United Kingdom

How each drink is tied to United Kingdom

Associations are editorial judgements. The evidence link shows the source used.

• Old FashionedPopularWidely drunk here

  Not an origin claim. Difford's credits London bartenders in the mid 1990s, Dick Bradsell in particular, with reviving the stirred, fruit free Old Fashioned before that style returned to American bars. The relation records the revival, which rests on Difford's own account rather than on a primary document.

  Confidence: lowEvidence: diffordsguide.com (opens in a new tab)

• MargaritaContestedThe origin is disputed

  Difford's points to a British ancestor: the 1937 Cafe Royal Cocktail Book by Tarling prints a Picador with the same tequila, Cointreau and lime proportions as today's Margarita. No one claims the drink was invented in Britain, only that its formula was in print there before the name existed. Listed as contested to show the print record, with low confidence on any British origin.

  Confidence: lowEvidence: diffordsguide.com (opens in a new tab)

• SidecarContestedThe origin is disputed

  The first printed recipe, in Robert Vermeire's London book of May 1922, says the Sidecar was first introduced in London by MacGarry, and Harry MacElhone's 1922 ABC of Cocktails credits Pat MacGarry of Buck's Club. Difford's reads the record as a London creation around 1919 to 1922 that Paris made famous. Two capitals, two bartenders who worked together, one unresolved claim.

  Confidence: mediumEvidence: diffordsguide.com (opens in a new tab)

The recipes