What is CocktailGuessr?
CocktailGuessr shows you one photograph of a finished cocktail and asks you to name it. The picture appears on the left, a search box with autocomplete on the right, and nothing else. No ingredient list, no glass diagram, just what the bartender placed on the counter. You have five guesses, and each wrong answer unlocks a fact about the drink rather than a hint about your choice. The puzzle resets at midnight UTC so everyone worldwide sees the same glass.
How to play CocktailGuessr
- Study the photograph. For your first guess, use only the glass shape, color, ice, garnish, and rim treatment.
- Type a name in the search box, choose one from the autocomplete list, and press Guess.
- If your guess is wrong, read the hint and try again.
- Identify the cocktail within five guesses. The earlier you succeed, the higher your score and the better your title.
Most daily guessing games give you fragments to rebuild. CocktailGuessr gives you the finished object and asks what it is called, which mirrors the real situation of seeing someone else's drink at a bar. The hint system does not tell you whether you are close. Instead, it reveals something true about the cocktail—main spirit, origin, flavor profile, then first letter—so a losing round still teaches you a recipe you did not know before. Scoring runs on a flat ladder from 10,000 points for a first-guess win down to 2,000 on the fifth, with no partial credit for proximity.
Reading the feedback
There is no letter-by-letter color coding. The reply to a wrong guess is the next hint in a fixed sequence: main spirit, then origin, then flavor profile, then first letter. This progression moves from category to alphabet, narrowing the family before offering the mercy rule. The panel beside the board lists these hints in order. Scoring assigns a title for each rung, from MASTER MIXOLOGIST at the top to FIRST TIMER at the bottom.
Tips for a sharper guess
Name the glass before you name the drink. A coupe, a highball, and a rocks glass each eliminate most of the library, and the photo is the only evidence you receive before spending a guess.
Every extra guess costs a flat 2,000 points, so a speculative answer is never free even when it feels like it unlocks a useful hint.
Hint two is origin, not era. If it names a country, think about what that country's bars were pouring rather than who wrote the recipe down first.
Common questions
Everyone plays the same cocktail. The site publishes one mystery drink at midnight UTC and confirms it is identical for every player worldwide, which makes the score worth sharing.
Win or lose, you receive the full ingredient list and a fact about the drink once the game ends, so a failed round still teaches you the recipe.
No account is needed. The stats panel appears on the page waiting for your first result rather than behind a sign-in.