Every so often someone will ask for my advice on stocking a home bar with the “essentials.”

It sounds a bit dramatic, but stocking your home bar is personal. It really depends on the drinks you enjoy making. When I was starting out, I ended up buying several fairly expensive bottles because a book or a bartender told me I needed to have them. Several of those bottles are still kicking around in the back of my liquor cabinet collecting dust (anyone want a 3 year old bottle of St. Germain that’s like 2/3 full?)

My advice: figure out the drinks you enjoy or will most likely be making for others, then get the ingredients to make those drinks.

The usual response to that: “Yeah, yeah but I want to have a well-rounded home bar, where I can make almost anything someone asks for!” Okay, cool. Get ready to drop some cash.

Here are my personal recommendations for a “well-rounded” home bar.

If you went out and dropped a few grand on this entire list, you’d likely be able to make a pretty large and diverse list of cocktails. Keep in mind, I now have hundreds of different bottles at home and there are still cocktail recipes where I am missing one special ingredient– that’s just how it goes.

I tried to keep this list down to a minimum; suggesting products and brands that are generally widely available, affordable and versatile.

Base Spirits

I typically recommend having at least 2 different bottles per spirit category. This gives you options to experiment with, and will help give you a sense of how different products in the same category might lend themselves better to certain cocktails. Again, a lot of this is personal preference, so if there are brands or products you’re a fan of already, go with what you like!

Rye

Old Forester 100 Proof Rye
Rittenhouse Rye

Bourbon

Buffalo Trace Bourbon
Old Grand-dad 114

Gin

Plymouth Gin
Hendrick’s Gin

Scotch

Monkey Shoulder Blended Scotch
Laphroaig 10 year

Rum

Plantation 3 Star Rum
Smith & Cross Jamaican Pot Still Rum
Clément Rhum Blanc Agricole

Tequila / Mezcal

Pueblo Viejo Blanco Tequila
Siete Leguas Reposado Tequila
Banhez Espadin Mezcal

Other

Grey Goose Vodka
Krogstad Aquavit
Control C Pisco
Lucid Absinthe

Brandy & Cognac

Pierre Ferrand 1840 Formula
Camus VSOP
Laird’s Bonded Applejack

Bitters and Liqueurs

Bitters are your spices. You really only need the 3 essential ones, but there are a lot of really fun bitters available and it’s an easy way to change up a familiar cocktail. Liqueurs are a hard one to pair down to just “essentials” and every bartender will likely give you a different list. These should get you started though!

Extras that I use a lot:

Grapefruit
Molé bitters
Tiki bitters

Essentail Bitters

Angostura Aromatic Bitters
Regan’s Orange Bitters
Peychaud’s Bitters

Other liqueurs I use a lot:

Banana liqueur
Bénédictine
Creme de Cacao
Allspice dram
Ancho Reyes

Essentail Liqueurs

Campari

Aperol
Amaro Averna
Cointreau or Combier Orange
Green and Yellow Chartreuse

Fortified Wines

The world of fortified wines, like vermouth and sherry, is an exciting one. They are no longer viewed as “just a mixer,” but are starting to get the unique attention they deserve. There are so many great brands and options available, it’s hard to suggest specific products on this one. Lustau is pretty widely available and they produce amazing vermouth and sherry.

Although it’s fortified, it’s still wine. Once opened KEEP REFRIGERATED.

Sherry

Fino Sherry
Amontillado Sherry
Oloroso Sherry

Vermouth

At least one sweet (red) vermouth

At least one dry vermouth
Blanc vermouth

Syrups and Citrus

I think making home-made syrups is one of the most fun aspects of cocktail making. You can make almost anything into a syrup (I like using different spices and herbs, as well as teas). Here are the basics that I usually keep stocked. Keep in mind the syrups should be kept in the fridge and only last around 2-3 weeks (you can add a teaspoon of vodka to your syrups to help extend the shelf-life).

Then it’s always good to have some fresh citrus on hand. None of that bottled stuff!

Others I use a lot

Orgeat
Pineapple Gum
Honey syrup

Essential Syrups

Simple Syrup (1:1)
Demerara Syrup (2:1)
Agave syrup (1:1)

Essential Citrus

Lemons
Limes
Orange

Ice

Hey this is the important one! Ice is an essential ingredient in nearly every cocktail, so you better use good stuff (pretty much anything other than those foggy “half moons” that freezer ice machines spit out!)

I like having plenty of 1-inch cubes for shaking and stirring, then I make clear ice for serving (and photographing). For clear ice, check out this article in Whiskey Advocate that I contributed to– it will walk you through the process and the nerdy science of it.

If freezing and hand-cutting clear ice is too big of a hassle (I get it, it really is!) check out the ice molds from True Cubes and Wintersmiths for easier ice-making options.

What about bar tools?

We’ll dive into bar tools in another blog post. If you want to grab a few basics, I have everything linked in my Amazon shop, which you can view here.

That’s about it.

There are plenty more products and bottles you can add to your home bar, but hopefully this list gives you a strong place to start– even if you don’t buy everything on it. If you have any questions about home bar tips and cocktails, always feel free to hit me up on @highproofpreacher!