Shaken or stirred, straight or with a twist, neat or on the rocks - WFI's tasters pick their top tipples.
Gary Rhodes, chef/restaurateur
"My favourite cocktail is a Bellini, made with fresh peach juice and prosecco (Italian sparkling white wine). It always reminds me of Venice, because it was created back in the Forties as a tribute to the painter Bellini by Giuseppe Cipriani, bartender at Harry's Bar in Venice. You can still drink it at Harry's - it's best in the summer, when peaches are in season. To make it, quarter-fill a champagne flute with fresh peach juice (make this by skinning and stoning ripe peaches, then liquidising, with a touch of lemon juice). Then, fill the glass with chilled prosecco. It's an exciting and refreshing drink, and one that always brings back wonderful memories for me."
Harry's Bar, St Marco Calle Vallaresso, Venice. Tel 00 39 0415 285777.
Allegra McEvedy, chef and writer
"At my restaurant, the Good Cook, the bar manager Stephen Taylor and I invented the Helter Skelter. It's a coffee-based cocktail (working in a kitchen, you always need a caffeine kick) but it's fruity and refreshing as well. You peel the skin of an orange all in one piece, then sit it inside a tall glass to give a helter-skelter effect. For the drink, put 10ml crème de mûre (mulberry liqueur), 10ml cassis, 20ml fraise and 10ml cherry brandy into a cocktail shaker with 50ml hot filter coffee and ice cubes.
Shake, then put some crushed ice into the glass with the peel, strain the coffee mix over it, and top up with 50ml ginger ale. The orange, fruit liqueurs and coffee make it almost puddingy, but it's not too sweet."
The Good Cook, Kensington High St, London W8. Tel 020 7795 6533.
Joe Wadsack, wine expert
"I love a good Moscow Mule. It's an interesting, peppery drink, which is great because even good cocktails can lack bite and be rather sickly. To make it, cut two slices of peeled, fresh root ginger and pulp in a pestle. Put it in a shaker with a large shot of vodka, a little lime juice and a few drops of angostura bitters. Shake, pour, and top with lemonade, soda water, or, my favourite, Fentimans ginger beer.
You can make a red mule by crushing strawberries in with the ginger - delicious."
Charlie Dimmock, TV presenter
"My favourite is an 'Esther Special'. I'm sure it has a proper name, but I call it this because I drink it when I lunch at the Old Manor House in Romsey, an Italian restaurant run by Esther Bregoli and her husband Mauro. I always dither over what to drink, so Esther makes me this great cocktail, which is lovely for sitting outside with on a hot day. It's drunk in a big balloon water glass, with lots of ice, lemon and orange. You add a double shot of gin and a single Cointreau, a shot of elderflower cordial (which makes it smell sublime) and fill up with tonic water. A few of those and you forget about lunch."
The Old Manor House, Palmerston Street, Romsey. Tel 01794 517353.
Tony Hadley, singer
"I stayed at the beautiful Raffles Hotel in Singapore last summer - I'd rather go there than anywhere else for cocktails. I particularly liked their Margaritas - truly refreshing, great for relaxing by the pool. Perhaps my all-time favourite, though, wherever it's served, is Piña Colada. This must be the most fattening drink ever, but if they're really good then you're in heaven. Put 100ml fresh pineapple juice with 50ml coconut milk and 50ml white rum in a blender. Whiz, add some crushed ice and blend again. Pour, and garnish with a pineapple ring, a cocktail cherry, a parasol - the choice is yours."
The Raffles Hotel, 1 Beach Road, Singapore. Tel 00 65 337 1886.
Nick Strangeway, Bar manager, Che cocktail bar
"I'm a firm believer in updating the classics for modern consumers. Bartenders are like chefs: use new ingredients in good, tried-and-tested recipes, and you can't go wrong. My favourite is an Old-fashioned, which was developed in the US at the end of the 19th century. I like to make it with Old Potrero - the only American malt whisky - but, if I can't find it, I'll use a bourbon. The extras are sugar, angostura bitters, ice and time - the longer you spend making it, the better it is. Soak a sugar cube in a dash of angostura bitters at the bottom of the glass, add some ice, stir, then add a drop of bourbon. Taste, add more bourbon if you like, and gradually build it up. Finally, add a twist of orange. You can sit with it for 20 minutes - the longer you spend sipping it, the better it gets."
Che, 23 St James Street, London SW1. Tel 020 7747 9380.
Ian Wisniewski, drink writer
"Nothing beats a dry Martini with vodka. The choice of vodka is crucial - Wyborowa, Siwucha or Zubrówka are the best. I don't enter into the shaken-or-stirred debate - I prefer my martini to be 'built'. This means all the ingredients have to come straight from the freezer, including the glass, as temperature is vital. The best vodka Martini is made by Gilberto Preti at Dukes Hotel in London. I've never been so elated by a cocktail as I was when I first tried Gilberto's dry Martini - it was sensational."
Dukes Hotel, 35 St James's Place, London SW1. Tel 020 7491 4840.
Gerard Basset, sommelier and co-founder, Hotel du Vin
"A Bloody Mary, if well made, is a very addictive cocktail, with lots of excellent flavours. It's ideal for those who like wines from the Rhône because, like a shiraz, it's rich, spicy and full-bodied. To make one, pour a double measure of good-quality vodka (I like Seriously Vodka) into a cocktail shaker. Add a large bottle of tomato juice, lots of Worcestershire sauce, the juice of half a lemon, salt, pepper and a bit of Tabasco or a teaspoon of horseradish. Shake vigorously and pour into a glass over ice. Add half a slice of lemon, a stirrer and a straw. You can make it with celery salt but I prefer to drink it with a stick of celery itself."
Hotel du Vin, Southgate Street, Winchester. Tel 01962 841414.
Terry Pullen, CEO, 10 Tokyo Joes
"My all-time favourite is a Mojito - a classic Cuban drink. According to our head mixologist, Andres Masso, the ingredients are a double shot of Cuban rum, lime, sugar and soda water, to which a fresh mint garnish is added. It is traditionally a long drink in Cuba, and something I could see Hemingway sipping as he was writing his memoirs. At 10 Tokyo Joes, we've modified it to be served in a shorter glass, using three brown sugar cubes, a whole lime, diced and crushed, fresh mint and a double of Havana Club three-year-old rum. Served over crushed ice, this is really refreshing."
10 Tokyo Joes, 85 Piccadilly, London W1. Tel 020 7495 2595.
Oliver Peyton, restaurateur
"I like non-alcoholic, blended fruit cocktails - they're much more sophisticated than the alcoholic ones, and I drink them more slowly, savouring them for longer. My favourite is the Atlantic Cooler. You take 75g papaya pulp, 75ml apple juice, a dash of coconut cream and a splash of lime. Flash-blend the ingredients, then pour over ice in a highball glass, and garnish with fresh mint and lime. The touch of bitterness from the lime gives it a little bit more punch and avoids producing something too sickly."