What spirits to stock at home, in the order to buy them

We counted every recipe in the Field Manual on 9 October 2026. A drink counts once every spirit, liqueur, vermouth and wine in it is on the shelf. Fresh citrus, syrups, Angostura and orange bitters, and mixers are assumed, since they are cheap and bought as needed.

Order matters as much as the list. Sweet vermouth on its own adds four drinks, but with Campari beside it the pair adds 17, the Negroni and the Boulevardier among them. A bottle that works only with one you do not own yet counts for little until you buy that one too.

Gin adds more drinks than any other bottle: the Tom Collins, the Gimlet, the Clover Club and the gin and tonic. A London dry gin with clear juniper suits nearly all of them.

Bourbon or rye adds the Whiskey Sour, the Old Fashioned, the Gold Rush and the Mint Julep. Bourbon is sweeter and rounder, rye drier and spicier. Buy whichever you would also drink neat.

White rum adds the Daiquiri, the Mojito, the Cuba Libre and the Piña Colada. Its job is lightness, so buy a clean, dry white rum rather than an aged or spiced one.

Vodka adds 15 drinks, most of them long: the Moscow Mule, the Cape Codder, the Vodka Collins and the Greyhound. Its job is to carry the mixer, so a mid-priced bottle does it as well as a dear one.

Tequila adds the Tommy’s Margarita, the Batanga and the Tequila Sunrise. Buy a blanco labelled 100% agave; a mixto can be up to 49% other sugars, and it tastes harsher.

Triple sec adds 10 drinks once vodka and tequila are on the shelf: the Margarita, the White Lady, the Cosmopolitan and the Long Island Iced Tea. Cointreau is the benchmark. A cheap triple sec is sweeter and thinner, and it shows most where the orange leads.

Dry vermouth makes the gin Martini. Sweet vermouth makes the Manhattan and the Bronx, and with Campari the Negroni, the Boulevardier and the Americano.

Vermouth is wine. We keep it in the fridge once opened and use it within about four weeks, and buy small bottles if you drink it slowly.

Six of our recipes are written for a spiced rum, among them The Old Standard, Storm & Spice and the Jerry Can Julep. That is the reason to give one a place on the shelf.

A spiced rum stands in for no other rum. A Daiquiri needs white rum, a Jungle Bird dark rum and a Rum Sour aged rum, and each of those has its own place on the list. What to mix with spiced rum covers the long drinks a spiced rum makes.

Cognac adds the Sidecar, the Horse’s Neck and Between the Sheets. A VS is enough for mixing.

Scotch adds the Rob Roy, the Hot Toddy and the Whiskey Highball. Mix with a blend, and keep single malts for drinking neat.

Dark rum adds the Jungle Bird and the Hurricane. Aged rum then adds the Rum Sour, the Navy Grog with the dark rum beside it, and, if the bottle is a Demerara, the Queen’s Park Swizzle. What is rum explains the styles.

Liqueurs come last, one recipe at a time: maraschino for the Aviation and the Last Word, coffee liqueur for the Espresso Martini. Buy one when you have two drinks to make with it.

Pay more for a spirit that leads the drink or that you also drink neat: the gin in a Martini, the bourbon in an Old Fashioned. Save on vodka for long drinks and white rum for a Mojito, where lime, sugar and mint lead.

Skip flavoured spirits, which make few drinks, and collector’s bottles you will be reluctant to open. In our experience cream liqueurs spoil once opened, so buy them for an occasion rather than to keep.

Store spirits upright, out of sunlight and away from radiators; in our experience base spirits keep for years once opened. Keep a list of what is open, so a third bottle of Angostura stays in the shop.