How do I stock a home bar?
The small number of bottles that cover most classic cocktails, and what to buy first if you are starting from nothing.
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Time
- 30 min
- Read
- 2 min
- Safety
- caution
Short answer
Start with one decent gin, one white rum, one whisky and a sweet and dry vermouth. Add fresh citrus, sugar syrup and bitters. Those cover a surprisingly large number of classics, and buying fewer better bottles beats a shelf of mediocre ones.
A home bar grows badly if you buy a bottle per recipe. Buying by category instead — one good example of each base spirit plus the modifiers that appear repeatedly — covers far more drinks for far less money.
Safety
What you'll need
- One good gin
- One white rum
- One whisky or bourbon
- Sweet and dry vermouth
- Angostura bitters
- Fresh lemons and limes
- Sugar syrup
Step by step
- Start with the base spirits you actually enjoy drinking.There is no point owning tequila if you dislike it. Gin, rum and whisky between them cover most classics.
- Buy one decent bottle per category rather than several cheap ones.Very cheap spirits bring a harshness that shows through in a simple drink.
- Add sweet and dry vermouth.They unlock martinis, Manhattans and Negronis. Refrigerate after opening — vermouth is wine and goes off within a month or two.
- Add a bottle of Angostura bitters.It lasts for years, is used in dashes, and appears in an enormous number of classic recipes.
- Keep fresh lemons and limes, and make sugar syrup.Fresh citrus is the single largest quality factor in most cocktails. Bottled juice tastes cooked.
- Add an orange liqueur next.It unlocks margaritas, sidecars and a large family of related drinks.
- Expand by category rather than by recipe.Adding a new category — an amaro, a fortified wine, a different base spirit — opens far more drinks than another bottle of the same type.
- Keep a jigger, a shaker and a strainer.Equipment matters far less than ingredients. A jam jar works as a shaker.
Tips
- Vermouth is the most commonly mishandled bottle in a home bar. It is wine — refrigerate it after opening and use it within a month or two.
- Sugar syrup is equal weights sugar and hot water, keeps for weeks in the fridge, and is far better than granulated sugar in a cold drink.
- Buy the base spirit for drinks you actually make. A bottle bought for one recipe usually stays untouched.
Common mistakes
- Buying a bottle per recipe — You accumulate expensive bottles used once. Buying by category covers far more drinks.
- Leaving vermouth on the shelf — It is fortified wine and oxidises. After a couple of months at room temperature it tastes stale.
- Using bottled citrus juice — It has a cooked, flat flavour that dominates a simple drink.
Questions people ask
What should I buy first for a home bar?
One decent gin, one white rum, sweet and dry vermouth, Angostura bitters, fresh citrus and sugar syrup. That combination covers a large number of classics.
Does expensive spirit make better cocktails?
Up to a point. Very cheap spirits bring harshness that shows in a simple drink. Beyond mid-range, the differences are largely masked by the other ingredients in most mixed drinks.