Your party will be more memorable when you’re with your guests instead of working behind the bar. Think rail drinks: low-cost liquors easy to serve with a variety of basic mixers and colorful garnishes. While you can always be creative, knowing some basic standard recipes will save you time. A few vodka cocktails are included below because the clean, mild flavor blends with almost anything, making vodka one of the most popular spirits worldwide.
Here are seven popular cocktails to make at home:

1. Manhattan
Invented in New York City around 1880, this is how to make a Manhattan cocktail: stir together two parts American whiskey with one part sweet Italian vermouth and a few dashes of bitters. Garnish with a brandied cherry.

2. Moscow Mule
Legend says that one man needed to unload some Smirnoff vodka and another man had a stash of ginger beer. Joining forces, they created the new drink by combining 2 ounces vodka with 4 ounces ginger beer and 1/2 ounce lime juice together with ice in a chilled copper mug. You can use lime chunks instead of lime juice but you have to have the copper mug for it to be authentic!

3. Whiskey Sour
First appearing around the early 1860s, the traditional whisky sour calls for 2 ounces bourbon, 1 ounce fresh lemon juice, ¾ ounce simple syrup, and 1 raw egg white, all shaken together till frothy. Add ice and shake again, then strain into a short glass. Drizzle a few dashes of Angostura bitters across the foam and garnish with a speared maraschino cherry.

4. Cosmopolitan
The details are debated but the Cosmopolitan is a recent cocktail made popular by TV. In a cocktail shaker combine 1½ ounces citrus vodka, 1 ounce Cointreau, ½ ounce fresh lime juice, a dash of cranberry juice, and ice. Serve chilled with a lime wedge.

5. Gin and Tonic
This cocktail won’t keep you from getting malaria, but British soldiers in India believed it did! To sweeten the bitter medicinal quinine, they added 1-3 parts gin plus sugar and a lime slice. Today the recipe uses tonic water which these days contains little quinine, also including lime and lots of ice cubes.

6. Bloody Mary
Of unknown origin but world-wide popularity, it’s one of the few drinks socially acceptable to enjoy in the morning. It’s very nutritious as well. Rub a lemon or lime wedge around the rim of a pint glass, then roll its outer edge in celery salt, and then set it aside. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice, squeezing the citrus juice into the shaker before tossing the chunks in. Add 2 ounces vodka, 4 ounces tomato juice, 2 teaspoons prepared horseradish, 2 dashes Tabasco sauce, 2 dashes Worcestershire sauce, 1 pinch ground black pepper, 1 pinch smoked paprika, a pinch of celery salt, and ice. Shake and strain into the glass and garnish with fresh parsley, 2 speared green olives with a lime wedge, and the iconic celery stalk.

7. Classic Vodka Martini
The drink of James Bond is made by combining 2½ ounces vodka with ½ ounce dry vermouth and an optional dash of orange bitters with ice. Stir for the Bond version, otherwise shake for about half a minute before straining into a well-chilled cocktail glass and garnishing with a twist of peeled lemon or a green olive.