What's the easiest classic cocktail to make at home?

The Gin and Tonic — gin, tonic, ice, lime — requires no shaker, no jigger if you eyeball it, and is finished in 30 seconds. Close second: the Old Fashioned, which needs a sugar cube, bitters, and 90 seconds.

Ranked by total equipment needed and the consequences of slight measurement error: (1) Gin and Tonic — pour 2 oz gin over ice in a highball, top with cold tonic, squeeze a lime wedge. Done. (2) Aperol Spritz — 3 parts Prosecco, 2 parts Aperol, 1 part soda, large ice cubes, orange slice. (3) Negroni — three bottles, one large ice cube, an orange peel, equal parts. (4) Old Fashioned — sugar, bitters, whiskey, ice, stir. (5) Daiquiri — three ingredients but requires a shaker and accurate measuring of citrus and sugar. All five are forgiving of small spec deviations. The Margarita, by contrast, is unforgiving — too much lime, too little tequila, wrong tequila, and the drink is bad. Start with the top three; the Daiquiri and the Old Fashioned reward technique improvements visibly over time.