The way cocktails are buffeted by the fickle winds of fashion is hardly surprising. The battle is fought in front-line bars in cities across the world, where the beautiful people blaze a trail for the foot soldiers to follow. For what you drink says as much about you as the labels of clothes you wear or the brand of shoes on your feet.

Award-winning barman and writer Naren Young has a gin-pickled finger firmly on the pulse of cocktail cool. After years of mixing it up behind the bar in Sydney's Bayswater Brasserie, and now based in New York, he says two shifts are taking place in today's best bars.

"The return of the classics has been the biggest trend of the last few years," he says. "I'm not talking pseudo-classics like cosmopolitans, but the old-school icons from the great days of New Orleans and the classic cocktail 'families' like flips, punches, smashes, juleps and sours."

One thing these concoctions share is simplicity. Most are made with two or three ingredients at most. A great martini is nothing more than top-shelf gin or vodka, a rumour of vermouth and a couple of green olives; a Manhattan makes its mark with rye whisky, a sniff of vermouth and a dash of bitters.

Obviously, such simplicity requires the best raw materials, and the growth of the super-premium spirits sector has helped return the focus to cocktails in which quality can shine through unhindered.

The other factor in this retro revival is a new generation of bartenders who have a strong appreciation of the past.

"The 1970s, '80s and '90s were the dark ages for cocktails - even the world's great hotel bars were murdering the classics," says Young. "But these days, there is a much greater interest in the history of cocktails and once again they're being made correctly. The first 'golden age' of the cocktail took place in the US from 1850 until Prohibition. I believe we're at the beginning of the second."

The other strong trend is the emergence of the 'culinary' cocktail. Where once interplay between bartender and chef would have consisted of little more than plentiful pouring for a weary pan-rattler at the end of the shift, it's now two-way traffic. Gourmet ingredients such as Turkish rosewater, syrup flavoured with saffron, vanilla pods from Madagascar and spicy Thai nahm jim are firm favourites in trendy cocktail bars.

There is a greater respect for ingredients than ever before. Where once fruit juice came from a bottle, the best bars now juice fruit on demand, with pomegranate, lychee and Tahitian lime as common as lemons and oranges.

Even the 'molecular gastronomy' craze, in some of the world's leading restaurants, has hit the cocktail scene, so expect to find foams, airs and essences on the list at cutting-edge watering holes.

And keep in mind this tip from Young on how to tell if you're in the hands of skilled and sensitive barkeep.

"It's ice," he says emphatically. "Big, hard, dry ice cubes are the foundation for making a great drink. Mess that up and everything is ruined."