Build your gin cocktail home bar for under £100 Part II

In Part I of our suggestions for building the perfect gin cocktail home bar, we showed you how to start with a 4-cocktail bar for under £40, gradually building on the items in that bar to reach a 6-cocktail bar for under £70. In part II we're stepping things up a notch!

We've added a few select ingredients specific to classic gin cocktail recipes - all relatively easy to mix at home - that will bring your cocktail flexibility all the way up to 15 different drinks for under £150. If you build your bar step by step, you'll soon be the envy of your friends and you certainly won't break the bank. 

Although we are a “Craft” Gin Club and love tasting and sending our members all of the incredible gins being produced by independent distillers, we’ve opted with the two market-standard brands which remain benchmark gins for bartenders and have different flavour profiles - Beefeater and Tanqueray - for the sake of simplicity.  

We’ve also assumed that you have sugar in the house as some of the cocktails call for simple syrup which only costs a few pence worth of sugar. Lemons, limes, sparkling water and tonic water, however, are not a given and have thusly been added to the cost. 

Let us know if you think of any other ways of juggling these ingredients and costs to build your home gin cocktail bar. We’d love to hear your thoughts! We'll be back next week with more tips and more cocktails. In the meantime, enjoy building your starter bar and cheers for your first cocktail!

Build an 8-cocktail gin bar for under £100

After the standard dry martini, why not try something a little sweeter? All it takes is a bottle of sweet vermouth. But that’s not all you can do with the herbal red liquor. Throw in a little Campari and you have one of the most classic gin cocktails, the Negroni. 

• G&T
• Gimlet
• Gin Fizz
• Tom Collins
• Pink Gin
• Martini
• Sweet Martini
• Negroni

G&T

Gimlet

Gin Fizz

Tom Collins

Pink Gin

Martini

Sweet Martini

Negroni

Ingredients

• Beefeater - £23.09
• Limes - £1.50 for 6
• Lemons - £1.50 for 4
• Sparkling Water - £1 for 1 litre
• Tonic Water - £17.18 for 1x 24 case of 200ml Fever Tree Indian Tonic
• Angostura Bitters (200ml) - £10
• Dolin Dry Vermouth: £13.09
• Dolin Sweet Vermouth: £13.09
• Campari: £19.00

Beefeater - £23.09

Limes - £1.50 for 6

Lemons - £1.50 for 4

Sparkling Water - £1 for 1 litre

Tonic Water - £17.18 for 1x 24 case of 200ml Fever Tree Indian Tonic

Angostura Bitters (200ml) - £10

Dolin Dry Vermouth: £13.09

Dolin Sweet Vermouth: £13.09

Campari: £19.00

Total: £99.45

Build a 10-cocktail gin bar for under £120

Cherries aren’t necessarily a fruit that you would regularly associated with gin’s juniper and citrus lead notes, but what some believe to be the precursor of the Martini was sweet before it dried off. The Martinez calls for sweet vermouth, bitters and maraschino liqueur. The maraschino can then be used in another classic gin cocktail, the Singapore Sling. The original recipe in the Savoy Cocktail Book from 1930 calls for 1/4 lemon, 1/4 dry gin, 1/2 cherry brandy (maraschino), then to shake well and strain before topping off with sparkling water. So simple yet so elegantly classic!

• G&T
• Gimlet
• Gin Fizz
• Tom Collins
• Pink Gin
• Martini
• Sweet Martini
• Negroni
• Singapore Sling
• Martinez

G&T

Gimlet

Gin Fizz

Tom Collins

Pink Gin

Martini

Sweet Martini

Negroni

Singapore Sling

Martinez

Ingredients

• Beefeater - £17.77
• Limes - £1.50 for 6
• Lemons - £1.50 for 4
• Sparkling Water - £1 for 1 litre
• Tonic Water - £17.18 for 1x 24 case of 200ml Fever Tree Indian Tonic
• Angostura Bitters (200ml) - £10
• Dolin Dry Vermouth: £13.09
• Dolin Sweet Vermouth: £13.09
• Campari: £19.00
• Luxardo Maraschino: £21.76

Beefeater - £17.77

Limes - £1.50 for 6

Lemons - £1.50 for 4

Sparkling Water - £1 for 1 litre

Tonic Water - £17.18 for 1x 24 case of 200ml Fever Tree Indian Tonic

Angostura Bitters (200ml) - £10

Dolin Dry Vermouth: £13.09

Dolin Sweet Vermouth: £13.09

Campari: £19.00

Luxardo Maraschino: £21.76

Total: £115.89

SPLURGE! Build your 15-cocktail gin bar for under £150

Just a few more ingredients on your gin back bar expands your range of cocktails by half! First, start with the Creme de Violette for the classic Aviation which claims the maraschino and lemon juice as ingredients and its cousin cocktail the Blue Moon which omits the maraschino. Next, the bottle of sparkling wine - prosecco works fine - will open you up to a French 75 (with lemon juice and simple syrup) as well as a Sparkling Negroni (you could really use the prosecco in place of the sparkling water in other drinks on the list to spice things up). Finally, throw a little pot of honey into the mix and you’ve got all you need for a Bees Knees.  

• G&T
• Gimlet
• Gin Fizz
• Tom Collins
• Pink Gin
• Martini
• Sweet Martini
• Negroni
• Singapore Sling
• Martinez
• Aviation
• Blue Moon
• French 75
• Sparkling Negroni
• Bees Knees

G&T

Gimlet

Gin Fizz

Tom Collins

Pink Gin

Martini

Sweet Martini

Negroni

Singapore Sling

Martinez

Aviation

Blue Moon

French 75

Sparkling Negroni

Bees Knees

Ingredients:

• Beefeater 24 - £23.09
• Limes - £1.50 for 6
• Lemons - £1.50 for 4
• Sparkling Water - £1 for 1 litre
• Tonic Water - £17.18 for 1x 24 case of 200ml Fever Tree Indian Tonic
• Angostura Bitters (200ml) - £10
• Dolin Dry Vermouth: £13.09
• Dolin Sweet Vermouth: £13.09
• Campari: £19.00
• Luxardo Maraschino: £21.76
• Creme de Violette: £13.68
• Prosecco: £9.56
• Honey (organic): £3.25

Beefeater 24 - £23.09

Limes - £1.50 for 6

Lemons - £1.50 for 4

Sparkling Water - £1 for 1 litre

Tonic Water - £17.18 for 1x 24 case of 200ml Fever Tree Indian Tonic

Angostura Bitters (200ml) - £10

Dolin Dry Vermouth: £13.09

Dolin Sweet Vermouth: £13.09

Campari: £19.00

Luxardo Maraschino: £21.76

Creme de Violette: £13.68

Prosecco: £9.56

Honey (organic): £3.25

Total: £147.70