There are a billion things to try and you can easily end up with a $500+ cart full of alcohol that you’re not sure how to drink.
The best place to get started is with a few classics! You can make so much with your base liquor and a few mixers. These six cocktails only use 9 ingredients and can be mixed without a cocktail shaker. Just pour all of the ingredients in a cup with ice and serve.
Spirits: Vodka, gin, white rum, tequila
Mixers: Limes, sugar*, ginger beer, grapefruit juice, mint
* Use sugar to make your own simple syrup
Moscow mule — 2 oz vodka | 3 oz ginger beer | 1 oz lime juice
Gimlet—2½ oz gin | ½ oz lime juice | ½ oz simple syrup
Daiquiri—2 oz white rum | 1 oz lime juice | ¾ oz simple syrup
Mojito—2 oz white rum | 3 mint leaves | ¾ fresh lime juice | ½ oz simple syrup
Paloma—2 oz tequila | 1/2 oz lime juice | Top with grapefruit juice
Greyhound—1 oz gin | Top with grapefruit juice
For more variety, add 3 more simple ingredients and you can make 3 more cocktails.
Spirits: Bourbon, bitters
Mixers: Lemons
Whiskey Sour—2 oz bourbon | ¾ oz lemon juice | ½ oz simple syrup
Mint Julep—2 oz bourbon | 8 mint leaves | ¼ oz simple syrup
Old Fashioned—2 oz bourbon | 3 dashes bitters | ¼ oz cold water | 1 tsp sugar
That’s it! 12 ingredients to make 9 cocktails and have the least fussy yet fully stocked bar. Cheers!
This post was written for the Collected Eclectic blog.
Collected Eclectic was a passion project focused on recording the process as Grace and Michael van Meurer transformed their builder grade home in to something special.
124 blog posts were published between 2018 and 2021. Explore the complete Collected Eclectic archive here.
Learn more about the project here.