What is a good after-work cocktail to make at home?

for a great easy and delicious rum drink, try a Dark and Stormy. Dark rum (i like Goslings) and ginger beer (I also like Goslings). You can add a squeeze of lime if you keep some around.

for vodka, try a greyhound (vodka and grapefruit). The bitterness of the grapefruit juice will help stimulate your appetite.

This is a no-brainer.

Go Don Draper, as I do, and mix up an Old Fashioned.

2 oz bourbon whiskey
2 dashes Angostura® bitters
1 splash water
1 tsp sugar
1 maraschino cherry
1 orange wedge

The first cocktail... An Old Fashioned.

1 scant teaspoon simple syrup
2 dashes Angostura Bitters, plus more to taste
1 half dollar–sized slice orange peel, including pith
2 ounces good-quality rye or bourbon
1 maraschino cherry

In old-fashioned glass, combine simple syrup and bitters. Fill glass halfway with ice, then stir about a dozen times. Add enough ice to fill glass. Squeeze orange peel over glass to extract oils, add peel to glass, and add whiskey. Stir just until drink is cold and alcoholic bite has softened, about a dozen times. Garnish with cherry, swizzle stick, and straw.

You can use a sugar cube too, and muddle it with the bitters... simple syrup is better though, as it melds better into the alcohol.

I know you said 'cocktail' but a very simple drink that I enjoy after work is a tall glass of white zinfandel with cubes of ice in it. It's (naturally) sweet, cold, refreshing, and makes the memories of the cube farm go away. I suggest the big 4L bottles of Carlo Rossi. They're cheap, good, and the wine stays fresh for 2 weeks.

spiced rum and ginger ale, with a twist of lime. simple.

Gin & Tonic. Preferably with either Bombay or Beefeater. Extra credit if the ice cubes are also made from tonic instead of plain water.

After work & at home means keep it simple. Just about anything on the rocks, scotch neat, or "one mixers" (scotch & soda, jack & coke, jack & sprite, gin & tonic, etc)

I've recently jumped on the Old Fashioned bandwagon. You can't go wrong. Easy to make at home and classy when you're out. Recipes already posted by others.

Oh for god's sake:
Bourbon
Rocks

Now for the following drinks go nuts if that's your thing.

Absinthe and icewater does the trick for me

Vodka Martini...

3 oz. Vodka
1 oz. Extra Dry Vermouth

Shake; pour into chilled martini glass; garnish with 2 large Jalapeño stuffed olives.

Tall rocks glass, Ice, Hendricks Gin, Tonic, Cucumber.

Repeat as needed.

Hendricks Gin

Ive gotta say, i love a crown and coke, smooth gentleman's drink

I just go for Basil Haydens neat.

http://www.smallbatch.com/basilhaydens

Try the Gospel of Brandy: The Sidecar

3 parts Brandy (any decent Cognac will make this much better)
1 part lemon juice
1 part Cointreau

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. You may optionally frost the rim with sugar.

An ideal cocktail for both men and women.

Or if you have what it takes to be a gin drinker, try a Pegu. It'll loosen your tongue and banish your stress.

3 parts gin
1 part lime juice
1 part Cointreau
2 dashes Angostura Bitters

Combine in shaker with ice and shake vigorously. Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with a wedge of lime.

1-2 oz. Grey Goose
4oz. of pomegranate juice
4oz. Cranberry juice
one slice of lime squeezed
add ice, stir, enjoy

Try Maker's Mark with Ginger ale and a slice of orange. Great simple drink.

As said before, Hendricks and tonic, garnished with cucumber.

Martini: dirty

2 parts Ketel One
1 part olive juice
Shake with Ice
serve in a rocks glass
3 olives

The classics have been spoken for, and while I choose a good Old Fashioned or Scotch with a dash of water, there was once an unusually hot summer where this was my drink of choice.

The Paloma:
2 oz blanco or reposado tequila
6 oz fresh grapefruit soda
1/2 oz lime juice

That was by far the most refreshing change of pace after coming in from the heat.

Jack. Ginger. Ice.

Product Name

An Old Fashioned, rye or bourbon, and leave out the garbage (fruit). You don't need it. That's a habit left over from prohibition, when the booze was swill. You want to taste your stuff, you paid good money for it.

The Old Fashioned is an unassuming cocktail, the point of it is to maximize the enjoyment of your liquor, no flash needed. Here's what you do:

In your glass, mix a cube (or two) of sugar in as little warm water as it takes to dissolve it. Or, use a splash of simple syrup if you've made some. Next come the bitters, a few dashes at least. Stir well. Ice is best added in large chunks or cubes, as smaller pieces melt faster and dilute the drink. Add your booze. Stir well again, and enjoy. That's it. It's a nice ritual and makes a fantastic beverage. I think I'll have one now.

its very good information thanks
Pandora jewel
pandora jewelry

Has to be a Tom Collins, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Collins. Clean, crisp and easy to make.
I'm not even a big gin drinker but ordered one with dinner a few years ago and never looked back.

Some good suggestions here.
Myself, I've been enjoying the heck out of stingers lately. Exceptionally easy to make, strong, and refreshing. What's not to like?
I usually go for South African brandy--it's very inexpensive for its quality--but any decent cognac or American brandy would be fine.