20 Classic Vodka Cocktails That Will Match Any Mood

This coffee-and-vodka cocktail is a viral sensation and surprisingly simple to make.

Ingredients

• 2 oz Grey Goose vodka
• 1/2 oz Mr Black coffee liqueur
• 3/4 oz simple syrup
• 1 1/2 oz fresh espresso

Directions

Shake ingredients with ice and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with two or three coffee beans.

James Bond was good at many things, but inventing a cocktail was not one of them.

Ingredients

• 3 oz London dry gin
• 1 oz vodka
• 1/2 oz Lillet Blanc

Directions

Stir ingredients briskly with ice in a mixing tin until very cold. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a large, thin-cut lemon peel.

Love piña coladas but not a fan of rum? Swap it out for vodka without compromising the taste.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 oz vodka
• 4 oz pineapple juice
• 1 oz cream of coconut (such as Coco Lopez)
• Pineapple slice

Directions

Add ice to a cocktail shaker. Combine vodka, pineapple juice, and cream of coconut and shake vigorously until chilled. Strain into a goblet of crushed ice. Garnish with pineapple.

This melon liquor and vodka drink will transport you to the disco days of the ’70s.

Ingredients

• 1 oz Midori
• 1 oz vodka
• 1/2 oz lemon juice, freshly squeezed
• 1/2 oz lime juice, freshly squeezed
• Club soda

Directions

Add the Midori, vodka, lemon juice, and lime juice to a Collins glass with ice. Stir to combine, then top with a splash of soda water.

Take your favorite childhood drink, mix it with vodka, and prepare for a good time.

Ingredients

• 2 oz vodka
• 1 oz grenadine
• 6 oz lemon-lime soda
• Maraschino cherry

Directions

Fill a highball glass with ice. Add the vodka and grenadine. Top with the lemon-lime soda and stir gently. Garnish with a maraschino cherry.

When you want to drink your dessert, reach for a Mudslide.

Ingredients

• 1 oz coffee liqueur
• 1 oz vodka
• 1 1/2 oz Irish cream liqueur

Directions

Combine coffee liqueur, vodka, and Irish cream liqueur in a shaker with ice. Shake for at least 10 seconds. Strain into a rocks glass over ice.

Simple, tart, and hard to put down, the Lemon Drop Martini can easily become a go-to.

Ingredients

• 2 oz vodka
• 3/4 oz Cointreau
• 1 oz fresh-squeezed lemon juice
• 3/4 oz simple syrup
• Lemon sugar

Directions

Twist rim of a chilled martini glass into sugar and lemon juice and set aside. Add ingredients and ice to a cocktail shaker. Shake until very cold. Strain into the martini glass.

With a few additions, you’ve got the robustly flavorful cocktail you’ll be sipping all weekend.

Ingredients

• 24 oz lemonade
• 1 cup vodka
• 4 oz simple syrup
• 4 sprigs fresh peppermint
• 1 lemon, cut into rounds

Directions

In a pitcher with ice, mix the lemonade with the vodka and simple syrup. Fill a highball glass with ice. Add vodka lemonade until the glass is three-quarters full. Top off with club soda and stir. Garnish with a lemon round.

Light and refreshing, the Sea Breeze gives a classic vodka cranberry a bittersweet twist.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 oz vodka
• 3 oz cranberry juice
• 1 1/2 oz grapefruit juice, freshly squeezed
• Grapefruit slice

Directions

Fill a highball glass with ice, then add ingredients. Stir. Garnish with grapefruit.

As the name suggests, this fruity cocktail feels like a fun afternoon delight.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 oz vodka
• 1/2 oz peach schnapps
• 2 oz orange juice
• 2 oz cranberry juice
• Orange wedge and maraschino cherries

Directions

Combine vodka, peach schnapps, and orange juice in a glass with ice and gently stir to combine. Pour cranberry juice over. Garnish with cherries or orange wedge.

The most popular vodka drink of the lot, with plenty of spicy ginger zing.

Ingredients
• 2 oz vodka
• 1/2 oz lime juice, freshly squeezed
• 6 oz ginger beer

Directions
Squeeze lime juice into a copper mug (or a Collins glass) and drop in the spent shell. Add ice cubes, then pour in the vodka and fill with cold ginger beer. Serve with a stirring rod.

A bracingly sour, slightly sweet, purely refreshing jewel of a drink.

Ingredients
• 2 oz vodka
• 1/2 oz lime juice (fresh)
• 1/2 oz simple syrup

Directions
Shake ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass, and garnish with a lime wheel.

A well-proportioned classic that’ll win over even the gin martini purists.

Ingredients
• 3 oz vodka
• 1/4 oz dry vermouth

Directions
Stir the ingredients well with ice, then strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist or olives.

Salty like the sea, in a worryingly addictive kind of way.

Ingredients
• 2 oz vodka
• 1/4 oz extra dry vermouth
• 1/4 oz olive juice
• Olives

Directions
Combine the gin, vermouth, and olive juice in a mixing tin with ice. Stir well. Strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with as many olives as you’d like on a toothpick.

A pared down version of the White Russian that’s less reminiscent of a milkshake and more like an after-hours black-coffee replacement.

Ingredients
• 2 oz vodka
• 1 oz coffee liqueur

Directions
Stir ingredients with ice in a mixing glass. Strain into an old-fashioned glass over fresh ice.

A drink that exemplifies the timeless marriage of vodka and orange juice.

Ingredients
• 1 part vodka
• 2 parts orange juice, freshly squeezed

Directions
Pour ingredients over ice in a glass. Stir, then garnish with an orange slice.

The vodka cran that grew up and got a real job with a house near the shore.

Ingredients
• 2 oz vodka
• 2 to 3 oz cranberry juice
• 1/2 oz lime juice
• Club soda

Directions
Pour vodka, cranberry juice, and lime juice into a Collins glass over ice. Stir. Top with club soda, then garnish with a lime wedge.

A very good drink that’s long overdue a cultural resurgence.

Ingredients
• 2 oz vodka
• 1 oz Cointreau
• 1 oz cranberry juice
• 1 oz Rose’s lime juice

Directions
Shake the ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass, then garnish with lime.

An incredibly simple sipper to make, if grapefruit is your fruit of choice.

Ingredients
• 2 oz vodka
• 4 oz grapefruit juice

Directions
Add vodka and grapefruit juice to a glass over ice. Stir until mixed.

Like drinking a salad for breakfast. More or less.

Ingredients
The Mix (for one serving)
• 1/2 cup tomato juice
• 1/4 inch horseradish, chopped
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• Dash of celery seeds
• 4 dashes hot sauce (Tabasco, Tapatio, etc.)
• 1/2 lemon’s juice, fresh squeezed
• 1/2 lime’s juice, fresh squeezed
• Dash of sea salt
• Dash of black pepper
• 1 tbsp vodka

The Drink
• 2 oz vodka
• 6 to 8 oz Bloody Mary mix

Directions
Blend tomato juice, horseradish, Worcestershire, and celery seeds until smooth. Add hot sauce, lemon juice, lime juice, salt, and pepper, then blend. Adjust the mix depending on how spicy, salty, or citrusy you like it. Add 1 tbsp vodka to stabilize the mix and keep the juices fresh, then blend. Combine 6 to 8 oz of the mix with 2 oz of vodka in a glass with ice. Pour back and forth into another glass 3 or 4 times to mix. Garnish with a celery stalk and a lime.