, making up 23 percent of the total bars polled. North America was the third-largest market surveyed, accounting for 19 percent of the bars polled, followed by South America and Australia each at 8 percent, and Africa and the Middle East at 1 percent.
This year, the top cocktails remained unchanged, with the Negroni holding strong in its first place ranking for the fourth consecutive year, speaking to the continued influence of Italy’s aperitivo culture. The rest of the top five included tried and true classics like the Daiquiri, Margarita, and Old Fashioned — plus the ultra-trendy Espresso Martini. Martini-mania continued to influence this year’s list, with Martini variations like the Vodka Martini and Pornstar Martini both shooting up about 20 spots in the rankings.
“As we’re now over ten years of asking the world’s best bars about their classic cocktails, the long term trends are more clear than ever,” Drinks International supplement editor Eleanor Yates said in the report. “With the top nine classics remaining the same for another year running.”
Beyond the top 10, some old favorites made a return to the list including the Long Island Iced Tea, Hanky Panky, and Ramos Gin Fizz. We also saw a smoky new entry: the Oaxaca Old Fashioned, first stirred up by Phil Ward at NYC’s Death & Co. In turn, the list also lost a few beloved cocktails, with the Gin-Gin Mule, Jungle Bird, Tom Collins, Singapore Sling, Vieux Carré, the White Lady, and the Vesper dropping off of the top 50 in 2025.
But perhaps the most shocking aspect of this year’s list was the cocktail debuting at No. 44: the Fitzgerald. Though it’s little-known, the drink has apparently made its rounds recently at some of the world’s best bars. The simple cocktail is a creation of the legendary Dale DeGroff, who thought of the drink on the fly while working at New York’s Rainbow Room Promenade Bar in the 1990s. It mixes gin, lemon juice, sugar, and a few dashes of Angostura bitters.
Click here to read this year’s full ranking.
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