Favourite mix of the '80s is back

In the interests of research MONIQUE DEVEREUX goes cocktail sipping and discovers, to her delight, what all the fuss is about.

Think 1980. Think shoulders pads, Miami Vice, cocktails.

OK, just think cocktails - they're back and they're much the same as they were in 1980. Except different. If that makes sense.

The resurgence of cocktails has been slowly growing for about three years, but the icing on the cake - or the salt with the tequila - was perhaps the television series Sex and the City.

If you don't watch it you may not know about the four hip New York women who talk about sex and drink cocktails an awful lot.

If you do, you'll probably know what a Cosmopolitan tastes like, and perhaps even how to make it. That's a cocktail, by the way.

It costs between $10 and $15 depending where you are - fairly steep for one drink.

Cocktails are back because more people are ready to try something other than beer and wine, and - say the barpeople in the know - mainly because television says cocktails are trendy.

Therefore, like New Yorkers, we suddenly really like cocktails. So the Weekend Herald set out to find out which were the most popular and why.

At the bottom of Auckland's Hobson St, semi-discreet and rather out-of-the-way, is the Hobson St Lounge. Yes, it's a lounge bar, as the name would suggest. There are no obvious signs here, you have to just know.

It's a popular hangout for those who enjoy the odd cocktail, and owner-cum-barman Scotty Stevenson can mix it with the best of them.

And mix it up he did, when asked about the five most popular cocktails his bar serves. Let's start with the classic and constantly popular Margarita.

Tequila, Cointreau, lime and a salt-rimmed glass. Mmmm. Surely everyone knows about this one. Surely most people have tried one.

It's popular, it's a classic. It's a drink that young people try, and older, more sophisticated people relish.

Next please.

Bloody Mary. Bloody hell, it's lovely.

Vodka (lots of it, says Scotty), Worcestershire sauce, tomato juice, lemon juice, salt and pepper, and a drop of tabasco sauce to spice it up.

Build this one in a glass - barman-speak for pour it all in, one ingredient after another. Stir before sipping.

And onto a new, trendy little number, the Chocolate Martini.

Vodka, white creme de cacao, dry vermouth, shaken over ice and with the lovely little addition of a Hershey's Kiss chocolate.

Very popular lately, very moreish, very chocolatey, says Scotty. Unusual, tasty, hard to describe but very chocolaty, says the Weekend Herald. ("Weird," says Weekend Herald photographer.)

So let's try something completely different - like a Caipirinha. Never heard of it? You soon will if you like cocktails.

Caipirinha is served in a short glass and involves mashing pieces of lime into a teaspoon of brown sugar and fresh lime juice, then topping it up with a splash of a Brazilian spirit, Cachaca.

Scotty says it's popular in Europe. The Weekend Herald predicts it will be popular in summer. A very refreshing, citrus tipple served over ice, not really like anything you've tried before.

Almost too acidic, but not quite. In fact, quite tasty after two or three. (Not that we actually had three or anything.)

And that leaves what is perhaps the most vogue cocktail right now - the Cosmopolitan.

Pink and girly, its a vodka-cranberry-Cointreau mixture, all shaken up with ice and served in a delicate martini glass.

Very classy, very now, very Sex and the City. Most frequently bought by young, professional women, says Scotty.

"But I suppose some women just live their lives vicariously through TV sitcoms ... "

Build them, shake them, stir them - cocktails are back people, all over Auckland and probably the other parts of the country too.

But as Scotty says: "It's not quite like 1980 all over, just similar drinks with younger people drinking them."

And that makes total sense.

Next, please ...