Home bar basics: kit, measures, syrups and bottles

You don't need a professional bar to make excellent drinks. A few good tools, fresh citrus and a small set of bottles will cover most classic cocktails.

The essential kit

• A cocktail shaker (a cobbler is easiest to start with; a Boston shaker is what most bartenders use).
• A jigger with ml markings.
• A Hawthorne strainer and a fine strainer.
• A bar spoon and a mixing glass for stirred drinks.
• A muddler and a citrus press.
• A Y-peeler for twists.

For glasses, see our glassware guide.

Measures

Our recipes are in millilitres; switch any recipe to ounces with the ml / oz button. In UK pubs and bars, gin, rum, vodka and whisky must be sold by the glass in measures of 25 ml or 35 ml (or multiples of them), and not both on the same premises (GOV.UK). The NHS counts a 25 ml single measure of a 40% spirit as 1 unit, and a 35 ml measure as 1.4 units.

Sugar syrup

Many recipes call for sugar syrup (also called simple syrup).

• 1:1 syrup: dissolve 200 g of white sugar in 200 ml of hot water, stirring until clear. Cool, bottle and keep in the fridge.
• Rich (2:1) syrup: 400 g of sugar to 200 ml of water. It's sweeter, so use a little less.

Honey syrup

Honey is too thick to mix easily with cold ingredients. Stir equal parts honey and warm water together until smooth. It's used in the Bee's Knees and Penicillin.

Other syrups

• Grenadine is a non-alcoholic red syrup, traditionally made from pomegranate.
• Orgeat is an almond syrup, essential in the Mai Tai.
• Falernum is a Caribbean syrup or syrup liqueur with ginger, lime and almond flavours.

Fresh citrus

Squeeze lemons and limes on the day: fresh juice is brighter than bottled.

A starter set of bottles

These cover a lot of the drinks on this site:

• Gin: Negroni, Dry Martini, Gin Fizz, Bramble.
• White rum: Daiquiri, Mojito, Cuba Libre.
• Bourbon or rye whiskey: Old Fashioned, Manhattan, Whiskey Sour.
• Vodka: Moscow Mule, Cosmopolitan.
• Tequila (100% agave): Margarita, Paloma.
• Sweet red vermouth and dry vermouth.
• Triple sec, Campari and Angostura bitters.

Vermouth is a fortified wine, so treat an opened bottle like wine: close it, keep it in the fridge and use it within a few weeks.

Not sure what your bottles can make? Try What can I make?