The top 10 essential spirits and liqueurs for your drinks cupboard are: vodka, gin, light rum, tequila, Cointreau, Kahlua, Grand Marnier, dry and rosso vermouth and brandy liqueur. Essential juices and mixers are: cranberry, orange, pressed apple, grapefruit and pineapple juice; soda water, Coca-Cola, ginger ale, bitter lemon and tonic water. Not forgetting ice - the most important cocktail ingredient.
Many cocktails benefit from sweetening but granulated sugar does not dissolve easily in cold drinks. To make pre-dissolved "sugar syrup", gradually pour in and stir two cups of granulated sugar into a saucepan containing one cup of hot water and simmer (don't boil) until the sugar is dissolved. Allow to cool and place in a bottle in the fridge.
You need to understand the various techniques employed in mixing cocktails. Shaking chills and dilutes the drink. This dilution is as important as using the right proportions of each ingredient. If you use too little ice it will melt in the shaker and the result will be an over-diluted cocktail - so always fill your shaker at least two-thirds full of fresh ice.
Place the ingredients in your shaker, add the ice and shake briskly for 20 seconds. The ice should crash against each end of the shaker as you shake. Then strain the liquid into the glass, leaving the ice behind in the shaker. Always hold the shaker with one hand on the top and the other at the base and never shake fizzy ingredients.
If a cocktail recipe calls for you to "stir with ice and strain", use a bar spoon and a mixing glass. Place the ice and the ingredients into the mixing glass (or base of shaker) and stir for 20 seconds. Strain the drink into a glass using a Hawthorne strainer - or the top of a standard shaker if you are stirring in a shaker.
When a cocktail recipe calls for you to "blend with ice", place the ingredients and then the ice into a blender and blend until a smooth, even consistency is achieved. Ideally you should use crushed ice, as this lessens wear on the blender's blades.
Drinking out
London is home to some of the best cocktail bars in the world. Notable bars outside the capital include Opal Lounge (George Street, Edinburgh), Opium bar (Skipper Street, Belfast), Sugar Lounge(Deansgate Locks, Manchester) and Oloroso (4th Floor, 33 Castle Street, Edinburgh).
Lonsdale House 48 Lonsdale Road, Notting Hill, London W11 . It is not just the cocktails here that have a wow factor; the interior, inspired by a photograph of Lenny Kravitz's Miami residence, is covered in bubbles - hemispheres that line the walls.
Loungelover 1 Whitby Street, Shoreditch, E1. Loungelover's location in a former butcher's store on a grungy Shoreditch back street sets the scene for what resembles a designer Steptoe & Son yard. The cocktails are also suitably eclectic.
Townhouse 31, Beauchamp Place, Knightsbridge, SW3. This ivy-covered Georgian townhouse is owned by the team from Lab bar in Soho. They have poshed their act up somewhat to suit the locality but retained their superb trademark cocktail list and DJ booth.
Atlantic Bar & Grill 20 Glasshouse St, Piccadilly, W1. Back in April 1994, when Oliver Peyton restored this splendid art-deco ballroom beneath the Regent Palace Hotel to its former glory, it became London's foremost lounge bar. Years later, lesser ventures have come and gone.
Detroit 35 Earlham Street, Covent Garden, WC2. Detroit consists of a rabbit warren of rooms in a basement close to Covent Garden's Seven Dials. The interior - and come to that, some of the drinkers - look like something out of a Star Wars movie.
Eclipse 113 Walton Street, Chelsea, SW3. The first of what is now a chain of five. Other Eclipse bars can be found in Fulham, Wimbledon Village and Notting Hill. All are rarely empty and have a fun atmosphere with some great drinks.
Hush 8 Lancashire Court, Mayfair, W1. Hush is owned by Jamie Barber and Geoffrey Moore (son of Roger) and sits serenely in its Georgian townhouse in a cobbled courtyard that lies off Mayfair's Brook Street. It caters for ladies who lunch and suited young gentry who gather to enjoy a superb array of cocktails.
Match 45-47 Clerkenwell Road, EC1. The first of the Match bar chain with its interior details and menu repeated in the newer Match bars in Shoreditch and Oxford Circus. This empire now also encompasses Milk & Honey and The Player clubs, all of which offer cocktails of the very highest standard.
Tips
· Fresh ice is essential. Buy bags from an off-licence or supermarket. If you make your own in ice cube trays, use bottled or filtered water to avoid the taste of chlorine often found in tap water.
· Before cutting fruit such as limes or lemons for juice, roll it on a surface under the palm of your hand. Surprisingly, this will enable you to squeeze more juice from it.
· One indication as to the quality of a cocktail bar is whether the menu mentions 'Sour Mix', a powder replacing lemon or lime juice. The best bars use fresh citrus juice which makes better drinks.
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