Stinger – IBA

Stinger – IBA is the International Bartenders Association's official specification of the classic Stinger, listed among the Unforgettables category of its official cocktail list rather than a separately invented drink. The IBA card fixes the proportions and calls for stirring the cognac and white crème de menthe with ice before straining into a chilled cocktail glass, codifying a build bartenders had already been mixing for decades rather than introducing a new recipe.

The Stinger itself is generally traced to the United States around 1890, with an early printed recipe appearing in Jacques Straub's 1913 cocktail manual; it may have developed out of an older brandy, crème de menthe, and syrup drink called the Judge. It became fashionable in the 1920s through its association with New York society, and its rise onto bartending's canonical lists reflects that long-standing popularity rather than a documented single inventor.