New Delhi, April 27 -- If the fictional British spy James Bond were to seek a drink in India in 2025, he might find himself sipping an olive-oil washed, clarified Martini with a caviar-topped cracker as its edible garnish.

The sun is shining over the Indian bartend-ing community, with a slew of bars command-ing the attention of the international hospitality fraternity. As exciting as this is, the trade-off is a pronounced difficulty in finding timeless tipples aka classic cocktails dating back to pre-Prohibition era-such as Old Fashioned, Manhattan and Sidecar-defined by their simple use of ingredients and fundamental mixing techniques like shaking and stirring.

Unless you're at Kolkata's buzzy, new cocktail parlour, Nutcase. Most bars ...