Because without booze, youâre just a schmuck with a cocktail shaker
By Jacey Gibb, Distribution Manager
Weâve talked about the essential gear for setting up your home bar, but what about the actual liquor? The part you get to mix and match to create a tasty beverage?
Itâs difficult to say which liquors you should or shouldnât keep on hand because your tastes are invariably different from my own. That being said, most of the alcohols mentioned below are versatile and work as a base for multiple cocktailsâso even if you donât like the flavour straight-up, they can still come in handy.
Another thing worth mentioning up front is how important the quality of liquor is. Letâs move past the Smirnoff and Bacardi nonsense of your early drinking days, because most of these translate into terrible cocktails. In most cocktail recipes the alcohol is the main ingredient and flavour, so youâll want to make sure itâs something worth tasting. Take an Old Fashioned for example. Its ingredients are bourbon, simple syrup, bitters, a bit of orange, and a chunk of ice to slowly dilute the drink. If youâre using a subpar bourbon, the bulk of the cocktail will taste subpar. Splurge the extra couple of bucks for the higher quality liquors, and youâll taste the difference come cocktail time.
The first liquor every home bar needs is a decent vodka. Skip the Smirnoff, Absolut, Polar Ice, and any other trashy vodka that brings back memories from high school, but also steer clear of the more high-end ones like Crystal Skull, which will set you back about $60 a bottle. Ketel One is my go-to, which tastes great and has a middle-ground price. When looking for a good vodka, the only rule to follow is it should be odorless and tastelessâlike water. Anything that tastes like perfume or paint thinner is not going to do your drink justice.
Rum is another liquor youâll want to keep on hand, and it comes in two main varieties. Most cocktails call for white rum, which has a more subtle flavour; other cocktails, like a Dark ânâ Stormy or a Hurricane, call for dark rum. The latter type gets its darker colour from an extended aging process. If moneyâs tight, just go with a white rum for now since itâs used in more recipes.
Gin is also an alcohol youâve likely dabbled with in the past, but it transfers well into cocktails. Most of the higher-end gins will boast about subtle tasting notesâall of which usually get drowned out by other ingredients in a cocktail. The juniper in gin will often overpower any and all other flavours added, unless you have a very well-trained palette. Bombay Sapphire and Beefeater will serve you well here, and both are on the cheaper side too.
The last liquor I suggest always having on hand is bourbon. Itâs the liquor I use most often, and it goes in so many different cocktails. Now, there are also some situations where you can get away with using a cheaper, lower-quality bourbon: If the cocktail calls for lots of citrus or other ingredients (like in a Bourbon Sour) then feel free to use stuff like Jim Beam; if bourbon is the main component (like the aforementioned Old Fashioned) then punch up and use something like Wild Turkey.
Remember to use this list as a jumping-off point only and not as gospel. If youâre staunchly opposed to drinking rum, then donât go out and invest in two bottles of something youâre not going to enjoy. Similarly, a lot of guides online recommend keeping brandy and tequila on hand, but I find these two liquors are a lot less versatile, so they go unusedâplus, theyâre more expensive.
Stick with the basics, see which cocktails and flavours you start gravitating towards, and go from there.
