Cocktail enthusiasts - where do you purchase your materials and ingredients?

If in Houston, I would go to Specs for ingredients...for materials, try a place like Williams Sonoma.

There are some good websites on home bar essentials...like this one:

LINK

Cocktail kingdom is awesome for tools

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Bitters

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We started out by getting two Scrappy's bitters set from Amazon. 4 x 1/2oz bottles in each set. AMAZONThen we just pick up stuff at the liquor store as we go. Definitely make it a priority to buy Orange Blossom water whenever we are in N.O.

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Vermouth

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Liquor store. If they don't have what you want, they will order it. Look for carpano brand vermouths. Especially the Antica Formula. Also stock up on a couple of Amaros like Amaro Nonino, Montenegro, and Cynar.

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Shakers

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Aside from a shaker, look into getting a mixing glass and a spoon.

That's all I got...

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-Bitters, orange bitters, etc.

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Get bitters off Amazon. 1000s of choices. Free shipping.

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-Vermouth

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As I type, I'm sitting 2-3 ft from ~18 different vermouths. Do research. Don't go cheap on vermouth. I mean, Dolin is cheap and it would be my main rec for go to vermouth. No Martini & Rossi. No Gallo. No Noilly Prat. If you got Carpano Antica money go for it. Dolin is great and cheap. Cocchi Vermouth di Torino is great. If you got Cocchi Barolo Chinato money, then gotta give it a try. Added a new depth that's amazing. All of these, except maybe the Chinato, are common and delicious.

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-Simple syrup, sugar cubes

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Always make your own simple syrup. Someone mentioned 1 to 1 and that's all you need to know. 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of water, for example. Ignore websites that say cook it on the stove. Microwave it for 3 min, stir and you're ready to go. And, the best thing to learn about cocktails is to treat them like a chef treats food. Look for flavors you like, whether it's herbs, spices, fruits, substituting the water with something flavored, etc. and add these things to syrups to create new dynamics to your cocktails.

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-Highball glasses, martini glasses

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If you're in Baton Rouge, stop by Ducote's. Cheap in person shopping could be Tuesday Morning or Kohls or World Market is great. Expensive in person shopping would be Sur la Table or Williams Sonoma. Online check out Amazon or Webstaurantstore. All of the glassware you could imagine on webstaurantstore. Cocktail Kingdom has legit glassware, also.

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-Shakers

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If you want to do it right, Cocktail Kingdom is the only way to go. Period. Lots of choices on Amazon. Lots and lots of choices on Webstaurantstore. Can't go wrong with any of those. You need a good big and small shaker, a Hawthorne strainer with prongs and a mesh strainer to double strain. The Yarai (mixing glass), spoon and Julep strainer are necessities for stirred cocktails.

Hope this helps and have fun. Cheers!