The Classic Case Of Lost Cocktails

A cavernous bar — gilded, padded walls, cosy, lit just dim enough to make my presbyopia kick in. I’m squinting at the menu, trying to decipher the cacophony of ingredients crammed into tiny lettering around a cheekily named cocktail. One page is devoted to a caricature of an artsy figurine; another to a paragraph-long fictitious backstory.

The mixologist hovers politely, finally offering a recommendation when I shut this bible and look up. “Do you make a good Martini?” I ask. He beams. “Yes.”

“Great — I’d love a perfect Martini,” I say. His eyes light up as he tells me about their in-house vermouths and how he makes it “perfect”. I stop him right there — already sensing he hasn’t grasped that I’m asking for a well-known classic, not a house remix.

So, I gently schooled him: the 5:1:1 ratio of London Dry to Dolin Bianco to Dolin Dry — a perfect ratio (subjective, of course!) — chilled to the bone, that devious elixir I was hell-bent on having.

He does make me a great one. But as I sip, I can’t shake the thought: in the quest to create magical elixirs for ever-more-theatrical menus, the classics have quietly slipped into the shadows.

What Makes A Classic, Classic?

To answer this question, strip away the smoke, dehydrated garnishes, and oddly shaped glassware, and you’re left with a handful of recipes that have survived a century or more without needing an upgrade. They sound deceptively simple — fewer ingredients, simpler garnishes, and a stronger hit of spirit — but they are also unforgiving. Get the proportions wrong and the drink falls apart. And while they might not be the darlings of the Instagram age, they remain the quiet gold standard against which every serious bartender measures themselves. 

As Nischal Suman of Gaijin (Mumbai) puts it, “The foundation of a great bar is still rooted in the classics.” His approach is to make the first encounter with a spirit-forward drink about trust and storytelling. “I start with a conversation, what do they enjoy, what moods or memories do they associate with certain flavours, and then guide them toward a cocktail that’s robust yet approachable.”Sometimes that means a straight-up Old Fashioned; other times, a clarified spirit-forward serve layered with complexity. Either way, the point is to show that a drink doesn’t need to arrive in a cloud of dry ice to be memorable.

When India’s cocktail culture first began taking shape in the early 2000s, many bars started in the right place — with known classics. But soon enough, they gave way to the sweet-sour crowd-pleasers the Indian palate still leans toward today. The lesser-known truth is that there are still bartenders who fight to keep the classics in play. Priyanka Blah, founder of The Dram Attic and Director of Education at Bar Convent Berlin, has seen which bars set the tone: “Sidecar, Mr. Hoots, PCO — they gave the classics their due before introducing more complex signatures. That was the right way to do things, especially when cocktail culture was fairly nascent in the subcontinent.” Too many others, she says, have skipped that step entirely, deciding their demographic "isn’t interested” — a choice she doesn’t see as wrong, but one that risks leaving newer drinkers without that grounding.

Rakshay Dhariwal of Pass Code Hospitality takes a hybrid approach — one that’s especially evident at the new branch of Mister Merchants at Solene, a private members’ club in Goa. Here, you can settle into inventive signatures or order a pitch-perfect Manhattan without hesitation. Following a house protocol, bartenders across his outlets are trained to make any classic on request, even if it never appears on the printed menu.

“We often build menus around discovery, creativity, and a certain mood, so the classics live just below the surface,” he says. Well-travelled guests seek them out; the broader crowd still leans sweet-sour. But for Rakshay, classics are commercially viable, efficient, and, with the right service, a gateway to deeper appreciation.

Shaken Off The Pedestal 

But reverence doesn’t always translate to visibility. Even in bars where the staff can stir you a flawless Negroni blindfolded, the drink might never appear on the printed menu. There is a narrow bridge being built between catering to a crowd and chasing creative expression. The classics have been nudged to the sidelines, making room for more personal takes. 

It’s worth asking why classics so often live in the shadows of Indian cocktail lists. Vikram Achanta of Tulleeho points to a palate shaped by years of brand-led bar programs and an enduring love for punchy, easy-drinking serves. “As the hype around over-the-top cocktails dies down, the focus is steadily shifting back to the classics, “to be honest, they never really faded,” he says, “but menus increasingly spotlight modern flourishes — think kokum Negronis or pineapple Martinis — and leave the originals to be ordered off-menu.”

His consulting work incorporates guest education into bar training, precisely because today’s consumer is open to guidance. And when they are, reinterpretations at Latango, Delhi's latest nightspot, like their Cubist Negroni or Dali Bloom act on familiar bones, but dressed in a new palette.

A good bar is not only married to good hospitality but also knows how to educate, or even just converse and convey the best possible option, so that each guest walks away with an experience worth returning to. At SOKA in Bangalore, founder Avinash Kapoli approaches the same challenge by easing guests into spirit-forward territory through variation. 

A Mezcal Negroni or a PiPi Martini — the latter swapping olive brine for a raw mango–jujube mix — offers enough comfort to soften the leap. The Next Gen Martini uses Umeshu to round out its edges, the olive replaced with a spiced pickled grape. It’s still a Martini, just one that speaks fluent nostalgia to an Indian guest.

Yangdup Lama, co-founder of two of Gurgaon’s hottest bars, which nail their classics and the riffs - The Brook and Sidecar, sees the shift as slow but inevitable. Spirit-forward drinks require a more mature palate, he says, which is why “the flamboyant, modern concoctions” dominate. His answer is an infusion of workshops, conversations, and menus that balance sweet-sour with savoury, bitter, and spicy. 

Blah believes this balancing act is tied directly to palate education and cultural context. “As a country with a deep and diverse culinary heritage, we’re fortunate to have palates that are naturally attuned to complex flavours”And yet, when it comes to what we serve our guests, we often swing between extremes — sometimes playing it too safe, other times pushing boundaries too far “striking the right balance is key… there’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all approach.” She concurs.

The revival of the classics isn’t about fighting trends, but about creating space where a guest who came for a foam-topped neon sour might just leave with a taste for a perfectly stirred Martini. 

About Author: Nikhil Merchant is a Mumbai-born lifestyle and luxury writer who strives to seek the exploratory moods of life through his nonchalant mind. He can be found on Instagram: @nonchalantgourmand