Learn cocktails with confidence.
Beginner-friendly guides to cocktail techniques, essential recipes, tools and home bartending.
Beginner Questions
How to Make Cocktails at Home: A Complete Beginner’s Guide
Everything a complete beginner needs to start making great cocktails at home.
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Fundamentals
Core skills and concepts every home bartender should master first.
10 Guides -
Essential Cocktails
The classic recipes every well-stocked home bar should be able to make.
15 Guides -
Tools & Glassware
What to buy, what to skip, and how to use the equipment you already have.
4 Guides -
Beginner Questions
Quick, direct answers to the questions every beginner has but hesitates to ask.
3 Guides
New to cocktails? Start here.
Five steps that take you from complete beginner to confident home bartender.
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Learn the core techniques
Shaking, stirring, straining — master the three methods that cover 90% of cocktails.
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Stock the essential spirits
You don't need everything. Start with four bottles and make dozens of cocktails.
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Make your first five cocktails
Five classic recipes that teach you technique, balance and flavour at the same time.
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All Guides
How to Make a Negroni
The classic equal-parts recipe, plus gin, vermouth, dilution and how to balance the bitterness.
What Is Simple Syrup and How Do You Make It?
The basic 1:1 recipe, rich syrup ratios, storage and how sweetness balances cocktails.
How to Make an Old Fashioned
A classic whiskey Old Fashioned with the right balance of sugar, bitters, ice and dilution.
How to Stir a Cocktail Properly
Learn bar spoon technique, stirring time, ice and dilution for smoother spirit-forward cocktails.
What Is Dry Shaking and When Should You Use It?
What a dry shake does, which cocktails need one, and how to build better cocktail foam.
How to Make a Salted Caramel Espresso Martini
A beginner-friendly recipe with the right balance of espresso, caramel and salt.
Best Coffee Liqueur for an Espresso Martini: Kahlúa vs Mr Black vs Tia Maria
How Kahlúa, Mr Black and Tia Maria change the sweetness, coffee flavour and balance of your Espresso Martini.
How to Make an Espresso Martini: Classic Recipe
A balanced Espresso Martini recipe with the shaking technique, coffee choice and foam explained step by step.
How to Make a Margarita: Classic Recipe
A balanced classic Margarita recipe with the ratio, ingredients and shaking technique explained step by step.