How to read this list
These are grouped by template, not alphabetically, because that is how you should be storing them in your head. Learn a group at a time and the group teaches itself.
Specs are the common American bar standard. Your house spec wins over anything here. Every bar has its own build sheet, its own pour size, and its own opinions, and on shift you make it their way without comment. What this list gives you is a default that will not embarrass you anywhere, and a baseline to notice the house deviating from.
Assume every shaken drink is shaken with ice 10–12 seconds and strained, and every stirred drink is stirred with ice 20–30 seconds and strained, unless it says otherwise.
The highballs (build in glass, over ice)
1. Gin and Tonic — 2 oz gin, top with tonic. Lime wedge.
2. Vodka Soda — 2 oz vodka, top with soda. Lime wedge. The most-ordered drink in a lot of rooms. Make it cold, make it fizzy, make it fast.