4 Home Bar Cocktail Tips That'll Save You Money

A swanky, chic cocktail bar will always be timeless — and (almost) always expensive. Especially in metropolitan environments, '20s-inspired speakeasies, piano bars, and modernized hip spots offer cocktails that can reach into the 20-dollar range. While consumers can justify the price by saying that part of the experience is a trendy and aesthetic ambiance, an at-home upscale cocktail allows you to save some cash while introducing an elegant air to a night in.

While mimicking the qualities of craft cocktails — such as high-end liquors, special garnishes, and show-stopping presentations — is surely a way to bring a velvet-covered speakeasy to your home, you can elevate an everyday cocktail without breaking the bank. When it comes to saving money, building little habits can go a long way. Following certain preparation steps, as well as reusing ingredients as modifiers, accents, and garnishes, can help you craft quality cocktails without unnecessary spending. Whether you've got an apartment bar cart or decked-out walls with shelves of liquor, here are some tips to save you from spending too much for an at-home cocktail.

Let's face it: Making high-end cocktails with differing quantities of various ingredients leads to a litany of mistakes — especially if it isn't your first cocktail of the evening. A specialty cocktail from scratch is bound to have errors, so be sure not to waste your expensive liquor on a mishap. Instead, bartenders and mixology experts suggest pouring the cheapest liquid first and the most expensive last. Whether you're pouring a concoction into a shaker, stirring glass, or right into the vessel that you'll serve the cocktail in, this rule of thumb will prevent you from wasting any of your premium stuff.

For example, if you're making a whiskey sour, add the whiskey last. Or, if you're in a Negroni mood — which is just equal parts sweet vermouth, gin, and Campari — start with the vermouth, as that is most likely to be the cheapest of the three. Depending on your gin of choice, it may be more or less expensive than the Campari, but most gins run on the pricier side — so it's best to save that for last in case of any errors.

Simple syrup is a pesky ingredient that appears in a wide range of cocktail recipes. Some may think that you have to purchase simple syrup for a cocktail that needs a sweet undertone. But its essence is in the name — it's simple to make. Simple syrup is just one part sugar diluted into one part water, two ingredients you almost always have at your disposal.

To make simple syrup, let one part — say, a half cup — of water come to a simmer. Turn the heat to low, add a half cup of sugar, and stir until the crystals are fully dissolved into the water. You can also infuse simple syrup with other ingredients to add nuanced flavors to your cocktails. For a floral, herbal simple syrup, throw in some sprigs of rosemary, which would complement a sweet, bright cocktail. For a robust, smoky simple syrup, dissolve some barbecue rub into the mix, such as this dry barbecue rub. To make matters even easier, dilute honey into some water to imitate a simple syrup.

It's no secret that garnishes are more than a pretty addition to finish off a cocktail — they contribute significantly to a cocktail's aromas and tastes. But sometimes, the garnishes are a bit miscellaneous. Citrus twists, cinnamon sticks, sprigs of herbs — it can prove difficult to perfectly mimic up-scale drinks with their demanding garnish requirements.

To make it easier on yourself, as you go throughout your meal recipes, keep some leftovers that could be repurposed as garnishes. For instance, if a recipe calls for lemon juice, keep that lemon in your fridge — its peel is still useful for garnishing. Or, before squeezing a lemon for a recipe, you can pre-peel the fruit and keep the twists in an airtight bag over a damp paper towel to then use them later as cocktail garnish.

A cocktail recipe may call for a fresh sprig of rosemary, but what if you used your fresh rosemary already for last night's chicken? That's why it's worth keeping the stems. Herbs' stems contain the oils and aromas of the leaves that they house, so you can reuse those leftover stems to add an aromatic nuance to your cocktail.

The biggest tip to help you save money with an at-home cocktail is to use what you have. Many home drinkers flock to grocery stores to get their pre-made mixes for margaritas and bloody marys — but now, many supermarkets are luring shoppers into purchasing mixes for other specialty cocktails, like a bee's knees or a highball. Little do some shoppers know that these cocktail mixes — which are usually priced higher than the sum of their ingredients — can be recreated with items already present in most pantries.

For instance, to make a margarita, there's no need to purchase the additive- and artificial flavor-ridden mixes — all you need is the liquor and some lime juice. For a spicy version, just throw in some jalapeño slices into the cocktail shaker. A bloody mary is equally simple — it just requires breaking some of those crusted-over condiments caps in the back of your fridge. Rather than instantly resorting to a pre-made mix, it's worth checking out a cocktail's recipe — it can save you some cash and a trip to the store.