Now that drinking at home is not only a lot of fun but also the socially responsible thing to do
it's probably time to make sure your home bar is up to scratch.
We've seen a huge upsurge in people interested in making cocktails at home
and lots of people are asking what are the best spirits to buy. Well let's take a look.
The most important thing to remember is that it is your home bar,
there's no point filling it with things you don't like just because they're cool
or because someone tells you to. So this is just a guideline to help you build on
according to your own tastes. I'm going to take you through building your home speed rail.
That is, some go to spirits that are great neat and for spirit mixers
and also in cocktails. And also which flavour modifiers to invest in
to allow you to make a huge range of delicious drinks at home.
Plus I've thrown in a few hints tips and easy to make home ingredients that will really elevate
your home mixing game. I've suggested widely available products
with a few local heroes thrown in for my Melburnian friends, but if you have a
local bottle shop and you can support them, then please do and they'll have
lots of great suggestions about products local to your area. If you find any gems
let me know in the comments, it's always great to hear about new things.
If you'd like to know what tools and equipment you should invest in then here's a video about that,
but for now let's get into the good stuff.
I'm not a purist when it comes to spirits, if you want to use your fancy single malt in a cocktail then
absolutely do it and now is definitely the time for small luxuries. In my house
we had an Australian single malt Bobby Burns the other week
and it was delicious. But you also definitely don't have to
break the bank to stock your home bar. So here's my pick for six versatile bottles
to have in your speed rail. By the way if you are new to this channel thank you
for watching, we've got heaps of content for anyone who shares my love of all
things bar and booze so why not hit that subscribe button and the little bell and
you'll be notified whenever a new episode comes out.
Starting with vodka. It's a very clean spirit, it's usually used as a crisp base
just to carry other flavors but vodka and gin being quite light white spirits
are actually quite interchangeable and bright citrusy drinks. So I would go for
a vodka with a good amount of texture, so something like Belvedere because it is
made from rye it has a really nice spice and will stand up just as well in most
recipes which call for gin and that opens up a plethora of other options for you.
If you need any ideas then take a look at my five great
gin cocktails video. Locally I do really love Archie Rose vodka because it has
a nice creaminess and almost a little bit of a mint and apple aftertaste,
which does make it an awesome substitute in the Eastside.
Gin is a tricky one for a list like this
because there's such a wide range of styles available now
my go-to because it works well in both boozy stirred down drinks
and bright citrusy ones is Plymouth. So it's very similar to a classic London dry-style
so that juniper and citrus are the main notes rather than all the wild and
wonderful botanicals you can find in New Wave gins, which don't get me wrong are
absolutely awesome but don't always suit every drink. This one doesn't jar
in anything but it is a little less dry and a little bit softer making it just a bit
more easygoing and it's not going to stick out like a sore thumb anywhere.
In Australia I like to reach for Never-Never for classic cocktails as it
has the beautiful Juniper backbone that you're looking for.
Now I've said it before and I'll say it again, good tequila does cost money.
If it's not something you're able to invest in then that's totally fine but in that case
probably just leave it out. Margaritas are amazing but definitely not worth the
headache of using low quality tequila and the Mexican agave growers will thank you too.
You definitely want to look at something that's 100% agave and Blanco tequilas
are generally the most easily used in cocktails
as they're clean and fresh. Obviously if you love tequila then feel free
to look at some Reposados and Añejos for sipping.
I find it hard to go past Arette, it's gorgeous to sip by itself but also
brings really fruity and herbaceous notes to mixed drinks as well.
Again rum covers such a broad spectrum of styles
that it can be hard to narrow down. If you can only have one rum something like
Diplomatico Mantuano all is great. So it's a blend of column distilled
and pot distilled spirits, so sort of some lighter and some heavier, so it makes it
nice and medium bodied. It's heavy enough to stand up in tiki drinks like a Mai Tai
or Pina Colada, but it's also not gonna completely smash in and overpower
something lighter and fresher like a Daiquiri or a Mojito.
That said if you are a rum head then it's probably worth dropping one of the
other spirits or just treating yourself and getting one light and one dark rum
for versatility. For a white rum I really like Plantation 3 Star because it's
really big and flavorful and I love Pussers for a dark rum because it's just
a big whack of funk and smoke.
Now this could be controversial but my suggestion
for American whiskey would be to go for a rye over a bourbon because it's such a different
flavor profile to the blended Scotch I'm about to suggest. Most American whiskey
cocktails to be honest or not super subtle so you're looking for a big punch
of flavor so Knob Creek rye is perfect as it has a higher alcohol content
to carry through that spice but not a massively high rye content so it's
still quite smooth. Otherwise The Gospel Rye is a bangin' Melbourne local
which I generally turn to at home it is a little bit drier, excellent in a Manhattan.
Blended Scotches are generally the way to go for cocktails as they're much
easier on the pocket and more easily mixed than single malts, which always
want to be the star of the show. Dewar's 12 year old is sweet and sherried
so works really well for that smooth and rich flavor you're looking
for in most Scotch cocktails and as I say it can also plug the gap for bourbon
in a pinch. Starward Two Fold is also a great go-to for any Australians wanting
to support local and it is actually available in some places in the states now too.
It's a lighter and brighter style which goes really well in a whiskey sour
otherwise if you do prefer a bit of smoke in your whisky cocktails then it's
hard to go past Johnnie Walker Black Label
for the price point.
Now that you have your speed rail sorted it's time to work out
what you're gonna mix your spirits with. These secondary ingredients are known as
modifiers and can be combined with your base spirits and hundreds of different ways
the sky is actually the limit. Again skew it towards your own palate,
if you hate bitter things but love berries then skip the Campari and treat yourself
to a good quality Crème de mure or Framboise, so like a blackberry
or a raspberry liqueur but, with these six bottles or maybe seven you should
be able to build a well-rounded and sophisticated home cocktail list.
So bitters are really the bartender's secret weapon to elevate drinks
to another level. Think of them as salt, so without them drinks can be perfectly fine
but with them they really sing you can have so much fun with bitters
nowadays and since you only use a couple of drops in each drink but they can
transform flavors they're a really good investment, much cheaper than buying a
hundred different spirits. But Angostura is the classic here and for good reason
it's unique formula adds amazing depth and complexity and it goes really well
in almost anything so from old fashions through to tiki drinks and sours it only
really falls down in very delicate drinks such as a martini, as it does
overpower them. So if you can stretch to another bottle
then I would recommend orange bitters for some delicate floral notes.
And I actually often combine both Angostura and orange bitters for the best of both worlds.
Amari are a category of bitter herbal aperitifs
that you may not realize that you need but you do. They create balance
and interest in all sorts of cocktails. I find that Amaro Montenegro where as
well in almost every recipe which calls for an Amaro, so for example it can
easily be substituted for a Amaro Nino in a Paper Plane or Amer Picon
and a Brooklyn it obviously won't taste the exact same but it can achieve the
same balance. It's also a delicious digestif just on the rocks
with a wedge of orange or in a spritz.
Although technically also an Amaro
Campari is easily the most famous member of this family and it deserves its own
place on your bar as it has such a unique flavor. It's irreplaceable in the
entire Negroni genre so things like a Boulevardier or Rosita it can also be
used in surprising and fun ways like in the tiki sour Jungle Bird where it's
shaken up with rum lime and pineapple juice. That said Campari can be a
little bit love it or hate it is it's pretty astringent whereas Aperol has
similar bitter orange flavors while being a little softer and sweeter,
so if that sounds more your style and substitute that in.
And of course nothing says summer like a Campari or Aperol spritz in the garden!
Now one of the most commonly used modifiers in classic cocktails is triple sec or Curacao
they are both orange liqueurs and there's no legal difference between them
it's more of a question of style and history so they can easily be interchanged.
Regular viewers will know that I'm a little obsessed with Marionette Curacao
which is made here in Melbourne because it's so zesty and fresh,
but Cointreau is an excellent widely available option. Just pay attention to the sweetness of
your chosen orange liqueur, for instance when I'm using Marionette
I often have to use a little more than the classic recipe or add a little sugar
as it's less sweet although that is why I like, it I kind of like a dry finish.
One fun tip though is that you can substitute apricot brandy and basically
any recipe that calls for Curacao and voila an equally delicious but
completely different drink. So I love the Toreador, which is a margarita but with
the Curacao swapped for apricot brandy it turns out that tequila plays just
as well with stone fruit as it does with citrus.
Vermouth is where the maybe seven bottles come in.
Honestly if you want to be able to craft a really wide range of
classic cocktails you need to both a sweet and a dry vermouth, it can't really
be interchanged for each other. That said you can take a middle road
and that middle road is called a Bianco or a Blanco or Blanc vermouth
depending what country they come from. Some of them are technically not
a vermouth, like Lillet Blanc, but they are in the same wider category of aromatized
and fortified wines. Have a look at my video all about them for a deeper dive
on the subject. But these wonderful things are delicate enough not to
overpower white spirits and martinis but they also have enough weight in spice to
stand up to darker spirits in Manhattanesque numbers. They can also be used in shaken drinks
like the Corpse Reviver number two or the Scofflaw. So it is a white vermouth
but it has a higher sugar content and is a little less delicate
and spicier than dry vermouth. So it also means that once opened it lasts a little
bit longer. On the bar I would obviously never do this but honestly I've had the
same bottle in the fridge for a months without it completely falling over at home.
Obviously if you are sticking with sweet and dry and using them in
cocktails rather than sipping on the rocks then the standard big names like
Cinzano and Martinis serve really well they are after all what most
classic cocktails would originally have been made with and they do come in
little half bottles if you're worried about not getting through them quickly enough.
Remember that vermouths are still wine
so they do need to be kept in the fridge once you've opened them to stop them
going all yucky and raisiny.
Look it may not be the most conventional home bar essential
but hopefully if you've made it this far then you'll trust me with this one.
I could keep going on about naming different liqueurs and so on but
they all kind of do the same thing. Sherry is not a replacement for anything else
on this list instead it adds another dimension to flavor combinations
we already have. So you can jazz up a martini with a sherry rinse or add a dash
in your Manhattan for some dryness and complexity and to clarify I am talking
about dry sherry here not like sticky sweet PX. If you tend to drink lighter spirits
I would go for a Fino Sherry which is Gin's best friend and if you
prefer darker spirits and an Amontillado is great and it goes really well with
rum and whiskey. For use in cocktails something cheap and cheerful like Tio Pepe
works really well they do both Fino and Amontillado. It won't get lost.
Also Gonzales Byass or Lustau are good options as well.
So there you have it, 12 ish bottles to use as building blocks for your home bartending career
and once you start thinking of them as building blocks it's really easy to play around.
So for instance you could start with a Gin Sour, so you've got gin, lemon,
and sugar, so your base spirit, your sour and your sweet. Then you could progress
to a White Lady which is gin, lemon Curacao and egg white. So you're just
changing out the sweetener from sugar to orange liqueur and then next maybe try a
Pegu Club, so that's gin, Curacao, lime and bitters.
So you're changing up the sour element and adding bitters for extra depth and
then next in your journey could be a London Calling,
So gin, lemon, sugar, bitters and dry sherry. Practically the same as
a zingy gin sour but with an added dimension of interest from the Sherry.
So you can see they're all in the same wheelhouse but definitely unique.
That's enough to get you started but stick around if you'd like to know some easy
tips and tricks to expand your repertoire even further.
Now I can completely understand at this point you're not wanting to spend any more
money on your bar but still wanting to introduce other flavours, so enter syrups and juices.
Some can be bought for a fraction of the price of spirits or
liqueurs and some are really simple to make at home, for these ones I will add
the recipes below and on my shiny new website if you want to check that out.
So sugar syrup is a necessity for a home bar. You can buy it, Monin's is always a
good option for bought syrups but it's literally just one part sugar to one
part water and mix it over a low heat until it's combined. It's fun to play
around with different sugars as well so for instance using cane sugar or a
Demerara sugar which is a much darker sugar and therefore has a much deeper
flavor to use alongside dark spirits.
Now the most commonly called for syrup
in classic cocktail recipes like in one of my favorites, the Scofflaw,
is grenadine. It's a pomegranate syrup and the juicy fruitiness combined with a
high acid make it way easier to balance with almost any spirit than most other syrups.
You can buy it and if you do please make
sure it's a good quality one so something like this little crafty
Jack Rudy number or Crawley's is a more readily available one and not a Day-Glo
red cordial, but it's also really easy to make so you just need to add one part
pomegranate juice to one part sugar and simmer for about 10 to 15 minutes until
it's a loose syrupy consistency for added depth of flavor go a little bit
middle-eastern and some orange blossom water and pomegranate molasses are
really awesome in there but they're definitely not necessary.
Honey is nature's own sweetener as they say so it does make sense that it's delicious as a
sugar replacement and cocktails. One of my favorites to make at home is a
Bees Knees, which is basically just a Gin Sour with honey, but it feels a little bit
fancier and you almost always have honey in the cupboard. It can be a little bit
difficult to handle though. I usually sit my honey in a warm water bath until it
loosens up a little bit and then mix it one part honey with one part hot water
and this just makes it way easier to pour in control measurement so you have
something this kind of consistency rather than a natural jar of honey.
Now honey and ginger go hand in hand and they form the basis for probably the
most famous modern classic the Penicillin, however it's quite fun to
have them both separately and then combine them when needed and that way
you can use them independently as well. So, the easiest way to make ginger syrup
is to slice up a root of ginger and simmer it in sugar syrup for about 15 minutes
and then leave the ginger in there as it cools. The more ginger that
you use and the longer that you leave it the spicier it gets. I like to leave it
in overnight for a real kick, and this works really well to liven up Tiki rum drinks,
you can then just mix it one to one with your honey water for a honey
and ginger syrup. Alternatively, if you're not too bothered about having separate
syrups then just simmer the ginger directly in the honey water.
Now passionfruit, similarly to pomegranate has such great acids that is
almost always a welcome addition to cocktails. In fact my friend who judges
a lot of cocktail competitions that say that he doesn't think it should be allowed
anymore because it just automatically makes everything delicious.
The great thing about it is you don't have to do anything with it you can just
stick it straight in the shaker. You can obviously use fresh but you can also get
tin passion fruit at most supermarkets regardless of the season and then you
can just have it in your cupboard for whenever you need a little tropical pop
in your life, even if it's just mixed in your G&T.
I always say that rules are
made to be broken and I have to say that an anomaly to the fresh is best rule is
pineapple juice. I actually find that most recipes which call for don't really
need the sweetness from long-life pineapple juice. It's also a natural
foaming agent so something like a French martini doesn't get it's frothy head
from egg white but actually from shaken pineapple juice. It's also used in a
thousand tiki drinks and it's much cheaper than a flight to the Caribbean.
There you have it. Everything you need to take your home bar
to the next level.
So now you know!