The Modern Classics App List Grows

Six, Count 'em, Six New Drinks; Plus a New "On a Toot!"

Two Enzonis to go.

When I mention I have a cocktail app, people sometimes ask me how many recipes it has. Then I tell them and they look disappointed. But the number of recipes is really out of my control.

The app, which I created with Martin Doudoroff, is called “Modern Classics of the Cocktail Renaissance.” It’s a catalogue of drinks from the last 30 years that made the grade and showed staying power. The list was determined by a set of criteria I devised, such as: the drink must travel beyond the bar where it was invented and appear on other menus; it must be highly regarded by the bartending community; it must be popular with the public; it should inspire riffs on its original recipe; it should appear in multiple cocktail books, etc.

When we launched the app in 2016, there were 99 recipes, and even some of those were “Critic’s Choices,” meaning they weren’t classics yet. That’s a pretty small number for a cocktail app. The PDT app, for instance, has 400 recipes. Sam Ross’s “Bartender’s Choice” app, which draws on drinks served at Milk & Honey and Attaboy, has 70 recipes under “S” alone.

But there’s nothing I can do about it. Our app is governed by rules. Sure, I invented the rules. But they must be followed for a new drink to be included. For this reason, the app has been updated very few times. And usually an update means I add a single drink. The last time “Modern Classics” was updated was back on February 6, 2020, when Erick Castro’s Pina Verde was added. Since then, nothing. Until this week.

On Wednesday, “Modern Classics of the Cocktail Renaissance” grew by a mightly six cocktails—an enormous leap for our little app. Why so many at once?