Taste profile
Strong cocktails
Strong cocktails keep the spirit close to full volume, using only a whisper of vermouth, bitters or sugar to round it off rather than dilute it. These are stirred, not shaken, served small and cold, and built for people who want to taste the base spirit itself — the Martini and the Old Fashioned are the templates everything else in this category is measured against. There's nowhere to hide a mediocre spirit in a strong cocktail, so ingredient quality matters more here than anywhere else.
77 strong cocktails
Bacardí Cocktail
White rum, lime and grenadine, shaken cold — a Daiquiri with a pink, pomegranate-sweetened twist.
Tommy's Margarita
Tequila, lime and agave syrup — no triple sec — a cleaner, more agave-forward take on the Margarita.
Brandy Alexander
Cognac, dark crème de cacao and cream, shaken smooth — a dessert cocktail dusted with nutmeg.
Between the Sheets
Cognac, white rum, triple sec and lemon in close-to-equal parts — a strong, citrus-bright Sidecar relative.
French Connection
Cognac and amaretto, built over ice — a simple, warming two-ingredient sipper.
Death in the Afternoon
Absinthe topped with ice-cold Champagne — a stark two-ingredient drink credited to Ernest Hemingway.
Coffee Old Fashioned
A classic Old Fashioned given a cold-brew twist — bourbon, coffee and bitters, stirred slow.
Three Dots and a Dash
Dark and gold rum shaken with citrus, falernum and allspice dram — a spiced tiki classic named for its Morse-code cherry garnish.
Corpse Reviver No. 1
Cognac, apple brandy and sweet vermouth, stirred cold — the older, spirit-forward half of the Corpse Reviver family.
Oaxaca Old Fashioned
Tequila and mezcal with agave and bitters, stirred over ice — an Old Fashioned built on agave rather than grain.
Alcohol-free
Strong without the alcohol
4 alcohol-free strong options.
What drives it
What makes a cocktail strong
Not simply the most common ingredients — the ones that appear far more often in strong drinks than across the catalogue as a whole.
Cognac
In 13 of these · 2.3× the catalogue rate
Angostura Bitters
In 14 of these · 2.0× the catalogue rate
Sweet Vermouth
In 10 of these · 1.6× the catalogue rate
Dark Rum
In 11 of these · 1.5× the catalogue rate
Sugar Cube
In 4 of these · 2.4× the catalogue rate
Coffee Liqueur
In 4 of these · 2.4× the catalogue rate
Rye Whisky
In 4 of these · 2.4× the catalogue rate
White Rum
In 9 of these · 1.6× the catalogue rate
The flavour graph
Where strong sits
Measured from the catalogue rather than asserted: which flavours actually travel together, and the drink that gets you from one to the other.
- Smoky
Strong drinks are mildly associated with smoky ones: 5 carry both, making a strong drink 53% more likely to also be smoky than a drink picked at random.
- Dry
Strong drinks are mildly associated with dry ones: 26 carry both, making a strong drink 44% more likely to also be dry than a drink picked at random.
- Bitter
Strong drinks are mildly associated with bitter ones: 20 carry both, making a strong drink 32% more likely to also be bitter than a drink picked at random.
Drinks that bridge across
Strong + Smoky
Reads as strong and smoky at once — the shortest way across if you already like one of the two.
Strong + Dry
Reads as strong and dry at once — the shortest way across if you already like one of the two.
Strong + Bitter
Reads as strong and bitter at once — the shortest way across if you already like one of the two.