Building a home bar from scratch

A home bar does not need forty bottles. It needs six spirits, a few modifiers and good ice.

Start with the drinks you actually make

Write down the three cocktails you order out. Buy for those first. Everything below is the general version of that exercise.

The six base spirits

Bourbon or rye. Bourbon for old fashioneds and whiskey sours; rye at 100 proof for Manhattans, because sugar and vermouth flatten a softer whiskey.

Vodka. For martinis, mules and anything where the mixer is the flavour.

Gin. A London dry covers martinis, negronis, gin and tonics and collinses.

Tequila. Blanco, 100 percent agave, for margaritas and palomas.

Rum. A light rum for daiquiris and mojitos; add an aged rum later for sipping and dark stirred drinks.

Brandy or cognac. A VS or VSOP for sidecars and brandy old fashioneds.

Six bottles, and you can make most of the classic canon.

The modifiers matter more than the second bottle of whiskey

Sweet vermouth and dry vermouth. Both are wine, both go in the fridge after opening, both die in about a month. Buying small bottles is smarter than buying big ones.

Orange liqueur. Margaritas, sidecars, cosmopolitans, and a splash in almost any sour.

Aromatic bitters and orange bitters. Two small bottles that last years and change every drink you make.

A red bitter aperitivo for negronis, and an orange aperitivo for spritzes.

A coffee liqueur and a cream liqueur if espresso martinis and after-dinner drinks are in your repertoire.

Mixers

Tonic water, club soda, ginger beer and ginger ale, cola, grapefruit soda, bloody mary mix. Buy small bottles or cans rather than two litre bottles, because carbonation dies fast and a flat mixer ruins a good spirit.

Make simple syrup at home: equal parts sugar and hot water, shaken in a jar, kept in the fridge for a month.

Fresh things

Lemons and limes. Nearly every classic cocktail needs one. Bottled citrus tastes cooked and it is the most common reason a home cocktail tastes wrong.

Tools

A shaker, a jigger, a bar spoon, a strainer, a peeler for citrus twists and a cutting board. That is the whole list. A Hawthorne strainer and a fine mesh strainer together give you clean shaken drinks.

Ice is equipment

Large cubes for stirred drinks and anything served on the rock; they melt slowly and keep the drink from drowning. Small cubes for shaking. A silicone tray of two inch cubes costs very little and improves every drink you make more than a more expensive bottle would.

Glassware

A rocks glass, a coupe and a highball cover everything. Buy six of each and stop.

Order of purchase

Week one: the two spirits your three cocktails need, bitters, citrus, ice trays, a jigger and a shaker. Week two: vermouths and orange liqueur. Week three: the remaining base spirits. After that: the interesting bottle you keep reading about.

Storage

Spirits keep for years upright, away from sunlight. Anything with wine or cream in it lives in the fridge and has weeks, not months.

Selection changes week to week, so call to confirm a specific bottle.