What is a short drink?

A short drink is a fairly short cocktail whose capacity is generally less than 10cl (3 fl oz). In a large majority, the main ingredients that make up a short drink are alcohols, which is why this low capacity is sufficient. A short drink is therefore neither more nor less intoxicating than a long drink, but simply more robust.

Families of short drinks

Julep and Smash: Cocktail generally served over crushed ice and composed of fresh mint crushed with sugar, and an alcohol. Some juleps can be considered long drinks, especially those that are laced with wine like the Champagne Julep.
Cocktail: Before becoming the general term it is known as today, the cocktail was a family of short drinks composed of a spirit, sugar, aromatic bitters, and a dash of water to dissolve the sugar. The term first appeared on May 3, 1806 in the New York newspaper The Balance, and Columbian Repository, in which it was written "The cocktail is a stimulating drink composed of spirits of indifferent origins, sugar, water and bitters".
Flip: Some flips are short drinks, they are composed of an egg, sugar and a spirit, shaken with a shaker then sprinkled with nutmeg. Cold flips are made with the whole egg (yolk and white), hot flips (which are generally long drinks because they are elongated in boiling water) are made with the yolk of a small egg only.</p >
Fix: Short drink composed of alcohol, lemon juice and sugar (or sometimes fruit) syrup, shaken with a shaker and served on crushed ice with citrus fruits and /or seasonal fruits.
Sour: Short drink made from spirits or wine, lemon juice and sugar, filtered and decorated with citrus fruits and/or seasonal fruits. Sours are mostly short drinks, but a few are long drinks.
Cobbler: Short drink composed of wine or spirits and sugar in a glass filled with crushed ice, which has the particularity of being decorated with lots of seasonal fruit.
Crusta: Short drink composed of a spirit, curaçao, lemon juice, sugar and bitters, served in a wine glass or flute with a long, large zest decoration of lemon going around the inside of the glass. Curaçao tends to be replaced by maraschino but the original recipe is indeed based on curaçao.
Punch: Cocktail composed in a punch bowl and garnished with fruit. A punch is also in the 19th century a family of short drinks made by the glass and generally composed of a spirit, lemon juice and sugar, served on crushed ice with seasonal fruits as decoration.
Sangaree: Short drink or long drink depending on the cocktails of this family, sangarees are composed of alcohol, sugar, sometimes a dash of port, and sprinkled with nutmeg grated.
Daisy: Cocktail composed mainly of a base spirit, lemon juice, sugar, shaken in a shaker and filtered into a cocktail glass, then lightly topped with sparkling water. Daisies first appeared in 1876 in the second edition of the famous "Bartenders Guide" by Jerry Thomas.