Five Bottles - Ten Martinis

How easy is it to create a variety of drinks with just a few bottles? Pretty easy if you choose the right combination of spirits. For instance, I hosted a cocktail reception a few weeks back and I wanted to make the bar as simple as possible. My base spirits were Finlandia Vodka, Woodford Reserve Bourbon Whiskey and Don Eduardo Tequila. In addition to those bottles I had on hand both dry and sweet vermouths, Angostura bitters and the juice mix for a Beach Blanket Bingo with soda water. Out of this slimly stocked bar I was able to offer my guests a nice variety of drinks:

• Vodka Martini (dry, perfect and sweet as well)
• Bourbon Manhattan
• Tequini
• Bay Breeze
• Beach Blanket Bingo (mocktail)

Along those same lines, an equally shallow bar can produce a nice selection of easy cocktails that are not as different from each other as those above, yet produce a variety of tastes. This list is assuming you have only these bottles available to you. If you're garnishing with olives you'll obviously have brine and can add a Dirty Martini to the list. Likewise, if you have lemon or lime juice, then you have a potential Gimlet or April Rain. The possibilities are endless, my point is that you can create choice with a limited stock.

Five Bottles:

1. Gin
2. Vodka
3. Sweet Vermouth
4. Dry Vermouth
5. Angostura Bitters

Ten Martinis

1. Bronx
2. Diamond Martini
3. Dry Martini
4. Gin & It
5. In & Out Martini
6. Martini
7. Perfect Martini
8. Pink Gin
9. Vesper Martini
10. Vodka Martini

Photo Credit: © Matthew Spolin