Guides
Must-Have Ingredients for the Home Bar
Make sure your bar is fully stocked!
Have you recently started to dip your toes into the world of cocktails? With a plethora of recipes to choose from with their own liqueurs, syrups, and produce; it can be overwhelming to know what you really need. However, we’re here to show you that it doesn’t have to be so complicated! With this versatile selection of ingredients, you’ll be able to whip up a variety of cocktails that will suit many taste preferences, so grab your bottle of Empress 1908 Gin of choice and get mixing with the list below!
Jump to the category ahead!
Simple Syrup and Fresh Citrus
Yes, this is two ingredients, but they very much go hand-in-hand. We often use citrus in our cocktails to contribute acid that brightens up the overall flavour profile while simple syrup balances out any harshness by offering sweetness that makes us come back for more!
As the name suggests, simple syrup is a cinch to make at home! All you have to do is combine equal parts water and sugar and stir until dissolved. At this concentration, you don’t necessarily need to take this over the stove, but it can certainly help speed up the process. To do so, simmer over medium heat and stir until fully dissolved (preferably not a higher temp so that you don’t evaporate too much water). Keep this in the fridge and you’ll be ready to mix up a plethora of sips!
For citrus, while bottled can get the job done, we highly recommend using fresh citrus since their balanced acidity and authentic flavour can’t be beat. You’ll get the most use out of lemons and limes, though it’s always fun to branch out to others like oranges and grapefruits! Need more ideas for cocktails to mix with your citrus? Check out our article HERE!
Use these to create the crowdpleasing Q1908!
INGREDIENTS
- 2 oz Empress 1908 Indigo Gin
- ¾ oz Fresh Lemon Juice
- ¾ oz Simple Syrup
- Egg White or 1 oz Aquafaba
- Dried Butterfly Pea Blossom, for garnish
METHOD
Add all ingredients to a shaker with ice. Shake and strain to remove ice. Shake again without the ice. Fine strain into a chilled coupe glass. Garnish with dried butterfly pea blossom.
Basic Mixers
Here, we’re referring to drinks you’d use to lengthen your sips. There are many different ways you can go about this, but you’ll cover most of your bases by having soda water (such as for a gin and soda or Tom Collins), a quality tonic (for G&Ts, of course), and ginger beer (for mules) on hand. Feel free to have fun here, though, and keep a stock of any of your favourites such as flavoured sodas!
Orange Liqueur
Quite a few classics like the White Lady call for an orange liqueur, which will offer a different dimension of citrus compared to fresh fruit (think more zest instead of juice). With numerous classifications of orange liqueurs, though, it can get confusing as to which you’ll want to pick up, so let’s go through the different types together!
Triple Sec
Typically ranging from 20-40% ABV, these liqueurs involve an infusion of peels from bitter oranges in a neutral spirit, which is then redistilled to create a concentrated orange spirit that is then mixed with more neutral spirit, water, and sugar. With its minimal ingredients list, the result is a clean orange-centric liqueur that lends itself well to a wide variety of cocktails! We particularly like using Cointreau in our sips for a balanced citrusy finish.
Curaçao
This starts off similarly to triple sec, but the main difference lies in how curaçao brings in herbs and spices for a more complex and fuller profile outside of triple sec’s pure orange.
Grand Marnier
A unique type of orange liqueur where cognac is added with the orange distillate and sugar for a rich and softer palate.
Play around with the orange liqueurs to create unique twists on our Cucumber Lemon Drop!
INGREDIENTS
- 2 oz Empress 1908 Cucumber Lemon Gin
- ¾ oz Orange Liqueur
- ¾ oz Fresh Lemon Juice
- Sugar, to rim
- Lemon and Cucumber Slice, for garnish
METHOD
Start by rimming a cocktail glass with sugar and set aside. Add ingredients to a shaker and shake with ice. Strain into prepped glass and garnish. Enjoy!
Aromatized Wines
These wines have been infused with various botanicals like herbs, spices, barks, and fruits and are often fortified with extra spirit for further depth of flavour. You’ll see these in cocktails like the Martini and the Corpse Reviver #2 since they offer complexity that complements gin well, given how certain aperitif wines also play around with their own botanical recipes. This category is vast, so we’ll share with you a couple of our favourites for cocktails!
- Vermouth – Bittered with wormwood, which offers an earthy note. While the colour can vary between each expression, unless specified, the base is usually a white wine. The types you’ll mostly see are:
- Dry – This errs on the lower side of sweetness, though it does still have a hint of sugar. Most often used in the martini for its herbal notes, their ability to be used in sweet and savoury cocktails makes them a fun ingredient to play around with!
- Sweet – While you may sometimes see this referred to as “red vermouth,” the colour comes from caramelized sugar (as opposed to red wine), which is used to sweeten this to higher levels compared to dry. Notably used in the Negroni, you can expect more baking spice in addition to herbs.
- Blanc/Bianco – Think of this as an in-between of the previous two as far as sweetness goes. The profile tends to lean more floral, making it great for pairing with gin!
- Quinquina – Bittered with cinchona bark, this type is reminiscent of tonic water’s profile in how they both have that sharp bitterness from quinine. Lillet Blanc is one of our go-to, boasting citrus notes that lighten any sip!
TIP! As these are wine-based, keep them in the fridge after opening to reduce oxidation.
Bitter Bianca
Have you seen this release in stores yet? If you’re not in the loop, we released our own premium bittersweet aperitivo not too long ago! With perfectly balanced botanicals, Bitter Bianca’s notes of fruit, florals and spice will take your favourite classic cocktails to a new level of elegance.
What should you make first? The possibilities are endless as it shines brightly both as the hero and a supporting role in cocktails! We’d especially recommend mixing up the Negroni Rosa (also featuring our Empress Elderflower Rose Gin) – after all, is there a more quintessential bittersweet cocktail than a Negroni? That said, we have even more recipes you can try HERE!
Negroni Rosa
Whether you’re new to cocktails or a seasoned mixologist, you’ll want to save this list to ensure you’re ready to shake up whatever sip strikes your mood! All that being said, while many of the foundational recipes will be covered with these ingredients, remember that your home bar is ultimately meant to be personalized to your own tastes. Not a fan of lengthened sips? Maybe you don’t need to keep a stash of mixers. Not into vermouth? Feel free to skip it! After all, you’re making these cocktails for yourselves, so your home bar should reflect that accordingly.
For more cocktail inspiration, be sure to check out our Instagram, Cocktail Page, or Blog!
Sip responsibly!
