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96 free Cocktail trivia questions with answers — food & drink quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
10 free Cocktail trivia questions with answers. Cocktail trivia lives in two places on BrainPickle. This page is the shorter set; the main quiz is Cocktails trivia, with our deepest question pool on the topic and a source behind every answer.
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Q 01Bartender Dale DeGroff's theory traces the word 'cocktail' to a French word for which item?
Eggcup
Eggcup in French is coquetier, and DeGroff's hypothesis is that mixed drinks were once served in one, giving the cocktail its name.
Q 02What is a pre-dinner drink meant to sharpen the appetite called?
Aperitif
An aperitif is usually dry or bitter rather than sweet: its job is to wake the appetite, not satisfy it.
Q 03What do you call an alcoholic drink served after a meal, rather than before it?
Digestif
A digestif is served after a meal for the stated purpose of improving digestion, and is often richer, sweeter or herbal; the aperitif is its pre-meal opposite number.
Q 04Merchant Antonio Benedetto Carpano introduced the first sweet vermouth in 1786 in which Italian city?
Turin
Turin remains the home of vermouth; the sweet style Carpano launched there in 1786 is sugared before fortification and usually carries 10–15% sugar, which is why it anchors a Manhattan.
Q 05Which spirit forms the base of a Margarita?
Tequila
Tequila, triple sec and lime, sometimes with a little simple syrup, make a Margarita; the salted rim is the finishing touch.
Q 06Which of these is a common garnish for a classic Martini?
Olive
Green olives are a quintessential garnish for a classic Martini, often used to complement its savory notes, especially in a "dirty" Martini.
Q 07Vermouth is officially what kind of drink?
Fortified wine
Vermouth is a fortified wine, strengthened with distilled spirit and flavoured with botanicals: roots, barks, flowers, seeds, herbs and spices.
Q 08The 'Tom' in a Tom Collins points to an 'Old Tom' style of which spirit?
Gin
Gin: Old Tom is a lightly sweetened 19th-century style of gin, and the Tom Collins took its name from it; the John Collins was the version made with Holland gin, now called genever.
Q 09Which carbonated mixer tops a Tom Collins?
Club soda
Club soda, plain carbonated water, tops a Collins; the Tom Collins is the gin version of the spirit, lemon and sugar formula.
Q 10In which year did a Hudson, New York paper first print a definition of the alcoholic 'cocktail'?
1806
1806: The Balance and Columbian Repository printed it on May 13, three years after the word's first known appearance in print.
Q 11The Negroni was born around 1919-20 when Count Camillo Negroni asked for what change to his Americano?
Gin instead of soda water
Gin instead of soda water: at Florence's Caffè Casoni, bartender Fosco Scarselli is said to have stiffened the Count's Americano by swapping its soda for gin, keeping the Campari and sweet vermouth.
Q 12The mojito, a Cuban punch of rum, sugar, lime, soda and mint, requires the mint leaves to be treated how?
Gently bruised, not shredded
Bruising releases the essential oils; the drink is then topped with crushed ice and soda.
Q 13The IBA recipe for a Manhattan calls for a dash of which bitters?
Angostura
Q 21'Professor' Jerry Thomas published the first American bartender's guide in which year?
1862
1862: Thomas's 'How to Mix Drinks, or The Bon-Vivant's Companion' was the first American cocktail book; at San Francisco's Occidental Hotel he reportedly earned $100 a week, more than the Vice President.
Q 22What was Jerry Thomas's flaming signature drink, developed at the El Dorado saloon in San Francisco?
The Blue Blazer
The Blue Blazer: Thomas poured flaming whisky between two silver mugs in an arc of blue flame, a showpiece he associated with the El Dorado saloon in San Francisco.
Q 23A martini garnished with cocktail onions instead of olives is called what?
A Gibson
Angostura: the IBA recipe is 5 cl rye whiskey, 2 cl sweet red vermouth and a dash of Angostura bitters, stirred and strained into a chilled glass with a maraschino cherry.
Q 14Historians credit the daiquiri to Jennings Cox, an American of what profession working in Cuba around 1898?
Mining engineer
Mining engineer: Cox ran American iron-mining operations at the village of Daiquirí near Santiago de Cuba, whose Taíno-derived name the rum, lime and sugar drink took.
Q 15A Bloody Mary made with gin instead of vodka goes by what name?
Red Snapper
Red Snapper: the gin-based version; the name was reportedly adopted at a New York hotel bar in the 1930s because 'Bloody Mary' sounded too coarse for its clientele.
Q 16The name piña colada literally means what in Spanish?
Strained pineapple
Strained pineapple: piña is pineapple and colada means strained; the rum, coconut cream and pineapple drink reached number one on the US singles chart in song form with Rupert Holmes's 1979 'Escape'.
Q 17The cosmopolitan is made with vodka, cranberry juice, lime juice and which orange liqueur?
Cointreau
Cointreau: the IBA recipe is citron vodka, Cointreau, lime and cranberry; Toby Cecchini's 1988 version at New York's Odeon fixed the Cointreau-and-fresh-lime formula that Dale DeGroff later popularised.
Q 18A Moscow mule of vodka, ginger beer and lime is properly served in a mug made of what?
Copper
Copper: the mug was part of the 1940s Los Angeles marketing push pairing Smirnoff vodka with Cock 'n' Bull ginger beer; modern mugs are often lined to stop copper leaching.
Q 19'Trader Vic' Bergeron claimed to have invented the Mai Tai in 1944 at his bar in which city?
Oakland
Oakland: Bergeron said he mixed the first Mai Tai with 17-year-old Wray & Nephew rum for Tahitian friends at his Oakland restaurant in 1944; rival Donn Beach claimed a 1933 original.
Q 20The Sazerac, sometimes called the oldest American cocktail, is named after a brand of what?
Cognac
Sazerac de Forge et Fils cognac was the original base; rye later replaced it, with Peychaud's Bitters and an absinthe rinse.
A Gibson: a dry gin martini finished with one or two pickled cocktail onions instead of an olive; the Vesper, by contrast, is Ian Fleming's gin, vodka and Kina Lillet drink.
Q 24The Martinez, a possible martini ancestor, was served at San Francisco's Occidental Hotel to travellers catching what?
An evening ferry
Jerry Thomas's 1887 guide printed a Martinez recipe with Old Tom gin, sweet vermouth, maraschino and Boker's Bitters.
Q 25The Singapore Sling was reputedly created around 1915 at the Long Bar of which establishment?
Raffles
Raffles: bartender Ngiam Tong Boon is credited with the gin, cherry brandy and pineapple drink at the Raffles Hotel's Long Bar, reputedly made to look like fruit juice so women could drink in public.
Q 26Giuseppe Cipriani of Harry's Bar named the Bellini after a 15th-century painter because of the drink's what?
Pink colour
Pink colour: Cipriani said the drink's pink hue recalled the toga of a saint in a Giovanni Bellini painting; its sisters are the Rossini (strawberry) and the Puccini (mandarin).
Q 27The mint julep is famously the symbol of which sporting event?
The Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby: Churchill Downs has promoted the bourbon, mint and sugar drink as the race's signature cocktail since 1938, selling it in souvenir glasses each Derby weekend.
Q 28The original spritz veneziano, created in Venice in 1920, used which bitter aperitif as its flavouring?
Select
Select: the bitter-red aperitivo launched by the Pilla brothers in Venice in 1920 is the traditional base of the Venetian spritz, topped with prosecco and soda; the IBA added the spritz to its official list in 2011.
Q 29Which London bartender is credited with creating the espresso martini in the 1980s?
Dick Bradsell
Dick Bradsell: he shook vodka, fresh espresso, coffee liqueur and sugar at London's Soho Brasserie around 1983, reputedly for a customer who asked for a drink to wake her up.
Q 30Robert 'Rosebud' Butt claimed to have invented the Long Island iced tea at which bar?
Oak Beach Inn
Oak Beach Inn: Butt said he created the vodka, gin, rum, tequila and triple-sec drink for a 1972 cocktail contest at the Oak Beach Inn on Long Island, New York.