A great bar is never noticed for its size. It is noticed for the calm certainty with which the host places the correct drink in your hand within sixty seconds of asking. The following fifteen bottles (no more, no less) will allow you to serve any classic cocktail requested by a discerning guest, pour a perfect digestif after dinner, and offer a serious whisky or rum to the friend who actually knows the difference. Total cost in December 2025: approximately $950–$1,200 depending on market and country. Every bottle will still be relevant in twenty years.
The Core Structure
- 3 gins
- 2 vodkas
- 3 whisk(e)ies
- 1 white rum
- 1 aged rum
- 1 Cognac or Armagnac
- 1 blanco tequila or mezcal
- 1 bittersweet vermouth
- 1 dry vermouth
- 1 essential modifier (amaro or fortified wine)
The Fifteen Bottles
- London Dry Gin – Tanqueray No. Ten or Beefeater 24 ($35–$45)
The citrus-forward backbone for the perfect Martini and the only gin required for a serious Gin & Tonic. - Navy-Strength Gin – Perry’s Tot or Hayman’s Royal Dock ($45–$55)
57 % ABV. One bottle transforms a Negroni or a simple G&T into something memorable. - Genever-Style Gin – Bols Genever 1820 or Rutte Old Simon ($40–$50)
Malty, whisky-like. Essential for the original 1880s Martini and superb on ice with a splash of water. - Vodka – Belvedere or Żubrówka Biała ($35–$45)
Polish rye vodka, clean and neutral. Served ice-cold from the freezer for purists or for the clearest Vodka Martini. - Potato Vodka – Luksusowa or Woody Creek ($30–$40)
Slight texture, perfect for Bloody Marys and for guests who insist vodka has no flavour. - Blended Scotch – Compass Box Artist Blend or Johnnie Walker Black Label 12 ($40–$55)
The highball and everyday whisky. Never sneered at by experts, never disappointing. - Single Malt Scotch – Springbank 10 or Laphroaig 10 ($65–$85)
Lightly peated, maritime Campbeltown or Islay. The one dram you pour when conversation turns serious. - Bourbon or Rye – Wild Turkey 101 or Rittenhouse Rye Bottled-in-Bond ($35–$45)
50–55 % ABV, full flavour. Manhattan, Old Fashioned, or neat with one rock. - White Rum – Havana Club 3 or Banks 5 Island ($25–$35)
Clean, dry, Cuban-style. The only rum for a perfect Daiquiri. - Aged Rum – Appleton Estate 12 Rare Casks or Doorly’s XO ($45–$60)
Rich but not sweet. Sip neat or use in the most sophisticated rum Old Fashioned. - Cognac VSOP or Armagnac – Hine Rare VSOP or Darroze Les Grands Assemblages 12 ($70–$95)
After-dinner pour or the base of a flawless Sidecar. - Blanco Tequila or Mezcal – Fortaleza Blanco or Del Maguey Vida ($50–$70)
One bottle covers Margaritas, Palomas, and neat sipping for the agave enthusiast. - Red Bitter Vermouth – Cocchi Vermouth di Torino or Carpano Antica Formula ($30–$40)
Kept in the fridge door. Negroni, Manhattan, Americano. - Dry Vermouth – Dolin Dry or Noilly Prat Extra Dry ($18–$25)
Fridge door, replaced every three months. Martini, Gibson, El Presidente. - Amaro – Averna or Montenegro ($30–$40)
The nightcap on its own, the modifier that fixes almost any drink, the digestif that ends every good dinner.
Essential Non-Alcoholic and Hardware
- Angostura Bitters (large bottle)
- Regan’s Orange Bitters
- Fresh lemons and limes (bought weekly)
- Block ice or large clear cubes (silicone mould)
- Cane sugar cubes or 1:1 simple syrup
- Decent jigger (Japanese 30/60 ml)
- Long bar spoon
- Yarai mixing glass
- Two strainers (Hawthorne + fine mesh)
- Three rocks glasses, three Nick & Nora or coupe glasses, three highball glasses
- One bottle of decent tonic (Fever-Tree Mediterranean) kept cold
The Ten Drinks You Can Now Make Perfectly
- Martini (gin or vodka)
- Negroni
- Manhattan
- Old Fashioned (bourbon or rum)
- Daiquiri
- Margarita
- Dark ’n’ Stormy variant
- Perfect highball (whisky-soda or gin-tonic)
- Sidecar
- Straight pour of anything in the cabinet with confidence
Storage and Maintenance Rules
- Vermouth and amaro live in the refrigerator door the moment the bottle is opened.
- Everything else lives at cool room temperature away from sunlight.
- Open bottles of vermouth are replaced every ten to twelve weeks without sentiment.
- Citrus is bought two days before use, never earlier.
- Ice is made fresh daily or bought in block form; cloudy supermarket cubes are banned.
The Final Principle
Never display more than these fifteen bottles at once. The remaining space on the shelf should remain empty. A bar that looks half-finished is infinitely more impressive than one crammed with novelty purchases. When someone asks for something you do not have (Chartreuse, absinthe, flavoured vodka), you simply reply, “I’m afraid I don’t keep that,” and pour them a flawless alternative. They will remember the confidence more than the absence.
With these bottles in place you can host six people for cocktails, two people for a nightcap, or one person for a quiet conversation at 1 a.m. without ever looking as though you are trying. That is the entire point. The bar is complete the day you stop adding to it.
