Occasion & Season
Quick Cocktails: 5 Minutes or Less
Fast cocktails that taste like you tried — 2-ingredient builds, highball speed recipes, and no-shake options for when you want a great drink without the ceremony.
Sometimes the occasion is simply: "I want a good drink and I want it in the next three minutes." This guide is unapologetically about speed. Not compromise — speed. Every recipe here tastes genuinely excellent while requiring minimal time and equipment.
The Philosophy of the Quick Cocktail
There's a persistent myth that quality cocktails require elaborate technique. The truth is more nuanced: quality cocktails require quality ingredients. Technique enhances; ingredients determine the ceiling.
A great bourbon + great ginger beer + fresh lime is a better drink than a mediocre cocktail that required 15 minutes to make. The Highball format — the fastest cocktail format that exists — produces genuinely excellent drinks when the components are good.
The quick cocktail's rules: 1. Start with quality spirits (even cheap equipment is fine) 2. Use fresh citrus when the recipe has citrus (bottled juice is the slow-cocktail compromise you don't have time for when you're going fast anyway) 3. Use quality mixers (premium tonic, real ginger beer — the mixer is often half the drink) 4. Cold glass, cold ice, cold drink
2-Ingredient Cocktails
The most elegant expressions of cocktail minimalism:
The Highball (any spirit + any sparkling mixer): 2 oz spirit, 4-6 oz mixer, ice, garnish. The Highball is not a specific cocktail — it's a format. Bourbon + ginger ale = Kentucky Highball. Scotch + soda = Scotch and Soda. Rum + Coke = Cuba Libre. Vodka + soda = Vodka Soda. All excellent. All done in 45 seconds.
The Negroni (if you have the bottles): Equal parts gin, sweet vermouth, and Campari into a glass over ice. Stir 5 times. Express an orange peel. Done in 60 seconds. This is not a compromise — the Negroni made this way is identical to a "properly" stirred one; the extra 2 minutes of traditional stirring adds marginal additional Dilution that you can replicate by adding a small splash of water.
The Dark and Stormy: 2 oz dark rum over ice in a highball, topped with ginger beer. Squeeze in a lime wedge. That's it. Genuinely one of the best 90-second cocktails in existence.
The Vodka Tonic: The Vodka Tonic is unfairly dismissed. With quality vodka and quality tonic (Fever-Tree, Q, East Imperial), it's a genuinely refined drink. The ratio matters: 1:3 (spirit to mixer), ice-cold glass, large ice cube, lemon wedge. Sixty seconds.
The Highball: Speed's Native Format
The Highball is the ultimate speed format because every component can be assembled directly in the glass:
Build Process (Total Time: 60-90 seconds): 1. Fill glass with large ice cubes 2. Pour spirit 3. Add any citrus (squeeze lime, drop in) 4. Top with mixer (pour slowly down the side of the glass to preserve carbonation) 5. Gentle stir with a Bar Spoon — just 2-3 rotations to integrate 6. Garnish and drink
The Speed Cocktail Shelf: If you stock these, you can make an excellent quick cocktail every time: - Bourbon (or rye) - Gin (London Dry style) - Vodka - Dark rum - Ginger beer (cans stay carbonated indefinitely) - Tonic water - Soda water - Fresh limes and lemons (always) - Simple syrup (make a batch on Sunday, lasts 2 weeks)
No-Shake Options
Shaking adds ~90 seconds of active work and cleanup. When you need that time back:
The Built Sour: Mix citrus and sweetener directly in the glass, add spirit, stir, top with ice. You lose the foam from shaking but gain 2 minutes. A Whiskey Sour built this way is 80% as good and takes 90 seconds.
The Spritz: The Spritz format requires no shaking, no stirring — just building in a wine glass. Aperol + Prosecco + soda over ice = done.
Straight Spirit: The fastest cocktail is no cocktail — a measure of quality spirit Neat or On the Rocks in a good glass. A 15-year bourbon or aged rum needs no help.
Quick Recipes Under 3 Minutes
The Paloma (2 min): - 2 oz tequila - 3 oz grapefruit soda (Jarritos or Topo Chico Grapefruit) - Pinch salt - Lime squeeze
Build over ice in a highball. Salt rim optional. Done in 90 seconds.
The Americano (90 seconds): - 1 oz Campari - 1 oz sweet vermouth - Soda water
Build over ice in a rocks glass. Orange wheel. This is the Americano — the cocktail James Bond ordered before he discovered Martinis.
The Gimlet (3 min with a quick shake): - 2 oz gin - 0.75 oz lime juice - 0.5 oz simple syrup
Brief Shaking (7-8 seconds), strain into coupe. Lime wheel. This requires a shaker but the actual active time is minimal.
The Tom Collins (2 min): - 2 oz gin - 1 oz lemon juice - 0.75 oz simple syrup - Soda water
Build over ice in a Collins Glass. No shaking required — the carbonation provides the integration. Lemon wheel.
The Pre-Batch Solution
For occasions when even 3 minutes is too long — pre-batch your quick cocktails on Sunday. The Negroni pre-batched (equal parts gin, vermouth, Campari, plus water) pours in 10 seconds. See Batching Cocktails for Parties for the full pre-batch playbook.
The best quick cocktail habit you can develop: on Sunday evenings, pre-squeeze a batch of citrus (lemon and lime juice in sealed containers), make a large batch of simple syrup, and pre-batch your preferred cocktail. Weeknight drinks done in under 60 seconds, every time.