A good crémant or even a cava can be used interchangeably with champagne in five of the recipes, though purists might insist on champagne for a Champagne Cocktail and Crémant de Bourgogne for a Kir Royale. Prosecco is altogether fruitier and the preferred sparking wine choice for four of the more Italianate recipes and shot alongside a Porn Star Martini. A decent inexpensive red wine is required twice (for Sangria and Mulled Wine), a fresh dry white wine only once for the White Wine Cup while a medium sherry is a good but optional addition to a Bloody Mary. You’ll want white Port for the favoured summer drink of Port producers, Port & Tonic, and ruby Port for mulled wine if you don’t use brandy. Ginger wine is used to make Whisky Macs.

Gin vies with vodka as the most popular base spirit for our cocktails with 13 appearances each. A good standard London’ style gin with a clean juniper tasteis all that is needed as opposed to the many fruit and esoterically flavoured gins on the market, unless you want to make a variant of course. Likewise, a decent standard vodka is all that is needed for cocktails, with only the osmopolitan calling for lemon (citron) vodka. Tequila features in six of our recipes, the Margarita being the most famous. A standard tequila will suffice though Margarita aficionados may go for a more premium version.

Rum is important, especially for tropical cocktails, so features ten times in the recipes. You will definitely need a white rum for six recipes especially if you
like Mojitos, while golden rum only features in the Planter's Punch and Mai Tai. Dark rum is integral to a Dark 'n' Stormy and features again in the Mai
Tai. Cachaça is a Brazilian spirit made from fresh sugar cane rather than olasses and is as much a rum as the French island plantation rhums are. It is
drunk in huge quantities in Caipirinhas whereas a Jorge Amado is made from gabriela, a spiced cachaça liqueur.

Nine recipes call for whisky broken down into three calls for bourbon, three for Scotch, one for Irish and two unspecified. Bourbon is sweeter and
more oaky so should be used when indicated, but a good blended Scotch whisky or Irish whiskey could be in each other’s place except it wouldn’t seem quite right for instance to make an Atholl Brose or Rusty Nail out of the Irish! If you don’t have Irish Whiskey, and use Scotch, an Irish Coffee quickly becomes Gaelic or Highland Coffee.

Surprisingly brandy only features five times in our cocktails, in the Sidecar, Brandy Alexander, Champagne Cocktail, Mulled Wine and Eggnog, and even the last can be made with rum or whisky. A commercial French brandy, VS Cognac or VS Armagnac will suffice. A Spanish brandy would do but might be a little dark and sweet for the Champagne Cocktail. Returning travellers from Peru or Chile might come back with a taste for Pisco Sours so might need a bottle of young, colourless pisco if they haven’t brought back a bottle themselves.

Bitterness in drinks can be off-putting at first but has its own devoted fanbase, so bitters feature in many recipes. A bottle of Angostura bitters is a pre-requisite as it features six times, whereas orange bitters only appear in the Gin & It and Amargo bitters in the Pisco Sour. Campari is a bitter and is integral to the Negroni and Campari Spritz. Its junior version, Aperol is drunk almost exclusively as Aperol Spritz.

Vermouth is an aromatized fortified wine which has seen an explosion of premium versions in recent years giving more choice when making the six cocktails in our list. With red, white and dry versions too, you could end up with a lot of bottles. You’ll need red vermouth for a Negroni, Gin & It and Manhattan, but you may prefer a vermut from the Barcelona area. A little dry vermouth either Italian or French, goes into a Dry Martini, whereas a Gin & French is best with a Chambéry vermouth or Noilly Prat. Pimm’s is a summer staple in England either made with lemonade or with ginger ale for a drier version, but other summer cups do exist.

The most useful liqueur by far in the drinks cupboard is triple sec which pops
its head up eight times in our list of cocktails. Triple sec is distilled using several types of orange peel and is fiery if drunk neat. Cointreau is the most famous brand. Curaçao should only be used if it is specified as ‘triple sec’. Regular orange curaçao only appears in the Mai Tai, where Grand Marnier, a blend of curaçao and cognac, can be substituted. Blue curaçao gets its single outing in Blue Lagoons, though its unique colour means it appears more often in bespoke cocktails. A bottle of coffee liqueur, either Kahlua or Tia Maria, is useful for Espresso Martinis, White Russians and Baby Guinnesses.

Most other liqueurs feature in one cocktail each, leading to the suspicion that many liqueur manufacturers try to expand consumption beyond their product just being drunk neat by trying to promote a recipe or two. Drambuie or a similar whisky liqueur is only used in a Rusty Nail. Peach schnapps e.g. Archers pops up in Sex on the Beach. Passoã passion fruit liqueur goes into Porn Star Martinis. Jägermeister has seen incredible success thought the
popularity of Jägerbombs. Kümmel only appears in the Silver Bullet. Irish cream liqueurs have found new favour in the Baby Guinness. Bénédictine is one of eight ingredients used in a Singapore Sling but has high consumption in south Lancashire due to the local regiment’s taste for Benny & Hots acquired in Normandy in the Great War. Sloe Gin has gained from the mid-morning break on shooting days in a Sloegasm, but damson gin would do just as well. Gabriela is a spiced cachaça liqueur from Paraty in Brazil whose popularity soared when a local mixologist won a competition by making a delicious passionfruit variant on a Caipirinha. Plum liqueur is used in those staples of Austrian après-ski, the warming Heisse Witwes (Hot Widows). Chambord or crème de framboise is vital for a French Martini while a blackberry liqueur (crème de mûre) is needed for a Bramble. Cherries feature a lot as garnishes but only once as an ingredient, as cherry liqueur or cherry brandy in that big concoction, the Singapore Sling.

Of course, French liqueur producers make a vast range of crème de this and crème de that which can be used to flavour everything from cocktails
to coffee, but a great use is to add them to sparkling wine e.g. crémant, cava or champagne, the most famous being crème de cassis to make a Kir
Royale, but you could just as well add British cassis to English sparkling wine. Crème de framboise (raspberry), crème de mûre (blackberry), crème de fraise (strawberry) and crème de pèche (peach) can all be successfully added to sparkling wines to make good Kir variants. Reserve your crème de cacao (chocolate), however, for after dinner Brandy Alexanders.

The key to most cocktails is the balance between sweetness and acidity especially in cocktails with a lot of lemon or lime juice. This is where syrups come in. Sugar syrup (sirop sucre de canne) is required in 15 of our recipes. This is easy to make at home with a cup of sugar dissolved in a cup of water over heat, or you can buy it in bottle. It is regularly substituted in recipes for gum syrup (sirop de gomme) where a thicker texture to the drink is wanted. Grenadine syrup (sirop de grenadine) is generally flavoured with red fruits and vanilla and goes into a Singapore Sling, Planter’s Punch and a Tequila Sunrise. Almond-flavoured orgeat syrup (sirop d'orgeat) is used in a Mai Tai while agave syrup goes into a Picante, but a bit of honey can be used in
the latter instead.

You will need to raid the larder for sugar in various guises: sugar cubes for Champagne Cocktails; white sugar for Mulled Wine, Strawberry Daiquiris, Caipirinhas and Jorge Amado (the last two specifying cane sugar), and caster sugar for Eggnogs. Honey is needed for Atholl Brose and possibly a Picante.

Cider is not widely used in cocktails, only commonly in a Cider Punch, and beer seldom with stout, normally Guinness, being added to champagne to make a Black Velvet.

Soda water crops up nine times in our requirements and is easily bought but a soda stream will do the job well as will sparkling mineral water, but it may be less gassy. Lemonade features in Pimm’s Cup, Strawberry Daiquiris and Blue Lagoons. Tonic water is needed for Gin & Tonics and Port & Tonics. Coca Cola is often at hand for a Cuba Libre, Whisky & Coke and Long Island Iced Tea. Red Bull makes a Jägerbomb and Vodka Red Bull. Still mineral or spring water is rarely used except in a Pink Gin and Planter’s Punch while hot water just goes into Benny & Hots. Ginger ale is a good, drier addition to Pimm's Cup instead of lemonade and also spices up a Cider Punch. Ginger beer adds the fieriness to a Moscow Mule and Dark 'n' Stormy. Elderflower cordial (or St-Germain elderflower liqueur) gives a Hugo its floral side.

Citrus fruit juices crop up often with lime juice being most popular with 17 appearances followed by lemon juice on 11 and orange juice on seven. Lime cordial e.g. Rose’s can be used if pushed and the sugar reduced to compensate. A Piña Colada, Singapore Sling and French Martini call for pineapple juice whereas as cranberry juice is required for a Cosmopolitan and Sex on the Beach. Other juices and their respective cocktails are: passion fruit juice (Porn Star Martini); pink grapefruit juice (Paloma); tomato juice (Bloody Mary) and white peach juice (Bellini).

A good supply of lemons, limes and oranges is useful not only for fresh juices, but also for the most common garnishes. In descending order of appearances are:  oranges slices (11); lime slices (9); lemon slices (7); lemon zest (7); lime wedges (5) and orange zest (3). Drops of lemon oil from lemon zest are added onto a French Martini. Some recipes e.g Caiparinha specify the larger Persian or Tahiti limes whereas no recipes specify key limes except for the Chilean version of the Pisco Sour which ideally uses pica lemons, a variety of key lime. Maraschino or cocktail cherries feature (11) times so a jar in the cupboard is almost a necessity. Less widely used garnishes are a pineapple slice or wedge for a Piña Colada, Singapore Sling and Mai Tai while a grapefruit wedge features on a Paloma. An apple slice garnishes a Cider Punch. Raspberries go into a French Martini and White Wine Cup. Fresh strawberries and needed both in and on Strawberry Daiquiris. A passion fruit slice pretties up a Porn Star Martini while chopped passion fruit is crushed for a Jorge Amado. Sangria and Pimm’s Cup needs mixed chopped fruit.

Mint leaves are popular in cocktails, featuring in a Mojito, Hugo, Planter's Punch, Mai Tai, Mint Julep, Pimm’s Cup and Port & Tonic. Borage leaves, if you have them, can garnish a jug of Pimm's. Coriander leaves go into a Picante. A sprig of rosemary has become popular in a Gin & Tonic. Cucumber slices go into a Pimm’s and cucumber peel into a White Wine Cup. A single green olive sinks to the bottom of a Dry Martini. A Jalapeño chilli pepper
is needed for a Spicy Margarita while a Picante requires a red chilli pepper.

Mixed spice, easier as sachets, are needed for Mulled Wine (Glühwein). Ground cinnamon is used in Eggnog and on Heisse Witwes while nutmeg is grated onto the Eggnog and Brandy Alexander. Vanilla extract also goes into Eggnog. Dip a glass moistened with lemon juice in sea salt for the salted rim on a Margarita, Spicy Margarita and Paloma. Egg whites are used in a Pisco Sour, Whiskey Sour and Eggnog. The yolks are only used in the Eggnog. Double cream is needed in a White Russian, Irish Coffee, Atholl Brose, Brandy Alexander, and whipped on a Heisse Witwe. Either condensed milk or
double cream can be used in an Eggnog. For Piña Coladas you’ll need coconut cream. Oatmeal brose – finely chopped oats – is required for Atholl Brose. The following two need a full-on assault of the pantry. Bloody Marys call for horseradish sauce, celery salt, worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce
for. Bull Shot needs beef consommé, tomato passata, black pepper, Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco sauce.

Coffee liqueurs are used in three of the cocktail recipes, but freshly brewed coffee is needed for Espresso Martinis and Irish or Gaelic coffees, cold espresso for the former, hot Americano or filter coffee for the latter. The only garnish is the three coffee beans carefully arranged on the Espresso Martini.

It’s important to have a cocktail shaker and a spirit measure. A cocktail strainer, small sieve and a cocktail spoon are useful, and with all that fruit to cut, you’ll need a sharp knife. A lemon squeezer or juicer will come in handy for a lot of recipes. Glassware is important with champagne flutes, Martini glasses, low ball tumblers (old fashioned glasses), high ball tumblers (slim jims) and tall Collins glasses are coming into their own.