Best Cocktails 2011

Any bar worth its salt should be able to produce a range of cocktail classics.

And while we're always on the hunt for a proper Sazerac, our taste buds have been increasingly drawn to new inventions–innovative cocktails destined to become classics in their own right.

So we've put together our list of this year's finest drinks, Tasting Table's Best Cocktails 2011. Each drink is plucked from the lists of recently opened bars across the country.

From a Mad Men-inspired sipper from Cleveland to a celery-infused sophisticate from New York to a savory play on the Moscow Mule, each drink shows a breadth of flavor that exemplifies a new cocktail era.

Consider Best Cocktails 2011 your cross-national road map to good drinking. But if you can't travel to all 10 of the featured bars, take heart: We've asked each drink's creator for the recipe, so you can make these inspired cocktails at home.

Drunk out or in, cocktail hour has never tasted so good.