Make delicious cocktails in lockdown

There’s actually something quite enjoyable about making your own cocktails at home – besides that fact they cost less than half the price than they do in a central London bar.

You can mix them with whatever you want, get a bit creative and choose your own measurements. Then file the recipe for future use – a.k.a., when you can finally invite your friends over again.

We never thought we’d say this (seriously – never), but right now, we’d give an arm and a leg to have our feet stuck to the sugary cocktail-coated floor of a nightclub. We miss going out with our friends and we miss grotty bars that charge us £15 for a watered down Pornstar Martini.

Alas, we’ve got to stay at home to protect the NHS (and Slug Lettuce isn’t open anyway), so in a bid to make weekends feel a little more normal, we’re taking our cocktail game in-house. The sun is shining and the weekend is upon us, so ‘tis the season to trade in your G&T for a fancy schmancy Martini/Moscow Mule/fruity Bramble. Then pop a picture of it on Instagram. #mixologist.

To make your cocktails truly spectacular, you need a few pieces of kit. We’re talking muddlers for crushing fruit, a jigger for measuring out your triple shot of spirit (joking – or are we?), a bar spoon, a juice press and a shaker for the concoctions that come shaken, not stirred. You’ll of course need your spirits and mixers (get a whole array of drinks delivered directly to your door with The Bottle Club) and a cocktail recipe book. Oh, and if you want to be *really* grown up about things, house all of your new equipment on a beautiful bar cart. This Rattan-style drinks cart from Oliver Bonas is chic AF.

Here is every piece of equipment you need to make cocktails at home and what you’ll use it for. If you can’t go to the bar, bring the bar to you.