The Essential Bar

The liquors, mixers, glasses, and gadgets for your bar. A nine-bottle bar should meet all your cocktail needs — and give you the ingredients to make hundreds of additional recipes. Add wine and beer and you’re in business.

Liquor
Bourbon
Cointreau or Triple Sec
Gin
Rum (light)
Scotch (blended)
Tequila (white)
Vermouth (dry)

Vermouth (sweet)
Vodka


Mixers
Cola, ginger ale, club soda, sparkling water, tonic water
Lemons
Limes
Cranberry juice
Orange juice
Angostura bitters

Simple Syrup
Heat 1 part sugar and 1 part water in a saucepan. Simmer until the sugar dissolves. Simple syrup keeps at room temperature for a couple of weeks; eventually it will crystallize. In a pinch, superfine sugar can be substituted.

Garnishes
Green olives (pitted)
Lemons
Limes
Kosher salt
Maraschino cherries

Gadgets
Long cocktail spoon
Paring knife
Peeler
Cutting board
Corkscrew
Bottle opener
Juice squeezer
Standard shaker
Jigger
Bartending handbook
Cocktail napkins
Cocktail toothpicks

A jigger usually has a 1-ounce measure on one side, and 1 1/2 ounces on the other. Most recipes call for 1 1/2 ounces of alcohol (a jigger, or a shot), but some call for 1 ounce (a pony). If you don’t have a jigger, 3 tablespoons are about equal to 1 1/2 ounces.

Glasses
Martini glasses
Highball glasses
All-purpose wineglasses

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