STOCKING UP

The Drink Index (backmatter) should help you quickly find the recipes you would like to make by ingredient. As you will have noticed by now, some drinks call for more obscure ingredients; other, equally delicious drinks can be made with sugar, lemon, ice, and a bottle of booze. So we have tried to organize recipes in the index accordingly. The drinks at the top of each list can be made from a fairly spare cupboard; the drinks at the bottom can only be made by someone with something bordering on an unhealthy obsession with cocktails. And there are a lot of drinks that fall somewhere in the happy middle.

SPARE CUPBOARD

A very basic but serviceable bar should include bottles of dry gin, white rum, white tequila, cognac, bourbon, possibly Scotch, and of course vodka if you like it. Some specific reminders on choice of spirit:

  • There are fantastic, versatile dry London-style gins like Beefeater that don’t cost much and do terrifically in most recipes.
  • Bottles of white rum and white tequila should both be of good quality. Unfortunately, the cheapest and most widely available brands are not likely to have enough body to hold up in the most common drinks like margaritas and daiquiris.
  • A V.S.O.P. cognac. No need to go for the priciest X.O. stuff, but a cheaper quality brandy will drag down a drink.
  • Bourbon is another spirit that you don’t necessarily have to spend a lot of money on to do great things for a cocktail. Maker’s Mark, for instance, renders a terrific old-fashioned or Manhattan.

You should also have at least one kind of orange liqueur, preferably either Cointreau (a triple sec) or Grand Marnier (a curaçao) and, if possible, both. Small cans or bottles of club soda, tonic water, and ginger beer are a good idea. You will need bottles of sweet and dry vermouth (though remember, they won’t last long after opening, so buy small) and last but not least Angostura bitters.

And you know what? While orange bitters aren’t usually thought of as indispensable, once you have a bottle you will never go without. Regans’ Orange Bitters No. 6 is difficult to find in a store but can be easily purchased online.

WELL-STOCKED

A well-stocked bar should include absinthe, a good bottle of rye (Sazerac is a fine, inexpensive option), decent Irish and Scotch blends, Campari, maraschino liqueur, green chartreuse, Peychaud’s bitters (available online and at very useful stores), and Drambuie, if you like it. Apple brandy may also be a good idea. And if you like juice- and soda-based drinks, you should have small bottles of ginger ale, cranberry cocktail, tomato juice, and whatever else excites you. A wider selection of rums, tequilas, and gins can also start to enter the picture.

GEEKED OUT

From here, the sky is really the limit and it just depends on which recipes appeal to you. It’s high time you invested in a medium-bodied gin like Plymouth, a good amber rum, and some Bénédictine. Apple and apricot brandies are, at this point, essential. Some orgeat or orzata syrup will allow you to explore the dangerous world of tiki. Look online to find the more obscure ingredients—in most places you can order and have them delivered to your doorstep very easily.

Speaking of geeking out online, if you are interested in exploring the vast store of recipes that aren’t included in this book, www.cocktaildb.com is an outstanding resource, put together by some of the leaders in the field. David Wondrich’s drink tool at Esquire.com is also fun and easy to use.