Mixers: the other half of the drink

In a gin and tonic, the tonic is three quarters of the glass. Spending up on the spirit and down on the mixer is backwards.

Carbonation is the first thing to buy for

Fresh, hard carbonation makes a drink taste crisp and keeps aromatics lifting out of the glass. A flat mixer makes even a good spirit taste dull and syrupy. Buy small bottles or cans and open a fresh one for each round rather than working through a two litre bottle over a week.

Tonic water

Tonic is sweetened soda with quinine, which is the bitter edge. Full-sugar tonic is rounder and softer. Light and diet versions are sharper and let the botanicals in gin show more clearly. Flavoured tonics, elderflower, Mediterranean and citrus versions, are worth matching deliberately: a floral tonic suits a contemporary gin, while a dry, quinine-forward tonic suits a juniper-heavy London dry.

Use plenty of ice, a tall glass and a wide strip of peel. Squeezing a lime wedge adds juice and sugar and changes the drink; a peel adds oil and does not.

Ginger beer versus ginger ale

Ginger beer is brewed, spicier and heavier. It is what a mule needs and it stands up to bourbon and dark rum. Ginger ale is lighter and sweeter and suits whiskey highballs and brandy. They are not interchangeable, whatever the recipe says.

Club soda, seltzer and sparkling mineral water

Club soda has added minerals, which round out a drink slightly. Seltzer is plain carbonated water. Sparkling mineral water carries natural minerals and a finer bubble, which is why ranch water made with it tastes better than the same drink with seltzer.

Cola and citrus sodas

Cola is sweet enough to hide a lot, which is why it pairs with everything from rum to whiskey. Grapefruit soda makes a paloma in one step and is one of the most useful bottles in a party fridge.

Juice

Fresh lemon and lime juice is the single biggest upgrade available to a home cocktail. Bottled citrus is pasteurised and tastes cooked. Squeeze it the same day.

Orange and grapefruit juice are fine bottled if they are not from concentrate. Cranberry juice cocktail is largely sugar; unsweetened cranberry plus simple syrup gives you control.

Tomato juice and bloody mary mix are where a good prepared mix genuinely saves time. Taste it before you buy a case.

Syrups and purées

Simple syrup is sugar and water and takes two minutes. Agave syrup suits tequila drinks. Grenadine should be pomegranate, not red colouring. Sour mix, margarita mix and daiquiri mix vary widely in quality; the good ones are made with real juice and are worth it for volume serving.

Bitters

A few dashes change a drink completely. Aromatic bitters for old fashioneds and Manhattans, orange bitters for gin and whiskey drinks, and a celery or spicy bitter for bloody marys. One bottle lasts years.

Garnish is a mixer too

Citrus peel, olives, cocktail cherries, salt and fresh herbs. Flaky salt on a rim beats fine table salt. Good cherries, in real syrup, are a different product from the bright red ones.

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