Whisky
Old Fashioned: use 2 oz Canadian Club, a bar spoon of simple syrup and two dashes of bitters. Stir over a large cube and express an orange peel over the top.
Whisky Sour: use 2 oz J.P. Wiser's Deluxe, 1 oz lemon juice and 3/4 oz simple syrup. Shake hard with ice. Egg white is optional and does more for the texture than the flavour.
Vodka and gin
Moscow Mule: use 2 oz Absolut Vodka, 1/2 oz lime juice and spicy ginger beer over ice. Absolut is the BottlesNow pick here because its clean wheat profile stays out of the ginger's way.
Gin and Tonic: use 2 oz Bombay Original Dry Gin, good tonic and a wedge of lime or grapefruit. Fill the glass with ice — more ice means slower melt and a colder drink, not a weaker one.
Tequila and rum
Margarita: use 2 oz 1800 Blanco, 1 oz lime juice and 3/4 oz orange liqueur. Shake and salt half the rim so people can choose. Fresh lime is the whole drink; bottled sour mix is not the same thing.
Daiquiri: use 2 oz Bacardi Superior, 1 oz lime juice and 3/4 oz simple syrup. Shaken and served up, it is one of the best drinks there is and takes ninety seconds.
The three things that make them better
Fresh citrus, proper ice, and measuring. Bottled juice tastes flat, small ice waters the drink down, and eyeballing a pour is the reason a homemade cocktail rarely matches a bar's.
Simple syrup is equal parts sugar and hot water, shaken in a jar. It keeps a month in the fridge and removes the last excuse.
Common questions
What spirit should I buy first for a home bar?
Vodka or a rye-forward whisky. Between them they cover the widest range of easy drinks.
Do I need special bar tools?
A jigger and something to shake in. Everything else is optional.
Is bottled lime juice fine?
It works but tastes flat. Fresh citrus is the biggest single upgrade to any homemade cocktail.
