Understand spirits like
a professional bartender.

Gin is the cocktail bar's most versatile workhorse — a neutral grain spirit redistilled with juniper and a chosen botanical bill.

Juniper, citrus peel, coriander, herbal

Vodka is the canvas spirit — chosen for texture and cleanliness, not flavor.

Neutral, soft, slightly sweet on the palate. Texture matters more than flavor.

Light, dry and the foundation of classic tropical bar work.

Light, gently sweet, faintly grassy or vanilla depending on style.

The deeper, richer side of rum — aged, blended and built for tropical complexity.

Molasses, dried fruit, baking spice, sometimes smoky funk.

Tequila is mezcal's most regulated cousin — only blue Weber agave, only from designated regions of Mexico.

Cooked agave, citrus pith, white pepper, minerality. Aged styles add caramel and oak.

Mezcal is the smoky, broader-shouldered older sibling of tequila — made from many agave species, pit-roasted by tradition.

Smoky, earthy, mineral, vegetal

Bourbon is sweet, vanilla-rich American whiskey made primarily from corn.

Vanilla, caramel, toasted oak, sweet corn

Rye is spicier and drier than bourbon — built for Manhattans, Sazeracs and modern stirred drinks.

Pepper, baking spice, dry oak, sometimes mint or floral notes.

Scotch is Scottish whisky — from delicate Lowland malts to peat-heavy Islay.

Wide range — from light grassy malts to peat-smoke, sea spray and dried fruit.

Irish whiskey is generally lighter, smoother and triple-distilled — perfect for accessible whiskey cocktails.

Smooth, fruity, vanilla, light spice.

Japanese whisky combines Scottish techniques with extreme precision and an emphasis on balance.

Delicate, balanced, often floral, with subtle oak and gentle smoke.

Brandy is grape-based distilled spirit, with national traditions from Cognac to Pisco to Armagnac.

Dried fruit, oak, vanilla, depending on style and age.

Cognac is brandy from a tightly defined French region, with strict double-distillation and aging rules.

Dried fruit, baking spice, oak, honey.

Pisco is a clear grape brandy from Peru and Chile, unaged and aromatic.

Fruity, floral, sometimes grassy, depending on grape.

Vermouth is aromatised, fortified wine — the most important non-spirit modifier in classical bartending.

Herbal, bittersweet, sometimes floral or spicy.

Campari is the world's most recognisable bitter aperitif — bright red, citrus-bitter, the spine of the Negroni.

Bitter orange, herbs, gentian, red fruit.

Aperol is Campari's lighter, sweeter sibling — orange-led, gentle, perfect for Spritz culture.

Bitter orange, light herbal, sweet finish.

Amaro means 'bitter' in Italian — a whole category of herbal digestifs from light to viscous.

Bitter, herbal, sometimes sweet, often with citrus or mint notes.

Triple sec is the umbrella term for clear orange liqueur — Cointreau is the bar standard.

Bitter and sweet orange, clean citrus.

Liqueurs are sweetened spirits flavored with fruit, herbs, cream, coffee or floral elements.

Wide-ranging by category and brand.

Absinthe is a high-strength herbal spirit flavored with grand wormwood, anise and fennel.

Anise, fennel, herbal, slightly bitter.

Sparkling wine is the lifting partner of cocktail bartending — Champagne, Prosecco, Cava and beyond.

Light, dry to off-dry, citrus, brioche or fruit depending on style.

Sake is fermented rice — closer to beer in production but served like wine and increasingly featured in cocktails.

Light, slightly sweet, fruity to umami depending on style.

Zero-proof spirits are a fast-growing category — gins, rums, whiskies and aperitifs designed for cocktail balance without alcohol.

Variable — modeled on the spirit they replace.

Spiced rum is rum flavored with spices, citrus peels and sometimes vanilla — sweeter and louder than aged sipping rum.

Vanilla, cinnamon, clove, sometimes ginger and citrus.

Aperitif is an umbrella term for low-ABV bitter or herbal drinks designed to open a meal.

Light, bitter, citrus or herbal.