Cocktail essentials

Setting up your cocktail bar requires some cocktail know how and the basic ingredients.

Mixers

You'll need: cola, ginger ale, Indian tonic water, soda and mineral water, fruit juices such as tomato and orange. A bottle of angostura bitters is a good investment and one bottle will last through many cocktail evenings. Angostura Bitters is based on rum with an infusion of gentian (a flowering Alpine plant) root and herbs and is named after a town in Venezuela but nowadays is made mainly in Trinidad. Angostura is the most widely used of the bitters and is used in a variety of cocktails including an Americano (Angostura Bitters, Campari, sweet red vermouth and soda) and a Pink Gin (Angostura Bitters and gin).

Spirits

Brandy, cognac, gin, Pimms, rum, schnapps, tequila, vodka and whisky are the basis of many cocktail recipes. In addition you might like to stock up with liqueurs.

Top tips for top tipples

• For a stress-free drinks party, always prepare well, Assemble your bottles, have all your dry ingredients to hand, pre-cut your fruit, and ensure you have enough clean glassware.
• If you are catering for large crowds, try to prepare in bulk. Multiply the ingredients by the number of people you are expecting. The exceptions are drinks containing dairy products, which must be mixed just before serving.
• Mix the ingredients of punches or mulled wine several hours beforehand. This allows the herbs, spices or fruit to marinade and impart extra flavour.
• Remember that no recipe is written in stone. If you think a hot toddy tastes better using bourbon, rather than ordinary whisky, use it - it's your party. However, ideally a cocktail 'shot' is a 25ml measure.
• You can create cocktails at home using basic kitchen tools, although specialised cocktail equipment is widely available. The only special piece of apparatus you need is a shaker: either a Boston (consisting of glass and steel cups which wedge together) or a three-piece (a steel base with a cap and an inbuilt strainer.)
• Go to town with garnishes. Follow the basic rule that the garnish should reflect something that's in the drink and then be as creative as you like.
• Sugar syrup can be made very simply. Make your own sugar syrup: gradually pour and stir 2 cups of granulated sugar into a saucepan containing 1 cup hot water and simmer until the sugar has dissolved. Cool, then pour into a clean empty bottle and seal. If kept in the fridge, this mixture will last for a couple of months.
• When a specific brand of spirit is called for in a recipe, use it - it's probably been chosen for its unique qualities. If the generic spirit is listed, it doesn't matter which brand you use, but the better the quality, the better the result.
• Remember to have plenty of ice - You can buy bags of ready-made ice cubes from your local Waitrose.
• Where the recipe tells you to 'shake with ice and strain', place all the ingredients with cubes of ice in a cocktail shaker (fill with two thirds ice) and shake briskly for 20 seconds. Leave the ice behind as you strain the liquid into your glass over fresh ice. If you don't have a shaker, improvise with a large lidded jar and a strainer - it just won't look as glamorous!