The Spirits, Modifiers, Syrups and Juices you need to buy for making cocktails.
With home cocktail making the socially responsible thing to do right now it's time to get your home bar sorted. Here I take you through three categories of bar ingredients you probably want on hand if you're serious about making decent cocktails at home.
First up are the Spirits - 1:25 - My 6 go-to bottles to have on your Speed Rail
Vodka * Belvedere or Archie Rose
Gin * Plymouth or Never Never
Tequila * Arette
Rum * Diplomatico Mantuano - Plantation 3 Star - Pusser's
American Whiskey * Knob Creek or The Gospel Rye
Blended Whisky * Dewars 12yo, Starward Two Fold or Johnnie Walker Black
Next are the Modifiers - 6:28 - Those little wonders which add flavour and depth.
Bitters * Angostura and Orange Bitters
Amari * Amaro Montenegro
Campari or Aperol
Triple Sec or Curacao * Cointreau or Marionette
Vermouth * Lillet Blanc as a mid way point but you really want a sweet and a dry
Sherry * Tio Pepe, Lustau or Gonzales Byass
And finally, Syrups, Juices, etc - 13:36 - The inexpensive or make at home additives used to sweeten and liven up your drinks, (full recipes below or at )
Sugar Syrup
Grenadine
Honey Water
Ginger Syrup
Passionfruit
Pineapple Juice
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Syrups:
Sugar Syrup
Sugar syrup is a necessity for a home bar. It’s literally just one part sugar to one part water, and mix it over a low heat until it is combined. It’s fun to play around with different sugars, for instance using cane or Demerara sugar which add a deeper flavour when used alongside dark spirits.
Grenadine
This is the most commonly called for syrup in classic cocktail recipes (like one of my favourites, the Scofflaw! - • The cocktail that gave... ). It is a pomegranate syrup, and the juicy fruitiness combined with high acid makes it way easier to balance with almost any spirit than most other syrups. You can buy it (and if you do, please make sure it is a good quality one, for instance Crawley’s, and not a day-glo red cordial!) but it’s also really easy to make. Just add 1 part pomegranate juice to 1 part sugar and simmer for 10-15 minutes until it is a loose syrupy consistency. For added depth of flavour, add some orange blossom water (or orange bitters) and pomegranate molasses, but these are not necessary.
Honey Water
Honey is nature’s own sweetener, so it makes sense that it is delicious as a sugar replacement in cocktails! One of my favourites to make at home is a Bees Knees, which is basically just a gin sour with honey, but feels fancier and you almost always have honey in the cupboard! It can be a little difficult to handle though, so I usually sit my honey in a water bath until it loosens up, then mix 1 part honey with 1 part water. This makes it much easier to pour and control measurements.
Ginger Syrup
Honey and ginger go hand in hand, and form the basis for (probably) the most famous modern classic, The Penicillin - • How to make The Penici... . However, it’s quite fun to have them both separately and then combine them when needed, and that way you can use them independently as well. The easiest way to make ginger syrup is to slice up a root of ginger and simmer it in sugar syrup for about 15 minutes, and leave the ginger in there as it cools. Obviously the more ginger you use and the longer you leave it in, the spicier it gets- I like to leave it in overnight for a real kick! This works really well to liven up tiki rum drinks. You can then just be mixed 1:1 with your honey water for a honey and ginger syrup. Alternatively, if you’re not too bothered about having separate syrups then just simmer the ginger directly in the honey water.
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