4 bottles and 3 tools essential for your home bar, according to mixologist Susan Choi

“To kick off, one of my favorite must-haves: You can't really do anything without a shaker, and the best brand is a very kind of ‘industry brand,’ but it's called Koriko,” says Choi. “And they’re beautiful.

“I mean, they're pricey, but honestly, you only need one. I mean, if you have a whole bar. And the thing is, I double it as a stirring glass, so I don't even use a stirring glass. I use that because it stays cold. And you can use the shorter part: I stir all my drinks in there. 

“I love that it's weighted, and somehow it's quite light, too, because you know, everything is built for a man. It's pretty lightweight and I feel like I can handle it really well without like it slipping out of my hand and like giving someone a concussion, which would be the end.

“I think ultimately when it comes down to serving a good cocktail, it's really how do you keep the integrity of the drink? Koriko is great. The way that their steel is, it provides a great insulation. Your ice basically shakes and dilutes like it needs to for a cocktail. Technically speaking, it works really, really well.”

“I do feel like you need a Hawthorne strainer, but I'm into the double-straining,” says Choi. “I think that's really important, especially nowadays, because again, the integrity of the drink. You're working so hard to make sure that you don't over-dilute your drink and all of that, and you don't want ice chips in your drink. So that's why we always double strain: I always have a Hawthorne, and then it's strained out into a really fine mesh strainer.

Choi’s pick for best Hawthorne strainer 

“So as far as the Hawthorne again ergonomically what works really well for me are the Koriko brand ones,” says Choi. 

“You know now as I reflect I think you know they are Japanese crafted and Japanese made. You know, Japanese design does tend to be much more like sleeker and smaller. I would say, if I were just to put it bluntly, like nothing's huge in Japan. Everything is always like small and little, and I think maybe that's why ergonomically it must feel really good, you know.” 

Choi’s pick for fine mesh strainer 

“You know what I do? I go to William Sonoma, and I just buy a bunch of really small mesh strainers, like the fine mesh,” says Choi. “They're in like their hardware section, you know, where the garlic peeler is.”

“I think the COVID shift, with lots of people doing drinks at home, what that did for a lot of the general population in terms of folks who are interested in drinks and food is they really kind of leveled up, right?” says Choi. “You know, they started learning a lot about products and and started nerding out a little. 

“So, I would say honestly like five years ago, I would have never talked about ice. But I think now I think ice is a thing.

“It's crazy because there's loads of products out there that really help you get on your ice game. And, you know, everybody wants, really ‘hard’ double-frozen ice that will not dilute your drink, that will shake in a tin and not break apart. Your worst nightmare is like that 7-Eleven ice, you know, like the circle when it has the hole in it. I've had to use that once and I was like, ‘Oh my god. No.’

“We use these molds at the bar, too, when we do our really fancy ices. Basically, imagine like a styrofoam, but like a hard styrofoam insulated ice mold. The way that you freeze your water basically — I’m not a scientist at all — but what the insulation is the ice to freeze from top to bottom instead of just freezing all around like what you do like in an regular ice cube tray. 

|It really pushes all the impurities down and that's really what's creating that clarity in your eyes. You know like when you get that frozen ice, and it looks so beautiful?”

“Tanqueray is just great,” says Choi. “It's, you know, it's just a good old gin that will make your gin tonic, but you can also make it into a great martini. You know, all the big martinis bars use Tanqueray for their martinis. It's just a good gin. ”

“Then it’s really fun to stock a local one, too. So, for me it would be Gray Whale, which has become quite popular now. Gray Whale is a California-based gin from the Northwest coast of California. They use sea kelp in their gin and things like that, and it gives a very Cali-ocean vibe.”

Vermouth is about to have a major moment, whether you’re splashing it in a negroni or sipping it neat, says Choi. Her go-to is the easily found Antica Formula. 

“The reason why it's so popular and it works well is that it really hits that right balance of sweetness and dryness. 

And it’s red: Red vermouths do tend to be more popular, because the white ones are much drier. And I do think that in terms of people's pallets, we're still kind of needing that— not sweetness, I would say, but really kind of what that's providing to balance a drink.”

You might think of Campari as a mixer, but now that we’re post-peak-Aperol-spritz consider it the vivid orange bitter’s more worldly sibling: a little less happy-hour, a little more European. Choi recommends keeping a bottle on the bar to zhuzh up drinks or just pour a sophisticated-but-simple Campari soda. Just one word of advice? Don’t skimp on the brand name. 

“I mean they obviously clearly have the entire market share of the world, and we have tried other brands but nothing hits like Campari,” says Choi. “It's cost-effective — I think that the cost is quite good — and Campari can go a long way. It’s the best in class.”

You might think of Campari as a mixer, but now that we’re post-peak-Aperol-spritz consider it the vivid orange bitter’s more worldly sibling: a little less happy-hour, a little more European. Choi recommends keeping a bottle on the bar to zhuzh up drinks or just pour a sophisticated-but-simple Campari soda. Just one word of advice? Don’t skimp on the brand name. 

“I mean they obviously clearly have the entire market share of the world, and we have tried other brands but nothing hits like Campari,” says Choi. “It's cost-effective — I think that the cost is quite good — and Campari can go a long way. It’s the best in class.”