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A beginner’s guide to the cocktail family tree

Read time 4 Mins

Posted 02 May 2024

By
Lulu Morris

An illustration of various cocktails across the different families

Do you know your Sours from your Flips? You’re about to.

You may not think of cocktails having brothers, sisters or even whole families, but they do – a vast number, actually. There’s almost 40, in fact. And while you don’t have to know them all, being familiar with the family tree, or even a few branches, will level up your cocktail game from seedling to redwood. With that in mind, we’ve selected a few that are most important and will kick-start your cocktail journey. 
DuosThe duo branch of the cocktail family tree is pretty much exactly how it sounds. It’s made up of two elements: a spirit and a liqueur. It’s a pretty basic ratio of 2:1 spirit to liqueur, but it’s a great one to have in the arsenal. The big daddies of the Duo family are the Godfather – Scotch whisky and amaretto, the Godmother, which is amaretto with vodka, the Boss (bourbon and amaretto), the Dubonnet cocktail (gin and Dubonnet) and the Black Russian (vodka and Kahlua). Now we’ll show you how an addition of one or more ingredients can create the next gen of this family branch. 
TriosAgain, as the name suggests, these are cocktails with three ingredients, but more specifically with cream (or cream liqueur, like Baileys) as the third ingredient. These are fairly low-key drinks (except maybe for that ridiculous Mudslide cocktail), so we don’t see you peeps making them on the reg, but they are great examples of next-gen cocktails. Take for example the Black Russian. As we said above, it's a simple 2:1 mix of vodka and Kahlua (or similar coffee liqueur), however, once we add cream as a float, we’ve made that Duo cocktail into a Trio – the White Russian. The same goes for those Godfather and Godmother cocktails. Add one part cream to either and you get the Godson and Goddaughter. Other famous trios include the Brandy Alexander (brandy, creme de cacao and cream), and the (traditional) Mudslide (vodka, Baileys and Kahlua). 
FlipsOn the surface, Flips look a heck of a lot like eggnog – and it's true they are very similar. However, where the nog plays with cream and milk, Flips traditionally do not. So, what makes a Flip a Flip? Some say it is the way the drink is ‘flipped’, while others say it is the temperature it's served, but for the sake of time, we reckon the inclusion of a whole egg or an egg yolk is what makes a Flip a Flip. They stand out on their own branch, but are an important inclusion. There are several Flips and various ways to make them, but our faves are the Whiskey Flip, a Brandy Flip and the Lazy Man Flip. 
Sours and Daisies We are putting these two categories in the same basket. Why, you ask? Well, they are almost identical. They are also two of the most popular branches on our fam tree. But first, let’s have a look at the wee differences between the two. Sours are essentially a base spirit, lemon or lime and simple syrup. A Daisy replaces that simple syrup with a flavoured sweetener like Cointreau or triple sec, like what you see in a Margarita. So, think of it this way: a Daiquiri is a Sour, while our good friend Marg is a Daisy, which is easy to remember because Margarita is Spanish for ‘daisy’. 
Rickeys, Collins and Bucks While these all live on separate branches, Rickeys, Collins and Bucks are fairly interchangeable, which is why we’ve grouped them together. Take, for example, the most popular drink ordered at any bar globally – Vodka, Soda and Lime. The mix of spirit, citrus and soda is known as a Rickey. This spirit, citrus and mixer formula works throughout all the above cocktail variations. If we were to take our Vodka, Lime, Soda but add in sugar and serve tall, we’ve now got a Collins. If you take out the sugar and switch the soda for ginger beer, we have a Buck cocktail. If you’ve got lime, ginger beer and vodka you’ve got yourself a good ol’ fashioned Moscow Mule.
Spirit forwardAs you may have guessed these are cocktails where the spirit is the hero ingredient and sugar plays second fiddle. These are cocktails that are heavier in flavour and texture, often with fewer ingredients and mostly stirred. Think of drinks like the Negroni, Old Fashioned, Sazerac and even the Manhattan. They’re more of an after-dinner drink (aside from the Negroni) and mostly served over a big chunky piece of ice.  
SpritzesWhen we say Spritz, we often think solely of the Aperol Spritz. And to be fair they are everywhere and a great example of the category. Essentially, a Spritz is wine, flavoured liqueur and soda, but they can also include spirits in the mix as well. The most important part of the Spritz is the sparkling wine; without it, it no longer classifies as a Spritz cocktail. Most bartenders follow the 3:2:1 formula – three parts prosecco, two parts Aperol, one part soda water, but it’s really up to your taste how to serve it. Other famous contenders in the category are the Cynar Spritz, Saint Germain Spritz (or Hugo spritz) and the Cynar Spritz. 
’TinisWe’re ending on the ’Tini family, mainly because it’s so silly. Classic Martinis obviously have a lot of rules surrounding them and do take a fair bit of skill to make, however, the other laughable characters in the category are just a bit of fun. Drinks like the Appletini, Pornstar Martini, Espresso Martini have no conceivable similarities to the all-important OG Martini, but they sit in the category anyway. Why? Because they’re served in a martini glass. That’s it.
Want to know how to mix up drinks across all the cocktail families? Check out our growing collection of recipes, which are all written and tested by a team of experts.   
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image credits: Jae Jun Kim
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Lulu MorrisLulu is a writer at Dan Murphy’s who loves Pina Coladas, but hates getting caught in the rain.
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