I would never go for a manhattan shaker. They are notorious for locking up, as soon as there's a bit of liquid in the cracks (unless you buy really expensive japanese ones). They are also harder to clean than the simple two cups of a boston shaker, and the extra strainer isn't really hard to use.

I haven't used a parisian shaker, but that seems like it could do fine, but might lock up on you.


My own kit is made of a lot of individual stuff. Some from amazon, some from local shop, and some from china. If you want, I can do a writeup of where i got it, but since it's from china, it will take a month before you will receive the goods. However, the guys behind AbarAbove.com recently launched their quality bar tools line. They have a complete set of tools, which all seem to be of great quality. They have only gotten 5-star reviews so far: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LVY7VMH. It's $63 for the complete set.

Or you can just buy their boston shaker for $20, and this excellent strainer from OxO ($7), along with this measuring cup ($5)

Then you have a pretty good starter set. A fine strainer can be bought in most dollar stores locally for next to nothing, or you can find one on amazon. They are pretty much all the same, but it isn't really required if you're just starting out. I also have a bar spoon, a mixing glass and a muddler, but to be honest, I rarely use them. If you need to muddle something, use a wooden spoon or something. If you decide you really need one, look for one which is at least 6 inches long, to avoid bashing your knuckles on the edges of the shaker, or google "morgenthaler homemade muddler".

Hope your GF will be happy with your gift!


EDIT: Missed the part about you being from UK. Here's an updated list. I'll let the other one be for any americans who might wander through here.

• Shaker: Homekeros sems to have a good one. (£16, £19 with a strainer) The strainer looks fine.
  
• Shaker (alternative): If budget is a concern, then the Mezclar Tin on Tin Boston Shaker (£6) looks fine. One reviewer said, however, that the small tin was so tiny, it almost dropped to the bottom before making a seal. The other 9 reviews are happy with it though. Still, It's an amazing price!
  
• Strainer: The OXO strainer (£5.43 + £3.19 S+H)
  
• Measuring Cup: OXO angles measuring cup (£4.25)
  
• Citrus juicer: I kind of forgot about it in the main post, but this is a tool that get used every time I use the shaker and sometimes also just for cooking. Very useful. I recommend the Chef'n freshforce citrus juicer (£22.32)
  
  Seeing as there is a shipping charge, I probably wouldn't go for the OXO Strainer unless there's something else that you need from the american amazon. The one from the Homekeros set should be adequate.

Are you just bartending casually at home or are you looking to do it as a job in the future?

Jefferey Morgenthaler's book is great:https://www.amazon.com/Bar-Book-Elements-Cocktail-Technique/dp/145211384X

You'll want to get a jigger, I recommend oxo's graduated jigger, a barspoon, a mixing glass, a strainer, a set of shaker tins (get a small and a large, and seriously splurge for koriko not the other bullshit)

Those are all of the essentials, beyond that everything is fairly unnecessary but there are tons of other things you can buy. I guess a vegetable peeler could be handy for peels but you can just use a sharp paring knife for zest garnishes.

For glassware you can spend as much or as little as you want, depending on how much you care about appearance. When I first starting making drinks at home I had glasses for every variety of drink. I still have those glasses, but basically use these for everything, regardless if it's shaken stirred or whatever. Gimlets taste delicious out of them, manhattans taste delicious out of them.

One little handy thing I've found is these seagram's bottles. Buy a 6 pk of the little glass club soda bottles. Once you use the soda, rinse them out and they're perfect for storing syrups, juices, etc. Plastic caps won't deteriorate like metal will in other styles of bottlees. They're short so they fit in weird parts of your fridge, hold enough syrup for plenty of drinks, etc etc.

Some comments and opinions, operating under the assumption that you are after a classic, basic margarita that will knock people's socks off, and aiming to steer you to that without bothering to deal with riffs and variations that one could do within the realm of "margarita":

Your Questions Answered / Margaritas 101

1. For the tequila, 100% agave is the only key. If it doesn't say 100% agave, don't even consider it, it's shit in a bottle masquerading as tequila. That said, there are plenty of perfectly serviceable 100% agave tequilas at/under ~$30/bottle, which is about what I'd expect to spend on a bottle for making margaritas. My preference is blanco - reposado and anejos tend to result in heavier-tasting drinks that aren't what most people want/expect when they ask for a margarita. They can be good, but let's get the basics down first. For specifics, Siembra Azul Blanco is my preference, though you can't go wrong with El Mayor Blanco, El Jimador Blanco, etc.
   
   
2. "While others say lime juice in a bottle is fine and can hardly tell the difference." <- people who say this are wrong, and you should discard both this and the rest of their opinions about cocktails and life in general. Lime cordial (Rose's) could have a place in a recipe, but it will be a variation on what a margarita is supposed to be, and it is certainly not a 1:1 sub for lime juice. Never, never, never (ever, ever, just for fuck's sake do not) buy ReaLime or any variation of grocery store plastic-bottled lime juice with the intent to use it in a cocktail of any kind, and certainly not in a margarita where lime juice is one of the stars of the show. It will only end in sadness and regret.
   
   
3. Cointreau. Bottom shelf plastic-bottled triple sec (Montezuma, DeKuyper, Jacquin's, etc.) is absolutely not a substitution. The "why" is basically the same as why you should insist on 100% agave tequila, and real lime juice: a good rule of thumb is that a cocktail is only as good as it's worst ingredient. Most triple sec is syrupy artificial garbage that bears no similarities to Cointreau or good curacao or Grand Marnier, other than that it's technically an orange-flavored liqueur. So, spend the extra $10 and buy a bottle of something that was actually made with oranges.
   
   
4. I'm also partial to the Jim Meehan / Dave Arnold recipe:
   2 oz tequila
   0.75 oz Cointreau
   0.75 oz fresh squeezed lime juice
   0.25 oz simple syrup (make this yourself, it's called 'simple' for a reason)
   Shake with ice, hawthorne strain into a glass. Garnish with salt/lime wedge per your or your guest's preferences.
   
   Regarding "replace triple sec with simple syrup". They aren't even sort of the same or similar tasting. No.
   
   Regarding orange juice: Nope. You could certainly make the case for playing around with some (again, preferably fresh squeezed) orange juice in a variation of a margarita, but it has no place in a classic margarita.
   
   
   

   Barware Recommendations
   

   
   I noticed elsewhere that you mentioned bar tools. My recommendations are:
   
   For your shaker/strainer, I haaaaaate three-piece tins. Hate them. Simply: in my experience they are very leak-prone. So, despite seeming like the simpler, one-stop-shop option, they kind of aren't. Also, they're typically not particularly well balanced or weighted, which makes shaking more awkward than it needs to be.
   
   So, my preference is to buy two piece tins: Koriko tins - awesome, appropriately weighted, seal nicely. It seems silly, but watch this video too, and look at how to break the seal. Trust me.
   
   ...and then a separate Hawthorne strainer. People have their preferences. I have an Oxo Hawthorne. It works.
   
   Glass rimmer: The one you linked would work fine, but it's not necessary if you have a small plate and a lime. This is the secret of glass-rimming as far as I'm concerned: to prep the rim for salt, do not use water. Use your garnish, preferably a citrus fruit. Cut yourself a lime wedge, then cut a single-cut notch in the flesh of the lime. Get your glass, put the lip of the glass in the notch, and run the lime around the rim. Put some coarse kosher salt on a plate, and flip your limey-rimmed glass into it until you've got the coverage you want. I would also specify to not use table salt. The grains are too fine, so with every sip you'll get much more salt/perceived salt taste - it will be overwhelming, basically.
   
   Juicer - the one you linked is probably fine. To a certain extent, an elbow (/handheld cocktail juicer) is an elbow. To wit: I use a Tanqueray-branded one I got for free somewhere along the line. It's totally adequate, and the one you linked will be too.
   
   ...
   
   Holy shit, that got long. Anyway, ask away if you've got any more questions - happy to offer an opinion.

http://12bottlebar.com/

Go to that site, which is sadly no longer active, but the back log is great. Find recipes that basically use the stuff you have, and start working your way through it. Read the articles.

Or, they have a book, which is worth buying.

You will likely not be needing that blender, at least not very often. I find most blended drinks are more work than what they're worth on a small scale.

Otherwise, you just need a shaker and a pint glass for stirred drinks. You also might want to purchase a Hawthorne Strainer, a jigger, and possibly a mesh strainer.

I could list out 50 drinks that basically just use the spirits you have plus some juices/sugar, but I'd just be listing the stuff that's on 12 Bottle Bars site.

I won't do a ton, but here's an example of one rabbit hole: First, make a Gimlet, if you like it, then try a Fitzgerald, if you like it, then make a Bee's Knees. If you like that, then make a Gold Rush...

You get the idea.

I guess I'm confused. You're getting him a cobbler shaker, but that has a built-in strainer. So you wouldn't want to get him a Hawthorne, you'd want to get him a fine strainer for double strained cocktails. If you want to get a Hawthorne for the mixing glass, the Oxo strainer (available on Amazon) is very highly rated by the folks here.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000NNO2X0/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1484408642&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=boston+shaker&dpPl=1&dpID=31d8BgihRpL&ref=plSrch

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0000DAQ93/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1484408783&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=hawthorne+strainer&dpPl=1&dpID=51H0dKd5jBL&ref=plSrch

Used this for 3 years, works great, never leaks. Cobbler shakers are kind of clunky and leak on me. With the Hawthorne strainer you will be ready to make 95% of all drinks.

thanks for the info. I just bought [this mixing glass] (https://www.target.com/p/libbey-25-25oz-cocktail-mixing-glass/-/A-50910405?&ref=Order_Confirmation_Email) but I'm not sure if the hawthorne will be big enough.

For example, the [OXO hawthorne on Amazon] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000DAQ93/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_4nRuzbT8J1N7Z) is only 4.4 inches wide, and the mixing glass is 4.7...

Meh. I guess the third one. Best reviews and it has a metal-on-metal shaker, which is my personal preference. If your interest persists you will probably end up upgrading almost everything in the kit.

You could probably get by for a long time with just a shaker, jigger, barspoon, hawthorne strainer, and a fine mesh strainer.

$47 total and all those products have a much better chance of persisting in a cocktail enthusiast's equipment for the long haul. You could later add quality versions of the other stuff (muddler, more jiggers, etc).

I have owned (and still use!) everything in that above list. Though I am considering upgrading the hawthorne strainer to one with a tighter coil in the spring (I have heard good things about Cocktail Kingdom's).

Shakers: http://www.cocktailkingdom.com/all-barware/shakers/set-of-two-korikor-weighted-shaking-tins.html

Strainer: http://www.amazon.com/OXO-1058016-SteeL-Cocktail-Strainer/dp/B0000DAQ93/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1406991455&sr=8-2&keywords=hawthorne+strainer

Fine strainer: http://www.amazon.com/OXO-Good-Grips-3-Inch-Strainer/dp/B001713L84/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1406991666&sr=8-3&keywords=tea+strainer

Spoon: http://www.amazon.com/Winco-11-inch-Mixing-Stainless-Removable/dp/B000HBOKIA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1406991471&sr=8-2&keywords=bar+spoon

Jigger; http://www.amazon.com/OXO-Grips-Angled-Measuring-Capacity/dp/B004VLYQEK/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1406991493&sr=8-11&keywords=measuring+cup+oxo

Juicer: http://www.amazon.com/Amco-Enameled-Aluminum-Lemon-Squeezer/dp/B0002V23BG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1406991583&sr=8-2&keywords=hand+juicer

Muddler: http://www.amazon.com/Cocktail-Muddler-Bursting-Cocktails-Guarantee/dp/B00DDTGV12/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1406991636&sr=8-1&keywords=muddle

That is really all you need to pretty much do anything. You can also check your local store for a small cutting board, paring knife, cocktail napkins, etc.

Also, /r/cocktails

Edit: Almost forgot: http://www.reddit.com/r/cocktails/comments/1vb2os/not_cocktail_of_the_week_54_alaska/cfx501b

Here's the OXO strainer. Sucks that it's so expensive there. It's $7 US here, and I do prefer it to a standard Hawthorne, however the standard will certainly get the job done.

I also prefer a French shaker myself. That's certainly a matter of preference. I feel like I'm seeing more shakers other than the standard Boston popping up at high end bars these days, so I'm not alone.

I don't really like the cobbler shakers. When they get cold the cap freezes on, turning them into an unreliable version of a French shaker anyway (still have to worry it might just fly off when you're shaking) so why not just go French?

Just bottles & cans at this point. When you say "spoon trick," are you referring to a tablespoon or to a cocktail strainer?

The basics:
Shaker: http://www.amazon.com/Premium-Cocktail-Shaker-Set-Stainless/dp/B000796F1W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377017012&sr=8-1&keywords=cocktail+shaker

Spoon: http://www.amazon.com/RSVP-Endurance-Stainless-Steel-Handle/dp/B000F7JY00/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1377017049&sr=8-3&keywords=cocktail+spoon

Muddler: http://www.amazon.com/Tablecraft-H4258-Stainless-Muddler-Plastic/dp/B0032FOQY6/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1377017078&sr=8-8&keywords=cocktail+muddler

My fav strainer: http://www.amazon.com/OXO-1058016-SteeL-Cocktail-Strainer/dp/B0000DAQ93/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377017130&sr=8-1&keywords=cocktail+strainer

Jigger: http://www.amazon.com/OXO-Steel-Angled-Measuring-Jigger/dp/B00B6LUAPW/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1377017174&sr=8-6&keywords=oxo+measuring+cup

These few things should get her to a good start. If she prefers a Boston Shaker (http://www.amazon.com/Stainless-Steel-Cocktail-Shaker-oz/dp/B000NNO2X0/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1377017243&sr=8-6&keywords=cocktail+shaker), all you'll need is a typical pint glass to go with it.

Oh, you've gotta get these big ice cube trays. Only way to enjoy your cocktail, if you're serious about your drinks.(http://www.amazon.com/Tovolo-KING-Cube-Trays-Blue/dp/B00395FHRO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377017434&sr=8-1&keywords=big+ice+cube+tray).

Does she has glassware? Collins glasses, old fashioned glasses, highballs? Might be good to look for some of those too. Also, people often give away glassware on Craigslist for free or for next to nothing.

If I can think of anything else, I'll come back to this. Should get you off to a good start though.

It's a cocktail strainer. Here's Oxo's version

Cocktail strainer

OXO SteeL Cocktail Strainer https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000DAQ93/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_2C4VBb5B6WW40