🍸 Cocktail Recipe Finder

A well-stocked home bar starts with six base spirits: vodka, gin, white rum, bourbon or rye whiskey, tequila (blanco), and brandy or cognac. With these six bottles plus some basic mixers (simple syrup, citrus juice, bitters, and vermouth), you can make the vast majority of classic cocktails.

Shake cocktails that contain citrus juice, cream, egg, or fruit — shaking aerates and emulsifies these ingredients for a frothy texture. Stir cocktails that are all spirits (like a Martini or Manhattan) — stirring chills and dilutes without adding air bubbles, keeping the drink silky and clear.

Click the "What Can I Make?" tab, then check off all the ingredients you currently have at home. The tool will instantly show you every cocktail you can make with those ingredients, sorted by how many ingredients match. It also shows "almost" matches where you're just one ingredient short.

Easy cocktails require simple mixing or stirring with common ingredients — perfect for beginners. Medium cocktails may involve shaking, muddling, or layering techniques. Hard cocktails require advanced techniques like flaming, egg white dry-shaking, fat-washing, or precise timing with specialized equipment.

Many substitutions work well: swap lime for lemon in sours, use maple syrup instead of simple syrup for depth, replace bourbon with rye for a spicier profile, or use mezcal instead of tequila for smokiness. However, avoid substituting the base spirit entirely — a Margarita without tequila is a different drink.