What could be better than a classic cocktail? We spent an evening at the aptly named Connaught Bar at the Connaught Hotel in Mayfair www.the-connaught.co.uk/connaught_bar.aspx having our drinks crafted for us by Ago Perrone and we left thinking there might just be something better than a classic… a modern classic.

If you appreciate great cocktails served in an elegant surrounding and you haven’t been to the Connaught yet, then you are missing out. This is one of our favourite bars ever and is definitely THE place to go if you want to sip beautifully crafted cocktails in modern elegant surroundings.

Whenever we pop into The Connaught to see Ago we have a pretty high expectation that we are going to get to sip some fantastic cocktails and be introduced to new flavours. What we weren’t prepared for on this occasion was to have our minds opened to the whole idea of a drink created in this day and age having what it takes to become a classic of the future.

Our very modern bar scene in 2009 seems to be spending a lot of time looking back. The classics are well and truly in fashion and there is a real movement towards reviving long lost ingredients, methods, recipes and styles. Well that suits me just fine as there are few things in this world that I like more than a well made Manhattan, Bronx, Ward 8 or Pegu Club. I say long let this trend continue... but let me just caveat that by saying let's not get stuck in the past.

The very best bartenders I know are all pretty well versed in classic cocktails; they have read Thomas, Craddock, Johnson and Duffy from cover to cover and can recite facts so obscure I wonder if they are made up half the time! But let's face it anyone can pick up a copy of an old cocktail book and with a bit of effort reproduce some damn fine drinks. One of the things that makes a good bartender great is their ability to draw inspiration from the past but to give drinks a distinctly modern twist.

Over the weekend I was flicking through Ted Haigh's excellent book 'Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails' and drooling over some drinks that I feel certain will become new favourites of mine. If you haven't done so yet, then I suggest that you go out and grab a copy as soon as you can, if ever there was a more timely release of a book to reflect a trend in the drinks industry I can't remember it! Mr Haigh has assembled a list of drinks that should never have fallen out of fashion and along with a lot of valuable info about their origins and some of the more obscure ingredients has bundled them into a neat package that is a real pleasure to peruse.