• We asked three bartenders which drinks they enjoy making and wish more patrons would order.
• Champagne-based cocktails, like the French 75, can be easy and fun to customize.
• Some bartenders like making sotol cocktails or a simple but elegant smoked Old Fashioned.

Although it's great to have a go-to drink order that never lets you down, it can be fun to try something new. By doing so, you might just find your new favorite cocktail.

So, Business Insider asked bartenders and mixologists which drinks they love to make and wish patrons would order more often.

Here's what to try if you're looking for your next favorite sip.

Champagne is good for more than just mimosas

Alex Cabrera, head mixologist at Puente Romano resort, said he loves to create Champagne-based cocktails.

One of his favorites has just three ingredients: Champagne, passionfruit juice, and strawberry juice. He said it's refreshing, and the simple ingredients let the fruit flavors shine.

Plus, wine-based cocktails like these are generally solid choices for those looking for low-ABV (alcohol by volume) drinks.

There are some great spins on a French 75

Monica Wells, a Florida-based mixologist, said she enjoys playing with a classic French 75. It's typically made with gin, lemon juice, Champagne, and simple syrup.

She called it a solid base drink for bartenders to customize and add flair to. Sometimes, she makes it more unique by swapping the lemon out for a regional citrus or tropical fruit.

A smoked Old Fashioned isn't as complex as it seems

Wells said her favorite cocktail to make is a smoked Old Fashioned because it has a simple, yet elevated vibe.

Although it's only a three-ingredient drink — usually made with bourbon, simple syrup, and bitters — it's surprisingly complex.

She said the cocktail can also be customized by switching up the age of the liquor and the wood chips used to smoke it.

Try a sotol cocktail if you see one on the menu

Instead of another tequila-based cocktail, try ordering one with a different Mexican spirit: sotol.

Sotol has a "distinct earthy, herbal, and slightly smoky profile," said Eder Leon, restaurant and bar manager at Bonny Moon beach club.

The former bartender said sotol usually has a strong taste, so it shines in cocktails like the Durango, which often contains ingredients like mezcal, grapefruit soda, and jasmine syrup.

The mezcal supports the bolder spirit's smokiness while the grapefruit and jasmine uplift its floral and herbal notes.

You can't go wrong with a Dark and Stormy

Sotol aside, Leon said his favorite cocktail to make is a Dark and Stormy. It's typically made with dark rum and ginger beer and served over ice.

"The combination of deep, caramelized rum flavors with the zing of ginger beer makes it both bold and refreshing," he said. Plus, it's versatile and easy for bartenders to put their own twists on it.

"You can add a splash of bitters, swap in a spiced rum, or experiment with different types of ginger beer," Leon told BI.

• I'm a food and beverage journalist living in Barcelona, and I love exploring Spain's wine regions.
• I highly recommend touring both a historic winery and a famous wine cellar.
• Local wine bars are a great place to try out some more niche bottles.

As a food and beverage journalist living in Barcelona, I've learned so much about Spain's many beautiful vineyards.

I think the country's nearly 140 wine regions are quite underrated compared to other European destinations.

Here are my top six tips for planning a Spanish vino adventure.

Prioritize visiting historic wineries.

Regardless of which region you're visiting, look up historic wineries and book your lodgings near them.

For example, Codorníu is one of the oldest wineries in Spain. It's located in Catalonia and is known for its cava. Best of all, it's a quick train ride from the heart of Barcelona.

My favorite wines from Codorníu's collection can only be purchased and tasted in Spain (some, only at the winery). It's worth the visit for those glasses alone.

In general, smaller and newer wineries also tend to set up shop near historic ones, which makes it easier to plan a full-day wine tour.

From Codorníu, I recommend heading to hillside winery Vins El Cep. The small but mighty operation also produces award-winning cava.

Look up local wine festivals and events.

Planning a trip around a wine festival is an easy way to get a lot of bang for your travel buck while still having a socially and culturally enriching experience.

I spent my 32nd birthday at the Festa de la Verema, which is a grape harvest festival in Sitges — a beach town 30 minutes outside Barcelona. It was a lovely day of trying wines from all over Spain and hanging out with friends by the Mediterranean Sea.

Spain has countless wine festivals all year round, so I recommend finding one that interests you and booking a hotel in that area in advance.

Festival admission tends to be pretty affordable — I've never spent more than 10 euros — but finding nearby accommodations can get pricey if you don't plan ahead.

If you already know your favorite region, make sure to book a full tour.

Some of Spain's wine regions, like Catalonia and the Meseta, are more accessible due to their proximity to public transportation and major international airports.

Others, like Andalusia and Rioja, can be trickier to get to without a car, but they have internationally renowned wines.

Regardless of where you are, booking a wine tour is one of the most efficient ways to get a lot of wine in without much planning. Some tours even span multiple regions, last several days, and include housing, transportation, and food.

If you're interested, definitely check out the Wine Tourism Spain website. It has lists of tours from different companies, and you can search by your starting city.

Local wine bars are the best place to find niche bottles.

I love stopping in local wine bars across Europe but especially in Barcelona. They're always so full of personality and usually have a lively tapas menu to accompany the wine selections.

You can also expect to find some particularly niche wines if that's what you're into. Local wine bars tend to have experimental bottles from all over Spain, so you can almost take a mini wine tour right from your bar stool.

Some of my favorite spots in Barcelona are Masa Vins, an intimate natural wine bar, and Viblioteca, an Instagram-worthy wine bar that's worth the hype.

There are also some Spanish restaurants with wonderfully long wine lists.

I've found that some luxury hotels have extensive local wine collections and highly trained staff that can walk you through the region's wine history, glass by glass.

In Barcelona, my top pick is Amar, a Catalan restaurant that focuses on seafood and has about 700 wines on deck.

It's located inside the El Palace Hotel, and I often see a good mix of locals and tourists there, which is always a green flag for me.

Don't miss out on touring a historic wine cellar.

Vineyards are beautiful, especially during harvest season, but they're not the only destination for vinophiles. If you like to nerd out about wine but also want an intimate experience, booking a walkthrough at a wine cellar is a must.

Although almost all wineries and some restaurants have wine cellars, very few of them are worth taking a vacation to see. One that is worth traveling to is the city-like cellar underneath Codorníu.

It has a cava train that shuttles guests through the 30-kilometer underground system.

Other cellars, like the one at Puente Romano Resort, allow you to walk through with a guide, pick a wine from the collection, and enjoy it there.

The resort's wine cellar is over 1,000 vintages strong and houses some of the rarest wines in Spain — several of which aren't even available for purchase.

• Business Insider asked bartenders for their best nonalcoholic drink recipes.
• All the bartenders were inspired by nostalgic childhood ingredients, like tamarind and juma.
• Sherbert, juice, and nonalcoholic vermouth come together to make a booze-free punch.

Nonalcoholic beverages have the highly alluring benefit of being hangover-free.

However, it can sometimes be hard to capture the vibe of a specialty cocktail without the liquor.

If you're looking for inspiration, Business Insider spoke with three international bartenders about their favorite recipes for nonalcoholic drinks to make at home.

Bring some Afro-Caribbean flavors to your kitchen with a tamarind-forward mocktail

Erika Flowers, the lead bartender at Compère Lapin in New Orleans, wants to celebrate a fruit that's plentiful in her home country of Belize: tamarind.

The sweet-and-sour fruit, also known as tambran, is popular in many tropical countries' cuisines, from Asia and Africa to the Caribbean. Flowers grew up watching her mother and aunt enjoy tamarind candies while she sipped on tamarind juice, so it's also a personal ingredient for her.

The award-wearing bartender calls her tamarind mocktail a Tambran Caye in honor of the small collection of islands off the coast of Belize.

Ingredients

• 1 ½ ounces of tamarind syrup
• 1 ounce of pineapple juice
• ½ an ounce of fresh lime juice
• 4 ounces of club soda

If you can't find tamarind syrup at the store, look for a can of tamarind pulp (Goya sells one).

Method

1. Make the tamarind syrup by combining an equal amount of tamarind pulp and cane sugar in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly until the sugar is dissolved.
2. Once cooled, add 1 ½ ounces of the tamarind syrup to the pineapple and lime juices in a cocktail shaker with ice.
3. Shake until the tin frosts over, and then attach the strainer to the opening.
4. Pour the mixture into a Collins glass and top it with the club soda, ice, and a lime wedge.

Liven up a party with a sparkling nonalcoholic punch

Marie Amelie Fabre, head bartender at Punch Room Barcelona, loves nonalcoholic twists on classic drinks like Negronis, martinis, and punches.

She has her own take on a Garibaldi punch, which she calls Il Risorgimento punch.

It's a tribute to her Italian grandmother, who served her sparkling water with fruits as a child. However, the spiced punch also holds some local significance in her region of Catalonia since Barcelona is a major port city connected to ancient spice-trade routes.

Ingredients

• Nonalcoholic red vermouth (like Martini Vibrante)
• Orange juice
• Grapefruit sherbet
• Soda water

The quantities of each ingredient depend on how many people you're serving, but you can play around with ratios until you find something you like.

Method

1. Combine the Martini Vibrante, orange juice, and grapefruit sherbet.
2. Add ice and shake well to chill.
3. Strain the mixture into a glass filled with ice before topping it with soda water and stirring gently.
4. Garnish with an orange slice or a twist of grapefruit peel.

Some mocktails may even have added health benefits

Bina Nuraga, the beverage R&D manager at Desa Potato Head in Indonesia, likes to honor the long-standing cultural and holistic traditions around low-to-no-alcohol beverages.

"Jamu is a traditional Indonesian herbal drink made from roots and spices like turmeric, ginger, and galangal," Nuraga said.

At its base, the drink can be as simple as turmeric and water, but there are ways to add more medicinal herbs and flair. The bartender's take on the beverage called a Jamu Sling, pays tribute to his childhood in Bali.

He grew up drinking lolo (a Balinese version of jamu), which his mother mixed with things like cemcem leaves and tamarind for a before-school drink or cinnamon, water, and salt to aid with stomach aches.

Ingredients

• 15 milliliters of jamu
• 60 milliliters of coconut water
• 10 milliliters of coconut nectar
• 50 milliliters of tonic water

There are a number of places to buy jamu in the US, including DJAMU, an Indonesian-owned business based in NYC that ships nationally. Alternatively, you can make your own with things like turmeric, ginger, tamarind, lemon, honey, and water.

Method

1. Shake the jamu, coconut water, and coconut nectar together.
2. Top the mixture off with tonic water.
3. Serve in a wine glass with a garnish of edible flowers or cinnamon sticks.

• I moved from the US to Spain, and instead of going home for the holidays, I went to Ireland.
• I didn't do a ton of planning, but I decided to limit my trip to West Cork and Dublin.
• I had such a great time and met lots of friendly fellow travelers along the way.

Last year, I moved from New Jersey to Spain.

As much as I love my family, being in the US stresses me out. Instead of flying home, I wanted to experience something new this holiday season that would hopefully be a salve to the constant political disappointment I've been feeling as a Black woman living in the country.

Although Barcelona (my current city) comes alive during December with Christmas markets, festive lights, and a wave of tourists, I was craving greenery, the tranquility of nature, and maybe a sprinkle of luxury (at least for a few days). I knew I'd find that in Ireland, which I've loved every time I've visited.

Less than a month before Christmas, I did some last-minute planning to make my dream trip a reality.

I set my sights on County Cork

I've been to Ireland a few times, and multiple people I've met abroad have encouraged me to visit West Cork.

The somewhat underrated foodie destination is covered in farmland and remnants of Ireland's once-abundant temperate rainforests.

My curiosity was fully piqued, so I booked an extended weekend at Liss Ard Estate in the town of Skibbereen.

The luxurious estate was a bit of a splurge for me — the cheapest suites start at 160 euros, or about $166, a night — but I considered it a Christmas gift to myself.

The county's natural views were straight out of a movie

I hoped to spend time in nature during my trip, but I wasn't expecting to see greenery similar to "Jurassic Park" in the winter Irish countryside.

I spent most of my time in West Cork wandering the Irish Sky Garden, which James Turrell created in the 1990s.

I didn't even know about the internationally renowned masterpiece of interactive natural art when I booked my stay, but it's safe to say I was forever changed by the beautiful installation.

The Sky Garden is basically just a giant concave oval. When standing inside it, the sounds of nature are amplified, and the sky turns into a massive portrait.

As I lay on the rock slab, staring at the sky and hearing blades of grass shuffle in the breeze, I was reminded how wonderful it is to just be present in the moment.

I returned to an old haunt for Christmas Day

I loved the solitude of West Cork, but I planned on spending Christmas Day in Dublin, more specifically, at Jacob's Inn.

I've stayed in this hostel every time I've visited Dublin. As an avid solo traveler, I rarely find accommodations that organically create the feeling of family among strangers, but this place does it for me every time.

Immediately after entering and putting my bags in storage, I met a travel buddy at the bar who mildly peer-pressured me into going to a reggaeton club (something I didn't even know existed in Dublin).

We had a blast.

There was plenty to do in the capital city

Although Dublin was crowded with a wave of holiday tourists and locals gathering with friends and family, I was still able to carve out dedicated time to rest, regroup, and explore the city at my own pace.

Two of my favorite adventures were finding The Little Pig Speakeasy and visiting the city's museums.

The four properties of the National Museum of Ireland and the National Gallery are all free to the public, so I took my time wandering through as many exhibits as I could.

The speakeasy was the most authentic-feeling one I've been to in years.

To enter, my hostel buddy and I had to find a pay phone, type three numbers, say a code that we got from a local store owner, enter a trick wall, and then follow the neon pig. The tasty cocktails were worth the effort we spent getting into the bar.

My trip ended up being the perfect way to spend Christmas

Other than talking to my mom on Christmas Day, everything about this holiday was new for me.

At times, it was a bit overwhelming. However, not knowing what each day would bring during a season that's usually steeped in tradition was also exciting.

Whether I return to Ireland in December 2025 or set off to another country, I'm excited to make solo travel my new holiday tradition.

• Business Insider asked award-winning bartenders what their favorite cocktails are right now.
• Eggnog, mulled wine, and hot toddies are classic winter cocktails for a good reason.
• Simple twists on classic cocktails like old-fashioneds and Sazeracs give them extra pizzazz.

There's no better way to survive the holidays than with a festive cocktail.

Business Insider asked award-winning bartenders from around the world to share their favorite cocktails right now — and what makes them so seasonally special.

You can't go wrong with an old-fashioned.

Tiffanie Barriere — a Tastemakers of the South award winner and cocktail educator with a heavy focus on Black culture — sticks to the classics.

"I'm still a sucker for an old-fashioned," she said. The cocktail is a sipper, not a chugger, so it's great for longer holiday gatherings.

At its core, an old-fashioned only needs three ingredients (bourbon or rye whiskey, water, and bitters), though sugar and orange are often included in basic recipes.

There are also countless ways to remix the drink. Barriere recommends trying different concoctions with things like peach preserves, apple butter, and pumpkin puree. She's even had an old-fashioned made with zucchini soup broth — the possibilities are really endless.

Winter weather calls for hot toddies.

Deniseea Head, a cocktail consultant and storyteller, won VinePair's educator of the year award in 2023 for her work in the drink industry.

Her wintertime staple is a hot toddy. The drink typically calls for hot water, whiskey, lemon, honey, and spices, and she grew up drinking virgin versions on the rare occasion that the temperature dipped in Los Angeles.

"It's festive, warm, and I feel like it's lowkey healing," Head told BI.

Along with her personal connection to this drink, the history of the hot toddy also resonates with her work in connecting cocktails with Black American culture.

"The hot-toddy recipe, in my opinion, has been passed down as somewhat of a cure within the African American culture, specifically because we haven't always had access to things we need," she said.

Daddy Long Legs, another successful bartender who recently placed third in Tales of the Cocktail's Most Imaginative Bartender awards, has similar praise for the hot drink.

The bartender would also love to see people take the cocktail one step further by incorporating soups and broths.

"Personally, I'm brewing an idea for a chicken-noodle-soup hot toddy," they told BI.

Lastly, the simple cocktail is easy to make in big batches, which is perfect for holiday parties and events.

A Sazerac is a lesser-known classic.

Heriberto Mandez, the bar manager at Restaurant Good Luck and a finalist at the 2024 Rochester Cocktail Revival festival, likes to add a little theatrical flair to cocktails to liven up the holiday season.

His favorite drink is a take on a classic Sazerac — a cocktail made with whiskey, bitters, sugar, absinthe, and a citrus garnish. Mandez elevates the drink by caramelizing the absinthe and using a split base of rye whiskey and brandy to pay homage to the cocktail's French and American history.

When everything is assembled, he also lights the cocktail on fire — a fun way to start a conversation at a party or just add a little brightness to the end of the year.

Mulled wine is full of Christmas cheer.

Jose Luis Mora, the lead bartender at the award-winning Sea Grill at Puente Romano Beach Resort in Spain, said he's a fan of many holiday cocktails.

Although seasonal specialties like a winter espresso martini with peppermint or a pumpkin-flavored whiskey sour are fun, Mora finds himself reaching for a staple: glühwein.

Glühwein, or mulled wine, combines ingredients like red wine, vermouth, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and citrus fruits. It's served warm, so it's perfect for any outdoor holiday event.

Don't hate on eggnog.

Liana Oster, who's worked at award-winning bars around the world and is now the beverage director at NoMad London, also loves classics. Her first favorite is eggnog.

"I love the process of making it, drinking it, and often gifting it," she told BI. "I've been lucky to try a number of different styles, some classic, some contemporary, like pumpkin-infused or frozen."

The fact that everyone has their own recipe gives the cocktail a special touch at parties and events.

Break out the punch bowl for your next party.

Charné van Heerden, South Africa's 2023 bartender of the year and the owner of HiBall, said holiday cocktails look a little different in the Southern Hemisphere — it's summer there, after all.

"Hands down, my holiday go-to is any punch-style drink," she told BI. "My easy-to-whip-up recipe consists of rooibos tea, strawberry oleo, citrus, and, of course, brandy (a lot of it)."

She serves it chilled to beat the summer heat, and making a big batch ahead of the party makes it easy for people to top up their glasses.

Spiced cocktails fit the season well.

Stanislav Harcinik, the ambassador at the award-winning Mirror Bar Cocktail Bar in Washington, DC, shared some of his favorite Slovakian holiday cocktails from his homeland.

"In Slovakia, it's very traditional to 'spice' our drinks during the holidays with our own fruit eau-de-vies like slivovica (plum) or jablkovica (apple)," he said. Eau-de-vie is a kind of brandy made with fermented fruits.

To finish off the traditional winter drink, he mixes it with some ginger juice, honey, and lemon.