A friend texted me today to ask for my “professional cocktail” expertise about easy cocktails to make at home (but also don’t taste bad for someone who doesn’t alcohol usually) and that was an exciting first, so I told her:
I’ve so got you covered on the cocktails that are simple, less than 4 ingredients, and not hard to keep some limited supplies as staples to then be able to make numerous different cocktails from.
here’s 8 ingredients to stock for easy cocktails to make at home:
- white rum, I like Don Q puerto rican
- vodka (I’m super not picky so we stock cheap but tito’s is always good)
- 100% agave tequila, I like legado reposado
- limes
- oranges
- ok lemons too
- soda water/club soda/topo chico/plain seltzer
- sweetener (make simple syrup by microwaving equal parts sugar + water til dissolved or agave nectar is my fave, and use half as much agave as you would s.s. because nectar is more concentrated)
then mix + match and use seltzer water as desired to make less strong!
rum + juice of half a lime + 1-2 tsp sweetener, shaken with ice =
classic daiquiri—
tequila + half lime + quarter orange + 1-2 tsp sweetener =
super fresh margarita—
vodka + half lemon + 1-2 tsp sweetener, shaken with ice =
lemon drop martini

my go-to formula to play around with =
1.5oz spirit + juice of 1/2 a citrus + 0.5oz sweetener + splash/top-off seltzer
[ plug + play + create your own cocktail concoctions!]
and if you wanna get a little fancier then add in fresh herbs…
- rum daiquiri as base + 5-9 mint leaves + seltzer = mojito
- vodka + 3-5 basil leaves + juice half lemon + sweetener + seltzer = yum