Cocktail Name Generator

How the Cocktail Name Generator works

How the cocktail name generator works

A cocktail name is read on a menu in a dark room and said to a bartender across a noisy one, so the conventions are short, spoken and mostly a century old, which is why the Convention select is the main control and the Base spirit select changes the ingredients inside it. The ingredient-plus-style form, Smoked Pear Sour, Rhubarb Collins, Cherry Smash, Grapefruit Spritz, is the modern menu default, a flavour and the classic template it is built on, Sour, Fizz, Collins, Mule, Julep, Highball, so the drinker knows the shape before they order. The The-plus-person form, The Harbourmaster, The Widow, The Reckless Aviator, The Bishop's Key, is the pre-Prohibition and the speakeasy convention, a title or a trade as if the drink had a character, and it is the shape a signature cocktail most often takes. The two-word punch, Velvet Hammer, Golden Anchor, Bitter Sparrow, Corpse Reviver in the famous case, is the classic-era convention, two words that sound like a warning or a promise, and a menu of them reads like a list of racehorses. The phrase or song, Last Train to Lisbon, A Word to the Wise, Midnight in Havana, Never Say Halo, is the contemporary bar's convention, a sentence or a title that gives the drink a story, and it is the shape a bar uses when it wants the menu read for pleasure. The plain pairing, Gin and Bitter Orange, Rum & Smoked Pineapple, Mezcal, Grapefruit and Chilli, is the natural-wine-bar convention of the last decade, the ingredients listed in order as if the name were the recipe. The numbered drink, Corpse Reviver No. 2, Lisbon No. 4, Widow No. 7, is the old convention for a drink with variants, and it now reads as a nod to the classics. And the place-plus-style form, Ashford Fizz, Singapore Sling in the famous case, Tangier Mule, Brooklyn Sunset Cooler, is the hotel bar's, a city or a region and a template, which claims the drink for a place.

The words are ingredients, classic templates and ordinary English, so a result is a new combination rather than a real drink by design, though cocktail names are shared freely between bars, the classics are public and the two-word and person forms are crowded, so a coincidence with a real menu is normal and expected. A cocktail name also has to be said across a bar, so the shapes here are one to five words and easy to say.

For the bar, the Business section; for the spirit brand behind the drink, the Product section; for the bar's own name over the door, the Bar name page in the Business section; for the dish beside it, the Recipe name page; and for the party where it is served, the Event section.

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