Updated September 2026
A dinner party runs on a curve. You want something bright and bitter while people are still standing up, something restrained alongside the food, and something rich enough to replace dessert. Serving one drink across all three stages is the most common mistake, and the easiest to fix.
These six are in the order you would actually pour them. The ingredients are the ones in the Cold Ones app, where each recipe also carries its full method and the right glass.
How to plan drinks for a dinner party
- Start bitter, not sweet. An aperitif is supposed to make people hungry. Sugar does the opposite.
- Shaken before the food, stirred with it. Shaken drinks are cold, aerated and loud. Stirred ones are calmer and sit better next to a plate.
- Batch one, build the rest. Pick a single drink to make ahead and pour the others to order, or you will spend your own party at the counter.
- Serve the same thing without alcohol. Grapefruit soda, ice and a wedge in the same glassware means nobody has to explain themselves.
Aperol Spritz
The aperitif that needs no technique at all, which is exactly why it belongs at the start while you are still plating food. Low in alcohol and bitter enough to sharpen an appetite rather than blunt it.
What goes in: 90ml prosecco · 60ml Aperol · 30ml soda water · Ice · Orange slice for garnish
The short version: Fill a wine glass with ice, pour prosecco, Aperol and soda in that order, stir once and add an orange slice.
Negroni
Three equal parts, no measuring stress, and properly bitter. This is the one for guests who find a Spritz too easy, and because it is built in the glass you never have to leave the room.
What goes in: 30ml gin · 30ml Campari · 30ml sweet red vermouth · Ice · Orange slice for garnish
The short version: Build all three over ice in a rocks glass, stir until cold and garnish with orange.
Gin Basil Smash
The one drink here that people will ask about, because it arrives bright green and smells like a herb garden. Invented in Hamburg in 2008, and the most modern thing on this list.
What goes in: 60ml gin · 22.5ml fresh lemon juice · 22.5ml sugar syrup · 10 basil leaves · Ice
The short version: Press the basil gently with the lemon and syrup, add gin and ice, shake hard and fine-strain over fresh ice.
Dry Martini
Serve this with the food, not before it. Cold, clean and almost austere, it resets the palate between courses in a way a sweet drink cannot, and it is stirred, so it stays quiet at the table.
What goes in: 60ml gin · 10ml dry vermouth · Ice · Green olives for garnish
The short version: Stir the gin and vermouth with plenty of ice, strain into a chilled martini glass and add olives.
Manhattan
The drink for the point in the evening when the plates are cleared but nobody wants to move. Rye and sweet vermouth are warmer and rounder than a Martini, which is what you want after a meal rather than before it.
What goes in: 50ml rye whiskey · 20ml sweet red vermouth · 1 dash Angostura bitters · Ice · Cocktail cherry for garnish
The short version: Stir whiskey, vermouth and bitters with ice until cold, strain into a chilled glass and drop in a cherry.
Alexander
Cognac, cacao and cream — effectively a dessert you can pour, and the reason you can get away with not making one. Grate the nutmeg over the top at the table and the room will notice.
What goes in: 30ml cognac · 30ml crème de cacao · 30ml fresh cream · Nutmeg for garnish
The short version: Shake all three with ice until well chilled, strain into a chilled glass and grate nutmeg over the top.
Now 56 recipes to explore
The book has grown by 22 recipes: try a bright Cosmopolitan, a floral Hugo Spritz, a sparkling French 75 or a peachy Bellini. For a richer evening drink, explore the Boulevardier, Sazerac or Amaretto Sour. BUNZE and PIXEL are our own creations, named after the app creators.
Looking for a place or a period? On supported devices, Cocktail AI can suggest recipes by flavor, ingredients, occasion, origin or era, and share a short backstory. If the book has no exact match, it says so and can offer a clearly labeled alternative. AI can make mistakes; check the recipe and drink responsibly.
The other recipes are in the app
The drinks above are the ones worth planning an evening around. The rest of the shelf — a Mojito, an Espresso Martini, a Whiskey Sour, a Mai Tai and more, 56 in total — sits in Cold Ones with the full numbered steps, the right glass, the garnish and a photo of what it should look like when you get it right.
- 56 cocktail recipes, with alcohol-free ideas where suitable in English, German, Spanish and French, each with step-by-step instructions rather than the one-line summaries above.
- Tell it what you already own. The ingredient picker groups spirits, mixers, fruit and garnishes into easy-to-find choices. Tick what is actually in your kitchen and the app shows only the drinks you can make right now, instead of sending you to a shop at 9pm.
- An AI cocktail assistant. Ask for something in plain language — "citrusy but not too sweet, and I have gin" — and it narrows the list. It runs on your own phone on supported devices, so the conversation is not sent anywhere.
- Eight party games in the same download: Truth or Dare, Never Have I Ever, Paranoia, Impostor, Trivia, They're a 10, But…, Party Mode and a spin-the-wheel Roulette. The drinks are rarely the whole evening.
Free on iPhone and Android, with no ads and no account needed to open a recipe.
Frequently asked questions
What cocktail should you serve before dinner?
A bitter, low-alcohol one. An Aperol Spritz or a Negroni is designed to sharpen an appetite, while a sweet drink blunts it. Both are built in the glass, so you can keep cooking.
What cocktail goes with a meal?
A stirred drink rather than a shaken one. A Dry Martini is cold and clean enough to reset the palate between courses without competing with the food, and it stays quiet at the table where a shaken drink does not.
What is a good after-dinner cocktail?
An Alexander, which is cognac, crème de cacao and cream, and effectively a dessert you pour. A Manhattan works too if the table wants something warming rather than sweet.
How many cocktails do you need for a dinner party?
Three is plenty: one aperitif, one to drink with the food and one after. Batch the aperitif in advance and pour the other two to order, or you will spend your own party standing at the counter.
What do you serve guests who are not drinking?
The same thing in the same glass. Grapefruit soda with ice and a wedge looks like a Paloma; soda with a dash of bitters-free syrup looks like a Spritz. Matching the glassware means nobody has to announce that they are not drinking.
