Three Cocktail Rules You Should Break

Last week, Amy Cavanaugh sung the praises of the Grilled Martini, a very summery take on the strong-and-stirred classic. Perhaps controversially, it’s served on the rocks. Popular in the ’50s (and gaining steam more recently), that presentation has its detractors, but my personal take? There’s a time and place for everything.

The Martini-on-the-rocks bravely breaks the rules (or at least turns some heads). So we thought it was a good time to revisit some other nonconforming cocktails whose creators—all trailblazing bartenders—had to break a rule or two to develop. Here are three ways that you, too, can go off the beaten path:

Traditional bartending wisdom would have you shake, not stir, drinks with juice. But drinks expert Al Sotack wanted to push back on that. For his South Bronx, a riff on the Bronx cocktail, he adds a tiny bit of pineapple and orange juices to make something close to a Martini with just a hint of citrus. His Algonquin, meanwhile, reads like a Manhattan. “A little tiny bit of juice doesn’t change the elegance,” he says.

(No, really!) It sounds like sacrilege, but “sugar is not the enemy,” says bar legend Joaquín Simó. With a light hand, a touch of sugar can add balance to drinks and bolster those that feel too much like “watery booze.” It certainly doesn’t work in every cocktail, and it should be used sparingly, but it’s worth a shot if you’re R&Ding and feel like your drink is too flabby or astringent.

The ingredients list for the Trinidad Sour does not contain a typo; it really does call for 1 1/2 ounces of Angostura bitters. The drink achieved modern classic-status for the shocking, flavor-packed move, and, like the similarly constructed Angostura Colada, has become an industry favorite. In bar settings, these cocktails are often prohibitively expensive, but if you’re looking for a one-of-a-kind at-home drink, put these recipes on your bucket list.

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