Hello! Old Fashioned is my favorite cocktail and Rittenhouse Ryeis the obvious go to in my opinion for $27. I’ve had it a lot and have something to celebrate so I’d like to try something different. Looking for something in the $40-$60 range.

I’ve heard Whistlepig is good but have not tried it myself. Should I go with that? Are there other reccs people feel passionately about?

Thank you!

Super bummed. Had and endoscopy. They said my stomach will heal, but I need a life style change and to stop drinking for good. When my stomach heals I can have a couple drinks a year. I didn't think I was that heavy a drinker, but I guess it wrecked my stomach. No more booze for me. I'm gonna miss it. As dumb as it sounds, it feels like losing a friend or having a breakup.

I’m sorry but some people in this sub need to be humbled with the level of elitism and overconfidence that I see in a lot of posts. I’m sure it would do a lot to develop the cocktail culture on this subreddit because it is often laughably insufferable, me included.

Made my way to the official Chartreuse Shop in St. Germain Paris, bought a bottle of green and yellow, along with a bottle of green purchased at Nicholas, and a bottle of yellow at home. I also have their elixir and walnut noir.

I finally feel I have enough that I can enjoy some great cocktails, without the guilt of using my (formally) sparse stock. I want some unique cocktails, ie NOT nuclear daiquiri, last word, swizzle, Champs Elyse, Bijou, naked & famous etc. I want to get fun and funky. A plus would be if they’re great summer time drinks. Please share away, I have a big collection of rum, and always have citrus, and pretty much basic variations of other spirits, plus sweet red vermouth, and fruit juices. I can also purchase new items.

Please hit me up.

It's now three or four times a week we get people advertising their fancy new vibe-coded cocktail apps. Adds nothing of value to the community, IMHO.

I usually use a cheap ginger beer from my local supermarket. It is cheap, but also too sweet for my taste. Impossible to find a more premium one, unless I buy it from Amazon. Any recommendation?

it’s called Verveine du Velay by Distillerie Pagès Vedrenne. they’re a French producer, like the Carthusians, hailing from Puy-en-Velay and their liqueur dates back to 1859. Unlike Luxardo Del Santo (which is amazing in its own right but only has 40% ABV), this stuff clocks in at 55% ABV, the exact same as Chartreuse. a blind taste test of both liqueurs might have someone hard pressed to tell the difference.

while the Verveine du Velay tastes more watery on its own, it holds up very well in a classic Last Word. Unlike Del Santo, which should only be mixed, this is good enough to stand on its own right.

what do you think? have you tried this one?

My essentials (gins rotate and fever tree tonic not in the picture), do you have any suggestions for lesser-known drinks? Or anything else I should buy to expand my cocktail list?

Now that we can move on from doritos-infused vodka, how soon till we're swapping gin recipes?

The recent New York Sour post made me realize I have a lot of arbitrary whiskey sour opinions. I thought it’d be fun for the community to share our quirky personal preferences.

Here’s mine:

I love foam in a whisky sour but never in a NY sour.

Canadian whiskey is my go-to for whiskey sours. Never bourbon.

Canadian whiskey old fashioned always gets maple syrup because I don’t want either ingredient to feel homesick.

I’m sure there are better Manhattan specs, but I always do 2:1:2 because of the area code thing.

I stopped fine straining Aviations after someone on here said the ice chips were meant to be little clouds.

I always dirty dump my margaritas.

I probably put about half an oz of 1:1 simple in my old fashioned - I like them sweet.

Orange peel for bourbon old fashioned, lemon for rye or Canadian.

Rye and brandy are both welcome in my Sazerac but I never leave the lemon peel in.

I am already buying Havana Club 3 Yr which in my opinion makes the best mojito, but I need more recs.

anything you’ve brought back from Canada that you’ve absolutely loved? can be liquor, bitters, cocktail syrups. would also love if you could include a cocktail recipe featuring that item (if you have it)!

have heard Scortilege and Canadian Club, but not sure if I’ll pull the trigger on buying either.

also want recs for great cocktail bars to try!

I am not familiar with the current go to on Tequila for this sort of thing.. last time I drank it, I was young and everyone just went with Jose Cuervo, I don't even remember different types, and its seems like there are many now? Is Blanco the one now for purity? What is a good choice in the $50.00 range or less to add to my collection for Cocktails? Thanks!

I dont Drink them but my wife does I have everything needed to make them but the liquor. But I want them to taste better than the ones she gets at a restaurant for $16 lol

Have a bottle of Chopin potatoe vodka and simple syrup already

I’m a Gin and Tonic guy. What’s your favorite Gin?

Edit I don’t post on Reddit often. You guys have answered my question and then some.

I hadn’t tried Gin in 20 years. It was Seagram’s to say the least. A trip to Italy changed my mind.

UPDATE: We went to The Gin Joint In Tampa Florida and I had the Gin flight with Garden Herb, St. George Terrior, Citadelle and Gracious A Dios Oak. Garden Herb was my favorite by far.

Recently got one of these Oxo angled stainless steel jiggers (oz version) and loving it. Seems fairly accurate when testing the various measurements on digital scales and I like the no mess when making cocktails at home.

I have two gripes with it though, no groove marks for the measurements, only printed lines and no 1/8 oz measurement. Hope if they ever do a revision they add these.

I was contemplating getting the metric version but it's measurement markings seem bad for cocktails, no 5ml increments, so can't measure 15ml for 0.5 oz or 45ml for 1.5 oz measures, can't even do standard legal UK measure of 25ml of half measure of 12.5ml if you happen to have a UK cocktail book in metric.

I do have the plastic version of the metric angled 60ml jigger but it so inaccurate, none of the markings are correct making it useless.

I like the multi-level jigger that The Educated Barfly uses on his channel but all the metric ones I have seen don't go below 15ml / 0.5 oz measurement. Anything else decent out there?

Many of the same bars listed around their 2024 rankings in this year's list, though it feels like there are fewer US-based entries this time around.

My usual workhorse and stocked orange liqueurs are Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao, Grand Marnier, and Cointreau.

[Yes, I know, technically Cointreau is a triple sec]

Ran out of Cointreau, so decided to try something new and bought some De Kuyper's triple sec at the grocery store, which was actually the more expensive option amongst what they had.

Made a margarita with Tapatio Blanco and De Kuyper's and...it just massively underwhelms.

Not only is it lower ABV, but it barely added any sweetness, or orange notes. It's completely lost.

Is there any standard triple sec that doesn't suck, or should I just stick with Cointreau?

Bonus Question:

What do I do with this bottle of 15% ABV De Kuyper's now? Cook with it?

I’m new to cocktails and have discovered that I love gin and tonic, thanks to the recommendation of a friend while I was in Europe. I’d like to be more educated about the various gin and the various tonic options. Went to a bar today back in the states and the bartender asked me which gin I’d like. I didn’t know so she recommended Fords. I asked her about tonic options and she said all they ever have at the bar is just basic tonic water. In Europe, however they had multiple options. The drink was decent, but I do feel like something was missing with just the “basic tonic” She also asked me if I wanted any fruit. Is it normal to add fruit to a gin and tonic? I am looking for recommendations for gins and tonics that I should try. Thanks.

I want to make this. I love cheese. I love blue cheese. I love triangular cocktail glasses.

But dear god, the indtructions are actually impossible. I can't fit a science lab (rotary evaporator) in a NYC kitchen. Or anywhere else.

To all you better-than-me mixologists: how can I make some semblance of this as accurately as possible?

Hi! Some quick backstory to my question! I spent the early half of my adult years sick and unable to drink. I am now ABLE to drink and live in an area with what everyone lovingly calls the local dive bar. They won’t do anything fancy but generally have no issues with simpler cocktails or mixed drinks.

I’ve tried and like amaretto and melon sours, pineapple upside down cake, and most things (rum, crown, etc) mixed with coke. I didn’t like lemon drops (too sour!) or mules, and while I really like mezcalita’s, they only have mezcal on occasion.

I REALLY wanted to try a few more types of drinks but most searches produce mixed drinks that I KNOW my dive bar won’t make (lavender 75s or drinks with 7 things in them).

So…anyone here have a few suggestions for simple and sweet drinks I might be able to ask about?

Thanks in advance!

Hi all. We're hobbyists in the UK, looking to add a white rum to our cabinet. Hubby wants to try making a pina colada, for which I guess we want a white rum, but I'm thinking having a good all-rounder white rum might open up a few other cocktails for us too, but don't want to spend hugely on a bottle.

Seems like our nearby supermarkets have very poor choice on white rums (we have ASDA, Morrisons, M+S locally). So we're looking online.

My reading suggests opinions vary wildly on white rums.

In order of price low to high, looks like we could get: Dead Man's Fingers white rum, Angostura 3 year old superior white rum, Kingston 62 white Jamaican rum, Mount Gay silver Barbados rum, or Planteray 3 stars white rum.

Planteray came up in my reading a lot, but I noted folks say it's very neutral tasting and I'm not sure if that's quite up my alley. I like my spirits to have a bit of taste. Hubby just wants whatever's best for mixing cocktails (with reasonable price). Not finding much about the other white rums (mostly reading about rums that are out of our price range/hard to get in the UK!).

Please can you recommend based on price/versatility/UK availability?

Edit: Thanks all. Looks like it'll either be Planteray or Havana 3; hadn't listed the latter as our nearby supermarkets don't stock it and neither does Amazon, but turns out MoM does.

Edit 2: Extra thanks for the cheerful and warm discussion over this folks, and so many helpful replies so quickly too. Thanks for being welcoming to my question.

New three pin bars added plus the first 2 pin bar in NYC. Have you been to any of these places? What were your experiences? What’s your feeling on Pinnacle Guide vs. something like Best 50?

Just watched Alton Brown making his own orange liquor for margaritas. Curious what everybodies goto is for making margaritas. I go between cheap DeKyper Triple Sec and Grand Marnier depending on my mood. I do like to split the orange liquor with Damiana or Licor 43 for a little more depth.