12 Best Gin Cocktails to Try

Ever had a Gin Fizz? This one is perhaps our favorite of our gin cocktails. This Gin Fizz is perfectly balanced, both sweet and tart, and adding soda water magically creates a frothy egg white foam topping. Oh and it takes only 5 minutes to make! You'll need a short list of ingredients: gin, lime juice, maple syrup, soda water, and an egg white. Head to the recipe for more!

Variation: White Lady or Ramos Gin Fizz (a New Orleans variation that tastes like lemon meringue pie!)

What’s a more classic gin cocktail than THE gin and tonic? Its crisp, botanical flavor is straightforward but at the same time intriguing: a feat using only 2 ingredients! It’s no wonder that this is one of the world’s popular easy cocktails. This recipe takes a few tips from the Spanish gin tonic to amp this drink to the next level.

Ahh, the Tom Collins: a nostalgic cocktail that’s about as classic as it gets! This tall highball drink is a gin sour, a sweet and sour drink made with gin and lemon juice. It’s refreshing, bubbly, and makes any evening more fun! Here’s exactly how to make this classic cocktail.

Here’s one of the most sophisticated and refreshing gin cocktail recipes out there: a French 75! It’s got a mysterious name, but it’s made with a few simple ingredients: gin, lemon, and champagne. It’s tangy, bubbly, and a bit botanical, and it makes every occasion more festive!

Here’s a classic cocktail that is super refreshing and takes only 5 minutes to whip up! The gin gimlet became popular in the 1950's, so it's a fun throw-back drink. Not only is it simple to make, it’s the perfect balance of sweet and tart with the botanical flavor of gin. It's similar to the gin fizz above, but doesn't have the signature frothy fizz. All you need is 3 ingredients for this one!

Variations: Vodka Gimlet, French Gimlet or Basil Gimlet

A Southside is a classy classic cocktail made with mint, lemon, lime, and gin. The best way to describe it? Like a Mojito with gin! It’s also similar to a Tom Collins, but it’s not carbonated and has lime and mint. The oldest known printed recipe called “Southside” was from 1917. 

Variation: Southside Fizz

It’s tall, it’s bubbly, and it’s one of the easiest to make cocktails out there. Try the Gin Rickey! This classic cocktail was born in the 1880s and has been popular ever since. And for good reason: it’s tangy, bubbly, and irresistibly delicious. If you love a Vodka Soda or a Gin and Tonic: this is the drink for you! There’s no frills: just a classy classic highball. 

This cocktail’s got a unique name and a beautiful pale pink color! Just grapefruit juice and gin make one tangy and refreshing cocktail! It's perfect as a brunch drink or for happy hour. It’s got a light summery vibe, but it also works in winter when citrus abounds.

Variation: Add a salt rim to make it a Salty Dog

It’s minty, it’s bubbly, it’s refreshing: meet the Gin Gin Mule! You might think it’s a just liquor swap in a Moscow Mule, but this cocktail is more than meets the eye! Considered a modern classic cocktail, it’s a mashup of the mule and minty Mojito. You’ve got the bubbly ginger beer and lime of a mule, balanced by the muddled mint and sweetness of a Mojito. 

Here’s a sophisticated gin cocktail that will have all your friends talking about it: the Hanky Panky! It’s complex and nuanced, with a smooth flavor perfect for sipping. The star here is Fernet-Branca, an Italian bitter that adds an herbal punch. The cocktail is perfectly balanced: a little sweet and a little bitter, which makes it irresistible.

Here's a gin cocktail with an Italian vibe: the Negroni! It’s refreshing, bitter, and complex: a drink that you’ll want to sit with and savor a while. Doesn’t it look stunning? The bright red of the Campari makes for a stunning jewel-tone statement of a drink. This three ingredient cocktail is easy to make: and memorize, because it uses 1 ounce of each of its three components.

Variations: Boulevardier, Negroni Sbagliato, Old Pal, Americano or Mezcal Negroni

Last but certainly not least: the gin martini! The martini is one of the most iconic cocktails of all time. With one sip it announces itself: crisp, cool, searing, and spirit-forward. It’s seeped in tradition, and there’s no cocktail that has the amount of variations: shaken or stirred, gin or vodka, straight or on the rocks. But here’s how to make a classic dry martini…the best way!

Variation: Dirty Martini or Gibson