4 of the Strongest Cocktails You Can Order at a Bar

Sometimes an evening calls for a drink with a little extra oomph. Rather than ordering a classic like a Gin & Tonic or Old Fashioned and asking the bartender to “make it strong,” there are a few particularly powerful cocktails that pack a punch all on their own.

Makeshift drinks of house party fame like jungle juice (or even Gen Z’s beloved Borg) might take the cake in terms of nuclear alcohol content, but there are better, more balanced options than mixing vodka with Crystal Lite in a milk gallon. The ultra-strong cocktails included on this list were designed to either emphasize one spirit or combine the kitchen sink of booze in one glass — but they all still somehow go down smooth.

Whether you’re looking to get the most booze for your buck in one drink at a pricey bar, or you’re keeping an eye out for drinks to actively avoid — here are some of the bar world’s strongest cocktails.

Long Island Iced Tea

Beloved — and feared — by many, the Long Island Iced Tea is a dive bar drink that said, “What if we put every type of alcohol in one glass?” The cocktail combines equal parts vodka, rum, tequila, gin, and triple sec — ironically containing almost every ingredient in the book besides tea. Even though it features a who’s who of spirits, the drink surprisingly goes down easy, likely due to the help of lemon juice, cola, and simple syrup that balance out all the booze. There are also colorful riffs on the classic mixture including the Blue Long Island Iced Tea and the Tokyo Iced Tea made with the bright green Midori.

Zombie

The Zombie is so strong that it was the first cocktail to ever inspire a two-drink limit. When tiki bar legend Don the Beachcomber first created the cocktail in Los Angeles in the 1930s, he notoriously enforced a two-per-customer rule for the cocktail to emphasize just how intense it was — though many believe this was just a gimmicky marketing tactic for the bar. Either way, the drink is truly a powerhouse of booze. The recipe calls for light rum, dark rum, and overproof rum, not to mention apricot brandy and grenadine. And if you’re a fan of the Zombie, there are a number of similar tropical drinks that employ a mix of multiple rums and other spirits to explore, including the Hurricane, Rum Runner, Pearl Diver, Test Pilot, Fog Cutter, and the Three Dots and a Dash.

Dukes Martini

Credit: @hotelchelsea via Instagram

The classic Martini is inherently a strong drink, made with a mixture of vodka or gin with vermouth and sometimes a dash of orange bitters — especially as more bars are ditching the vermouth altogether. But one cocktail, originally devised at the Dukes Hotel in London, takes the already robust drink to another level.

The Dukes Martini is known for its flashy tableside service, prepared by pouring chilled vermouth into a frozen glass, giving it a little swirl to coat the glass, and dramatically discarding the vermouth. Then, four ounces of ice-cold gin is poured directly into the glass, making the drink essentially straight gin. Today, the Lobby Bar at the Hotel Chelsea in New York City also serves a Dukes Martini, and notably implements a two-drink limit on the ultra-boozy concoction.

Sazerac

A list of high-octane cocktails wouldn’t be complete without mentioning absinthe — a spirit so strong, many still believe the myth that it causes hallucinations. While bottles can range in alcohol level, some expressions can reach 75 percent ABV. That’s why most cocktails use this ingredient sparingly, like how the Sazerac employs a quick absinthe rinse. While the liquid is poured out of the glass, some absinthe still sticks around to add an aromatic lift. This New Orleans classic also uses a hearty three ounces of rye and 10 dashes of Peychaud’s bitters, making it a sneakily strong cocktail.

*Image retrieved from abangaboy via stock.adobe.com

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