Berry Punch

2:1:1 Vodka:lemonade:berry juice (I recommend Strawberry, but most will work). Toss in about two teaspoons of frozen mixed berries, then shake a bit (not too vigourously). Pour into a highball glass, garnish with lemon slices and mint sprigs.

Bluebird

1.5oz gin : .5oz blue curaçao : 1 dash bitters. Mix and shake into ice.

Chocolate Martini

Baileys, chocolate liqueur, and vodka; even ratio. For maximum presentation, rim a martini glass with chocolate sauce, squirt a bit into the glass, then pour in the booze (shaken with ice then strained).

Gin Rickey

2 generous shots of Gin and one of sour, stir into a glass of soda and ice. Garnish with lime and cherry.

Hemingway Daiquiri

Mix 4:2:2:3:1 shots of dark rum, cherry liquor, grapefruit juice, lime juice, and simple syrup, add ice and shake, strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lime wheel and brandied cherry skewered together.

Honey Old Fashioned

Shake two parts bourbon and dark rum with one of white rum, then mix in 2oz of water, a lump of sugar, and a dash of bitters. Stir to dissolve.

Rainbow Lagoon

Pour one shot grenadine, then fill the glass with ice. Mix 4:2 shots pineapple juice and coconut rum, the pour slowly onto the ice. Mix a half shot of blue curacao with twice as much water, then pour slowly as the third layer. The trick is to pour onto the ice cubes so you get a real soft landing and the layers stay separate!

Whipped White Russian

Shake a shot of heavy cream and half a shot simple syrup with some ice until it melts, pour 1.5 shots each of rum and coffee liquor into a glass filled with ice, then strain in the cream mix. Garnish with whipped cream.

Whiskey Sour

Two shots bourbon, one of simple syrup, and a bit of lime. Dry shake with egg white, then add two drops of bitters and shake again with ice. Strain into a frozen glass, garnish with a cherry.

Legend

C

Cherry. Sometimes with a modifier for eg. brandied or sour cherries. Technically a garnish, but popular enough for me to avoid the nesting.

E

Egg white.

G

Gin. With a modifier, means garnish; eg. G_m for mint.

H

Honey.

H₂O

Water. Specifically, liquid water; ice is handled via the mixing shapes.

J

Juice. Flavour provided as a modifier.

L

Liquor. Flavour provided as a modifier.

Le

Lemonade.

Li

Lime Juice.

M

Milk or cream.

R

Rum. Possible modifiers include coconut, dark, spiced, and white.

S

Syrup. Symple syrup by default, flavoured with a modifier such as cherry (ie. Grenadine), sour, or orange.

Sg

Sugar, ie. finely granulated white sugar.

W

Whiskey. Possible modifiers include bourboun, irish, rye, and scotch.

♄

Bitters (by the dash). Don't ask me why I started using the alchemical symbol for lead to denote bitters, I'm sure it made sense at the time.

⁺ or ^-

Half a shot more or less than described.

Mixing

Shake with ice, strain into glass.

Dry shake.

Fill glass and stir.

, , or

Reversing the symbol means "add ice".

=

Construct rather than mix, eg. for creating layers.

Recipes

Simple Syrup

I tend to prefer a 1:1 mix between water and sugar.

Sour Mix

4:3:2 ratio of simple syrup, lime juice, and lemon juice.

Brandied Cherries

Take pitless cherries (preferably sour), toss them in a mason jar with brandy syrup (2:3:4 ratio of sugar:water:cheap brandy, melted together). Cool at least 30m.