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The Spruce Eats

Cocktail-Making Basics

Get started making your own cocktails with the basic tips and tricks every home mixologist should master.
The Recipe Finder

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Paper Plane cocktail
The 6 Best Equal Parts Cocktails
Four pink cosmopolitans in tall cocktail glasses, each with an orange twist
How to Batch Any Cocktail for a Party
Johnnie Walker Scotch Whisky
What Is Johnnie Walker Blended Scotch Whisky?
Homemade Chocolate Bitters
Chocolate Bitters Recipe
10 mins
Lemon Infused Vodka in martini glasses and in a jar
Lemon Infused Vodka Recipe
10 mins
Apple Pie Old Fashioned
Apple Pie Old Fashioned
5 mins
Rum Swizzle Cocktail
Rum Swizzle Cocktail
5 mins
Two bloody marys on a dark background
The Best Bloody Mary
3 mins
Lavender-Rosemary Infused Vodka in a bottle
30 Homemade Mixers for a DIY Home Bar
Homemade Sweet Vermouth - Placeholder Image
Homemade Sweet Vermouth Recipe
20 mins
Keto Sugar-Free Simple Syrup for Drinks
Keto Simple Syrup
15 mins
Homemade Tonic Syrup Without Cinchona
Quinine-Free Tonic Syrup
60 mins
Barrels of the iconic Jameson Irish Whiskey.
What Is Jameson Irish Whiskey?
Jamaican Rum Punch
Jamaican Rum Punch
3 mins
Cool Down Your Next Party Punch With a Fruity Ice Ring
How to Make Ice Molds For Punch Bowls
Cranberry Ginger Shandy With Ginger Sugar Rim
Cranberry Ginger Shandy
3 mins
Equipment and ingredients for Infusing spirits
13 Easy Infused Vodka Cocktails
Virgin Mary mocktail
17 Amazing Dishes and Drinks to Help Cure That Hangover
Two Bacardi Cocktails in martini glasses
23 Essential Rum Cocktails You Have to Taste
A well stocked bar cart with bar tools, liquor, and a sparkling cocktail garnished with a lemon peel
Bartending 101: Essential Techniques, Tips, and Tricks
Vodka Martini recipe, martini with lemon peel
15 Essential Vodka Cocktails
Classic gin martini
11 Essential Gin Cocktails You Must Try
Close-up of young female bartender serving cocktails in cocktail bar
7 Happy Hour Favorites With a Twist
Vodka tonic recipe with lime wedges
Vodka Tonic
3 mins
Classic gin martini garnished with lemon twists
The Classic Gin Martini
3 mins
Negroni cocktail recipe with an orange twist
The Negroni Cocktail
3 mins
Illustration depicting number of shots per bottle
How to Stock Your Home Bar for a Party
Illustration of fruit pairings for cocktail recipes: banana, strawberry, lemon, pomegranate, orange, and apple
Fruit Flavor Pairing in Drinks
Gomme simple syrup in a glass bottle
How to Make Your Own Gomme Syrup
16 mins
Fuzzy Navel cocktail recipe in glasses garnished with oranges
Fuzzy Navel
3 mins
Grasshopper cocktail
Grasshopper Cocktail
3 mins
Cocktails and Food
How to Pair Cocktails and Food
Classic highball cocktail in a glass with ice
Whiskey Highball
3 mins
Tequila Shots
Tequila Shot Recipe
3 mins
Blushing Bride cocktail
Blushing Bride Sparkling Champagne Cocktail
3 mins
Barman building cocktails in the bar
How to Build Mixed Drinks in the Glass
Italian Coffee with Strega Liqueur
10 Tasty Homemade Liqueur Recipes You Need to Try
illustration showing freezing temperatures of various types of alcohol
What Is the Freezing Point of Alcohol?
Angostura Bitters being poured into cocktail against white background
6 Essential Cocktail Bitter Brands for Your Bar
Controlling the cost of liquor poured is important for a successful bar
How Much Does It Cost to Make a Cocktail?
Well Drink vs. Call Drink
What Is the Difference between a Well and a Call Drink?
Mimosa Cocktail
How to Make Mimosas
3 mins
How to Host a Cocktail Party
Two Campari and soda cocktails in highball glasses garnished with orange
Campari and Soda
5 mins
Various Styles of Cocktail Shaker Strainers
How to Strain Cocktails
cocktails on a bar
What Is a Cocktail?
Cocktail in the Garden
The Bartender's Garden
Classic piso sour recipe
Tips and Recipes for Using Eggs in Cocktails
Homemade Lime Cordial Recipe
Homemade Lime Cordial
15 mins
The Beautiful Cocktail
The Beautiful Cocktail
3 mins
Liquor bottles lined on multiple shelves
The 6 Types of Distilled Spirits Every Home Bartender Needs to Know About
PAMA Pomegranate Liqueur
What Is Pama Pomegranate Liqueur?
Blueberry Tea Cocktail Recipe
Blueberry Tea
5 mins
Upgrade your soda as well for the best mixed drinks.
What You Need to Know About Soda
Lemon Liqueur in small glass
What Is a Liqueur or Cordial?
Elderflower Cocktail Recipe With Champagne
Elderflower Cocktail With Champagne
3 mins
Female taster looking at the colour of whisky in glass at whisky distillery
The Effects of Aging on Liquor
illustration showing shelf life of liquor
What Is the Shelf Life of Liquor?
Four different cocktails with different garnishes and in different cocktail glasses with a pitcher full of ice with a bar spoon inside of it. On one side there is a bottle of liquor getting cut off and the on the other side there is a plate full of lemons and limes
What Is the Proof of My Cocktail?
Bartender using a barspoon to make a drink.
How to Create Layered Cocktails and Shots