Cocktail culture goes mobile with a new app by PUNCH contributor and The Old-Fashioned author Robert Simonson. In an ever-evolving drink world, Simonson’s Modern Classics of the Cocktail Renaissance, launching today, is an iPhone-ready canon of drinks from the last three decades that have been permanently ensconced as true new classics.
“The cocktail renaissance, depending on where you set its beginnings, has been going on for 15 to 25 years: more than enough time to produce a good share of modern classic cocktails,” Simonson said.
From the Paper Plane to the Aperol Spritz, the Cosmopolitan to the Barrel-Aged Negroni, Simonson has chosen 23 cocktails based on a three-point criteria: the bartending community must hold the drink in high esteem; it must have travelled far from its place of origin; and it must be featured widely on cocktail menus.
“I’m delighted we can honor these mixologists and their bars by name, which is something we cannot do for most classics of the pre-Prohibition era,” said Martin Doudoroff, the app’s publisher.
The app also names 51 drinks on the cusp of the “modern classic” title and features verified recipes for all the cocktails.
In September, Ten Speed Press will publish Simonson’s second book, A Proper Drink: The Untold Story of How a Band of Bartenders Saved the Civilized Drinking World.
[Image: Daniel Krieger]