I've been asked a lot about how to start making drinks at home. What bottles should I buy first? Do I need Midori? What strainer do I need? Where should I buy a tiki mug?
Making drinks is a lot like any craft. If you're good, you can make good things seemingly out of nothing. What matters most is technique and devotion. Good drinks are made by people who want to make good drinks, often, and often for other people.
So if you're just getting into making cocktails and mixed drinks, don't bother buying a bunch of stuff - just buy what you need. Focus first on the consumable spirits. If it turns out you don't like making cocktails you can drown your failure in two fingers of whatever you bought. Below, I've made two analyses. The first presents the 50 most common ingredients, pulled from the recipes presented on Tipply. The second is a calculation of how many more drinks you can make if you had one more ingredient.
These two pieces of information are incredibly useful in building out your bar. Space for your bar is probably finite, so you need to efficiently use that space. Don't waste it with bottles that just sit there, unless there's some sentimental value. I have a variety of bottles I've picked up from years of travelling, some from airports, others from Tajik, Congolese, and Swiss liquor stores, other others from friends who wanted to bring me a gift of local rot gut. These are just waiting for the right drink or occasion. But my bottle of Southern Comfort? I don't know why I have it - I think some book in 2005 suggested I buy it. Or my bottle of Tuaca. Maybe I saw some Spanish coffee recipe in 2008 that called for it so I bought 750ml, used 3.5 ounces. I decided I didn't even like that recipe and then learned that no one drinks Tuaca outside of high school or early college?
In addition to space, budget is a limiting factor.
My point is: build out your bar thoughtfully. Buy what is useful and what you like to drink. While using Tipply, we try to guide you to what is more useful. When toggling on ingredients you can quickly see what is most common in recipes and you can easily purchase it.
So if I really had to tell you what bottles to buy for a new home bar, they would be these:
These 12 bottles will set you back $400. Add in lemons, limes, sugar, water, and other ingredients you probably have in your kitchen, you can content yourself most evenings with over 28 recipes. From this you list you can make a Daiquiri, Grog, Mint Julep, Old Fashioned, Tom Collins, and one of my favorites, the Sazerac. 12 bottles, and you can dabble in a variety of drink categories, including classic, tiki, tropical, and your simple highballs.
$400 isn't chump change. If you want to build more slowly, buy the first 6 bottles for $150, and go from there. Just don't forget the citrus and sugar. You can buy simple syrup, but it's easy and fun to make at home. Cheaper too. With half the bottles, you can make about a dozen different drinks. The more bottles you add, or juices and sweeteners, the more diverse recipe options you'll have.
With all this said, you can also take this approach: buy the ingredients for whatever cocktail you really like to drink. If you really like White Russians, then you should procure yourself some Vodka, Kahlua, and Half & Half.