Spirits and liqueurs you need – the 12 categories

What bottles and ingredients do you need to get started with your own cocktail collection at home?

This is a topic that often comes up in conversation with people who want to start steadily building their own cocktail collection. My suggestion is that you should probably start with 12. For me there are 12 categories of drink within my personal collection, and neatly they divide into 6 spirits and 6 liqueurs.

Spirits

If you already love cocktails these will probably be familiar to you. You probably need one each of these;

 

 

1. Whisky – start with either scotch or bourbon depending on your preference
2. Brandy – French 5 star brandy is a good place to start, and won’t break the bank
3. Rum – light rum such as Havana Club or Bacardi to start. Alternatively a golden rum
4. Tequila – Select one of the clear blanco tequilas but make sure it is 100% agave.
5. Gin – a clear unflavoured version is what you need to start
6. Vodka – again clear, unflavoured but don’t buy the cheapest one you can. See the article here explaining this.

All of your choices will be dependent on what you have to spend of course. But it’s great fun gradually building up your collection. It may also depend on the storage space you have too. However my collection outgrew my drinks cabinet many years ago!

Liqueurs

You also really need one each of these 6 liqueur categories too;

1. Spirit based – Drambuie, Southern Comfort, Tia Maria, Kahlua etc.
2. Cream based – Baileys, or any of a number of imitators
3. Herbal – Benedictine, Chartreuse, St. Germain, Lanique, Kings Ginger etc.
4. Fruit based – Cointreau, Grand Marnier, Amaretto, Midori etc.
5. Cocktail liqueurs – usually colourful and made specifically for cocktails. Creme de …
6. Vermouths – either white or red to start

Where do vermouths fit in?

Before you start getting all indignant, I know vermouths aren’t really liqueurs. They are fortified wines. But they are vital ingredients in so many great cocktails, so they need to be included.  Furthermore they are sticky like liqueurs are, so for me they fit neatly under the liqueurs banner. And also, it means we have 6 spirits and 6 liqueurs. I love the symmetry – so there!

To set up your own in-house cocktail collection, I recommend you choose a product from each of these 12 categories and along with your mixers, you will find you’re able to make many great cocktails. Sidecars, Manhattans, Tequila Sunrises among them. Happy mixing.

How much should you pay for your bottle of vodka or gin though? I’ll address that in a future post.