5 Classic Cocktails Every Event Bar Should Serve

Old Fashioned

2 oz bourbon or rye, 1/4 oz simple syrup (or one sugar cube), 2-3 dashes Angostura bitters, orange peel. Stir with ice until well chilled, strain over a large ice cube, and express the orange peel's oils over the glass before dropping it in. It's the drink that most reveals whether a bartender knows what they're doing — there's nowhere to hide with only four ingredients.

Margarita

2 oz blanco tequila, 1 oz fresh lime juice, 3/4 oz orange liqueur (Cointreau or triple sec). Shake hard with ice, strain into a salt-rimmed rocks glass over fresh ice. Fresh lime juice is non-negotiable here — bottled lime juice is the single most common thing that separates a forgettable Margarita from a genuinely good one.

Moscow Mule

2 oz vodka, 1/2 oz fresh lime juice, top with ginger beer (not ginger ale — the difference in spice is significant). Build over ice in a copper mug if you have them, garnish with a lime wheel. A good, spicy ginger beer does most of the work in this drink, so it's worth not cutting corners there.

Whiskey Sour

2 oz bourbon, 3/4 oz fresh lemon juice, 3/4 oz simple syrup, optional 1/2 oz egg white for a classic foam top. Dry shake without ice first if using egg white, then shake again with ice and strain into a rocks glass. A few dashes of Angostura bitters on the foam is the traditional finishing touch.

Paloma

2 oz blanco tequila, 1/2 oz fresh lime juice, top with grapefruit soda (Jarritos is the classic choice), pinch of salt, salt-rimmed glass optional. Build over ice and stir gently. It's less familiar to some guests than a Margarita but consistently becomes a favorite once people try it — a good one to feature prominently on a summer event menu.