13 Amazing Cocktail Recipes

Want to learn how to make some amazing cocktail recipes at home?

In this article, we’re handing you the tools and the knowledge and will be letting you guys know everything you need to make these delicious cocktail recipes at home. From what tools you need, the importance of ice, ingredients and methods, this blog post has it all.

More and more home bartenders are starting to mix their own drinks at home safe in the knowledge you can follow cocktail recipes and create drinks that are as good as in bars.

There has been an increase in mixing drinks at home and if you want to give it a go yourselves check out this post on designing your own home bar.

In this article, we’ll look at some easy cocktail recipes to make that everyone can enjoy. Making cocktails is all about the process, and with so many to pick from, it can be difficult to narrow down your choices.

The essence of cocktail making, like cooking, is balancing flavour. Adding too much or too little of any ingredient will affect flavour and ensure your drink gets consigned to the nearest sink…

Upping any element (and by that, we mean chucking more booze in!) is not a good idea, so behave and follow our recipes to the letter.

These home cocktail recipes are easy, and only requires a few basic elements:

– A balance of flavour
– Following the recipe
– Tools of the trade

Stick to these, and you’ll soon be turning to homemade cocktails far more in the future.

You can get started with one of our cocktail making kits, which has everything you need to create fabulous cocktails. Our range includes some favourite cocktails in a DIY kit including Espresso Martini, Pornstar Martini and Old Fashioned Cocktail Kits.

What Tools do you Need to Make Cocktails at Home?

25ML JIGGER: Used for measuring your ingredients

COCKTAIL SHAKER: Does what it says on the tin. Get a Manhattan Shaker rather than a Boston Shaker as it is easier to use for beginners & has a built-in strainer.

MUDDLER: Used for the extraction of juice from fruits. Essentially a tiny rolling pin!

COCKTAIL SPOON: Used for the stirring of cocktails to ensure adequate mixing and ice dilution.

We recommend investing in the right tools for the job – to make the perfect cocktail at home! These cocktail tools have been designed specifically to blend and shake ingredients the right way, without causing a mess or leaving you with an unsatisfying cocktail.

EASY COCKTAIL RECIPES

These delicious bevvies will teach you a few of the methods of drink making, without you having to purchase a boatload of spirits.

1. Espresso Martini Recipe

Espresso Martini Ingredients

25ml Vodka
25ml Coffee Liqueur
50ml Espresso
5ml Gomme Syrup
Cubed Ice

How To Make An Espresso Martini

Put all ingredients into a cocktail shaker and top with cubed ice. Shake very hard (you have to shake hard to get that great coffee crema at the top of the cocktail).

Double strain and serve in a chilled coup glass with three whole coffee beans to garnish.

Check out our Espresso Martini cocktail kit here.

2. Mojito Recipe

Mojito Ingredients

50ml Rum
25ml Gomme Syrup
4 lime wedges (cut 1/2 lime into four pieces
8 good sized mint leaves
Soda water
Cubed Ice (this drink is usually knocked out with crushed ice but we know this is not always practical)

How To Make A Mojito

Cut half a lime into quarters. Add the gomme syrup and rum and muddle together in the manhattan tin.

Fill with cubed ice and shake hard. Take the lid off the tin, add in the mint (after gently clapping it in between your hands to release the minty essence) and give it a stir.

Carefully pour the elixir into a tall glass, top with soda (no more than 50ml to avoid it being watery) and if you’re feeling it garnish with a paper straw and a nice, clapped, sprig of mint.

3. DARK & STORMY RECIPE

Dark & Stormy Ingredients

50ml Rum
3 lime wedges
Ginger beer
Angostura Bitters
Cubed ice

How To Make A Dark & Stormy

Add 3 lime wedges to a tall glass and muddle the fruit to extract the juice. Add in your rum and the ice before topping with ginger beer. Little dash of bitters and you have crushed it.

4. COSMOPOLITAN

Cosmopolitan Ingredients

25ml Vodka
25ml Orange Liqueur
1 lime wedge
75ml Cranberry Juice
Orange zest
Cubed Ice

How To Make A Cosmopolitan

Squeeze a lime wedge into the shaker, discard the juiced fruit. Add all of your ingredients, fill with ice and shake hard.

Traditionally this is served into a martini glass.

If not strain into a small glass over ice. Now for the final flourish. Cut a disk off a firm orange. Put between your thumb and forefinger and gently squeeze the oil out of the orange, over the flame of a lighter. Do this over the drink to share some of the toasted orange essence with the liquid.

If our instructions sound like a foreign language check out this cool how-to video from Bon Appétit setting an orange on fire. Drop disk into the drink.

5. Bloody Mary Recipe

Bloody Mary Ingredients

50ml Vodka
80ml Tomato Juice
5 Drops Tabasco Sauce
15ml Worcester Sauce
15ml Fresh Lemon Juice
3 Pinches Celery Salt
2 Pinches Onion Salt
Freshly ground sea salt
Freshly ground pepper

How To Make A Bloody Mary

Combine all alcohol ingredients in an iced cocktail shaker. Roll the ingredients between two shakers. A bloody mary is traditionally served in a collins glass. Strain the mixture into a Collins glass, making sure it is iced beforehand. Garnish with a crisp bacon slice and a celery stick.

6. Elderflower Collins Recipe

Elderflower Collins Ingredients

40ml Gin
15ml Elderflower Liqueur
10ml Gomme
4 Lime Wedges
Top Soda

How Top Make An Elderflower Collins

Mix all the ingredients into a mixing glass. Stir them together with ice. Then, pour this mixture into a glass (we recommend a rocks glass.) Garnish your cocktail with Amarena cherries and a flower.

7. Americano Recipe

Americano Ingredients

45ml Campari
22.5ml Dolin Rouge
22.5ml Martini Rubino
Top Soda

How To Make An Americano

Add ice cubes to a collins glass. Add the ingredients and give a quick stir while adding half of the soda. Top with remaining soda. Garnish with an orange slice.

Learn more about the Americano with our Americano recipe page here.

8. White Russian Recipe

White Russian Ingredients

40ml Vodka
25ml Coffee Liqueur
70ml Half/Half (1:1 Milk/Cream)

How To Make A White Russian

Add the vodka and the coffee liqueur to a shaker and shake briefly. Pour into a rocks glass over ice. Top up with ice and layer cream onto the drink. The cream will naturally layer over the alcohol when poured slowly.

Garnish your drink with three coffee beans.

9. Calvados Old Fashioned Recipe

Calvados Old Fashioned Ingredients

50ml Calvados
10ml Honey & Cinnamon Syrup
2 Dashes Bitters

How To Make A Calvados Old Fashioned

Combine all the ingredients into a mixing glass and stir three ice cubes into the mixture. Stir this for two minutes. Strain the mixture into an old fashioned glass and serve with a giant ice cube. Garnish the drink with a dehydrated apple slice.

Buy our Old Fashioned Cocktail Kit here.

10. Tom Collins Recipe

Tom Collins Ingredients

50 ml Gin
15 ml Simple Syrup
20 ml Fresh Lemon Juice
100ml Soda Water

How To Make A Tom Collins Cocktail

Build all the ingredients in a highball glass with cubed ice. Place the ice in first, then add the syrup, lemon juice, soda water and finally the gin.

11. Amaretto Sour Recipe

Amaretto Sour Recipe

50ml Amaretto
25ml Fresh Lemon Juice
15ml Sugar Syrup
1 Egg White (Use 3 drops Ms Betters Bitters to make Vegan)

How To Make An Amaretto Sour

Mix all the ingredients into a Boston Glass or shaker. Fill with ice and shake hard. Pour the mixture over fresh ice and garnish with lemon zest and a cherry.

12. Clover Club Recipe

Clover Club Ingredients

50ml Gin
10ml Fresh Lemon Juice
10ml Grenadine
10ml Sweet Vermouth
5 Raspberries
Egg White

How To Make A Clover Club

Muddle the raspberries in the bottom of a boston shaker, add all remaining ingredients and shake hard. Fine strain into a martini ensuring a nice foam head. Garnish with raspberries.

13. Caipirinha Recipe

Caipirinha Ingredients

60ml Cachaça
10ml Demerara Syrup
1 Lime (cut into 4-6 wedges)

How To Make A Caipirinha

Take a rocks glass and add the lime wedges (save one wedge) to the glass. Muddle the fruit, ensuring all of the juice and oil has been extracted.

Top up with crushed ice and add the Cachaça. Stir the ingredients vigorously in the glass to ensure the ingredients are mixed well and a good dilution in the drink. Top with crushed ice and garnish with the remaining lime wedge.

The Final Word

So there we have it… a short introduction to our world. Now as mentioned remember… follow our recipes, invest in the kit and balance the flavours. . Why don’t you check out our cocktail kits?

They come with everything you need to create your favourite cocktail.

That being said if you want to give it a go, check out this article on designing your own home bar.