Cocktails are generally accepted these days to be any sort of mixed alcoholic drink, although sometimes cocktails may even refer to non-alcoholic mixed drinks, such as fruit juice cocktails. Originally the term meant a mix of some sort of alcohol, a sweetener, and bitters.

Most cocktails are made with the four mainstays of alcohol: vodka, gin, whiskey, and rum. Other cocktails may use more esoteric liquors, like absinthe or Jägermeister, but for the most part all cocktails include at least one of the four primary alcohols.

Without a doubt the most famous of the cocktails in the world is the martini. Originally a drink made with gin and vermouth, the martini has since expanded to become an entire class of cocktails unto itself. Gin has given way in most martinis to vodka, and in many bars ordering a martini without clarifying will now result in gin being served. The amount of vermouth added to the martini has also been reduced substantially in the past decades, with many bartenders eschewing it entirely, or paying only incidental care to the idea of varmouth being added.

A cosmopolitan is another of the most popular cocktails, often cited as one of the top drinks among a certain subset of women. Cosmopolitans mix vodka with cranberry juice, and should also include either Cointreau or Triple Sec to sweeten them a bit more, as well as a twist of lime. The cosmopolitan can be seen as an evolution from some other popular cocktails, coming originally from the gimlet by way of the kamikaze.

The Bloody Mary is another of the most famous cocktails. Often drunk with breakfast, brunch, or lunch, a Bloody Mary is made by mixing vodka with tomato juice and hot sauce. This makes for a somewhat spicy, acidic drink that hides the vodka almost entirely.

The lemon drop is yet another popular cocktails that relies on vodka. An older-style lemon drop mixes vodka and lemon juice, making a rather tart drink. Most modern lemon drops also add sugar, bringing it in line with other sweeter cocktails. Although fairly labor intensive, the lemon drop is a very popular drinks in bars.

Rum is used in a number of sweeter, more frozen cocktails. The two most famous of these are probably the daiquiri and the piña colada. The daiquiri mixes rum with lime juice and sugar. Although not necessarily frozen, the frozen daiquiri is by far the most popular form of daiquiri, even though in many cases a purist might not consider the drink to be a daiquiri at all, when other fruit juices substitute the lime. Piña coladas are made with rum, coconut cream, and pineapple juice. They are served chilled, either with cubes of ice, or shaken with crushed ice.

The most popular of the gin cocktails is, without a doubt, the gin and tonic. Originally conceived of in India during the British occupation, gin and tonic was simply a way to make tonic more drinkable, since tonic water had a great deal of quinine in it, which kept malaria-spreading mosquitoes at bay. Modern tonic has very little quinine in it, and most people aren’t in need of constant mosquito repellant, but the drink remains extremely popular.

Other popular cocktails include: the Long Island iced tea, a mix of gin, triple sec, rum, vodka, and cola; the gimlet, which mixes gin and lime juice; the Mai Tai, containing all three flavors of rum, orange curacao, and lime juice; the eponymous rum and Coke; the whiskey highball, with whiskey and ginger ale; and the mint julep, with bourbon and mint.