Mixology is an art form, but knowing how to make cocktails is only half of it.
In fact, I’d wager that it’s the easier half. Knowing how to choose the right cocktail matters just as much, maybe more. A well-made drink at the wrong moment – too strong for the occasion, too light for the mood – is still the wrong drink.
The craft lies in selection as much as execution.
The problem is that selection requires information most recipes don’t provide. Order a bottle of beer or pour a glass of wine and you know roughly what you’re getting. A beer is a beer – maybe 5% alcohol, 12 ounces, about 0.6 ounces of pure ethanol. That’s one standard drink, the baseline unit everything else gets measured against. Wine works the same way: 5 ounces at 12%, same total alcohol, same effect. Different concentrations, but the outcome is predictable.
Cocktails don’t work this way.
The variation is enormous, and it’s not always obvious. A Mojito and a Mai Tai might seem comparable – both rum-based, both served cold, both tropical in spirit. But one contains less than a standard drink while the other pushes two. A Zombie tastes like fruit punch but contains nearly three. The glass size doesn’t tell you. The name doesn’t tell you. The flavor certainly doesn’t tell you. You’re making choices without the information required to make them well.
Understand
This complexity isn’t impossible to navigate, but it does require understanding two essential characteristics that every cocktail has: what I refer to as proof and pour. They sound similar but describe entirely different things, and both matter. They matters enough that I’ve built it directly into the meta box of every cocktail recipe on this site and made the entire database searchable by these metrics.
So here’s what they mean and why they’re useful.
Proof
Proof is the term I chose to describe concentration – what percentage of the liquid is alcohol. This determines how each sip feels and how you experience the drink moment to moment.
- A low-proof cocktail, something like an Aperol Spritz at 11%, reads as refreshing. You can drink it steadily without thinking much about it.
- Mid-proof drinks, in the 12-20% range, announce themselves more clearly – you taste the alcohol, but it doesn’t dominate.
- High-proof cocktails, 20-28%, are where most classics live. The spirit is obvious, the balance is there, but you’re aware you’re drinking something substantial.
- Spirit-forward drinks above 28% are mostly alcohol with minimal dilution. A Martini doesn’t pretend to be anything other than cold gin.
Pour
Pour is the term I chose to describe quantity – the total amount of pure alcohol the recipe contains, measured in ounces of ethanol. This is what actually affects you, regardless of how the drink tastes.
- A light pour, under 0.7 ounces, contains less than a standard drink.
- A standard pour, 0.7 to 1.0 ounces, is where most classic cocktails sit, which works out to roughly 1.3 standard drinks.
- Heavy pours, anything over 1.0 ounces, mean you’re consuming two or more standard drinks in one glass.
It is worth noting – having now introduced these terms – that these are my own arbitrary terms and amounts. While these aspects of beverages are often discussed using the same or similar terms by many in the industry, and while the systems of others float around these same values, there is to my knowledge no “official” or widely-utilized system of classification for any of this.
Why This Matters
The distinction between proof and pour, or the concentration and quantity of pure alcohol in a drink matters because they don’t always align, and that misalignment creates traps.
A Zombie is, according to my measure, mid-proof – around 18%, which seems moderate – but it’s a heavy pour at 1.6 ounces of ethanol. The concentration says “refreshing tropical drink.” The quantity says “nearly three standard drinks.” Your palate gets one message, your bloodstream gets another. This is why tiki bars used to limit customers to two Zombies. It wasn’t marketing; it was policy.
The reverse exists too. A Martini is spirit-forward at 30%+, which feels serious and tastes like gin with barely any interference. But it’s usually a standard pour, around 1.1 ounces of ethanol – less than two standard drinks. It announces itself clearly, so you treat it with appropriate respect, but it’s not actually outsized in total alcohol. The proof and pour align with the experience.
Both dimensions matter because they answer different questions.
If you’re making yourself a drink after work, proof tells you whether you want something light and refreshing or something contemplative and spirit-forward. Pour tells you whether one will be enough or whether you’ve just committed your evening to that glass.
If you’re planning drinks for guests, proof helps you match cocktails to moments – perhaps spritzes when people arrive, classics during cocktail hour, spirit-forward drinks after dinner when everyone’s settled. Pour tells you what you’re actually serving and whether your guests will be spending the night with you.
Application
The meta box at the top of each recipe provides both measurements, along with practical information that makes them useful.
- Proof appears in four categories: low, mid, high, and spirit-forward.
- Pour appears in three: light, standard, and heavy.
The parenthetical numbers give you exact percentages and measurements if you want precision. Glass type and finished volume tell you what you need and whether you can improvise with what you have. Technique – shaken, stirred, built – indicates equipment requirements.
This isn’t exotic knowledge; it’s simply what you’d need to know to make an informed choice about what you’re drinking or serving.
Wine bottles list ABV and volume as standard. Beer does the same, often including style markers that signal what you’re getting into. Cocktail recipes have mostly skipped this, leaving you to figure it out yourself or just hope for the best.
What changes when you have this information is the nature of choosing itself.
You’re not guessing whether something is “strong” in some vague sense. You know its proof and pour. You’re not assuming cocktails are interchangeable units of “one drink.” You can see what each one actually contains. You can plan an evening deliberately instead of discovering halfway through that you’ve miscalculated.
The artform of cocktails includes knowing what to make when. That requires understanding what you’re making. The meta box provides that understanding. The rest is yours to work with.
It goes without saying that I ask that you always drink responsibly no matter where you are, and if you’re out and about, plan to have a designated driver. If you or someone you know has or may have a problem, please contact a medical professional or a substance abuse help line.