7 best cocktail making kits to impress your friends with your mixology

Best: Overall

This company offer a dazzling array of kits to make everything from bramble to a Long Island ice tea, but perhaps their most accessible is the mighty mojito. Containing all the necessary spirits for the classic Cuban version as well as two variations – a mint julep and a Bolivian mojito – this kit will make six drinks (coming in at under £6 each). Each of the three versions is genuinely distinctive, so sampling them all does indeed feel like a bit of a voyage of discovery.

Handsomely packaged, we also loved the apothecary-style bottles the booze comes in, and the informative booklet which – as well as recipes – contains cultural and historical insights and serving tips. You’ll need to provide your own mint and limes, but these really add to the fresh taste that’s so central to the drink’s appeal.  

Best: For negronis

Specialising in letterbox-sized luxury cocktail boxes, Cocktail Man kits arrive beautifully-packaged in an Art Deco-style blue box. This one contains Conkers Port Barrel Gin, Campari Bitters and their own rhubarb and ginger “sliqueur”: a portmanteau for signature and liqueur, this is a mildly boozy vermouth-based syrup that gives the drink its unique flavour.

From these ingredients you’ll be able to conjure four generously-proportioned drinks – each garnished with the dehydrated orange slices provided – plus one extra for a garden party gatecrasher (working out at £7 per drink). The company’s other kits cater to a range of tastes, from a fruity mango and passion fruit mojito to a more classic cosmopolitan – plus there’s a changing roster of seasonal offerings.

Best: Value for money

A heady, complex drink very evocative of the city for which it was named, the Manhattan is made with four key ingredients. This kit contains full-sized, premium bottles of the spirits, Woodford Reserve whisky and Cocchi vermouth di Torino, plus Angostura Bitters and a delightfully retro-looking jar of Luxardo Maraschino cherries.

You can really taste the quality of the ingredients on offer here and –although at the upper end of our price spectrum – this kit offers excellent value for money. Depending on which recipe you use (there’s a follow-along video on The Whisky Exchange website), you’ll get up to 15 cocktails out of this bundle: less than £5 a drink. If whisky isn’t your thing the company offers plenty of alternative kits, from more classic cocktails to Bellinis and Pina Coladas.

Best: For sustainability

Blending botanical extracts and Alpine herbs, Austrian-made spirit Moose works well in a variety of different cocktails and the company sell kits to make their spin on drinks from mules to espresso martinis. Its cheapest starts at £9 and is sold through Amazon).

We tried one of the brand’s more complex offers: the raspberry martini. Although containing seven different ingredients it’s straightforward to make, merely a matter of using the supplied jigger to measure the right quantities from various dinky bottles into the stainless steel cocktail shaker. The resulting drink is moreish – fruity without being excessively sweet – and an alluring ruby red in colour.

The kit will make at least four cocktails, with plenty of Moose left over to experiment with – an enclosed cocktail booklet provides ample ideas. Promoted as “the mountain spirit”, Moose puts its money where its mouth is when it comes to sustainability, planting ten trees for every bottle purchased.  

Best: For expresso martinis

Mr Black is a cold brew coffee liqueur made with arabica beans blended with Australian vodka and cuts a lot of the faff out of making espresso martinis, which ordinarily require freshly-brewed coffee. The kit contains a 700ml bottle of Mr Black, plus one litre of solo coffee concentrate – all you need to make 11 cocktails.

With an exceptionally rich and smooth taste, these are slightly less alcoholic than espresso martinis made using the conventional recipe, which generally also feature a double shot of vodka. But what’s lost in booze is more than compensated for in both flavour and caffeine, and the included cocktail shaker will make a useful addition to any home bar.  

Best: For simplicity

Although margaritas are usually made with limes, this kit pairs Tequila Enemigo 89 with a lemon mixer made by Two Keys using Spanish lemons, which have a comparable sweetness to the traditional Mexican citrus. It’s a very fresh and drinkable combination, ideal for a summer picnic, and has the simplest serve of all our featured cocktails: just add crushed ice.

The kit comes with some nicely-designed monochrome coasters and a bottle opener, plus enough mixer to make around eight margaritas - with plenty of tequila leftover. A multiple award-winning brand, it’s named for the number of iterations it took perfect it and is surprisingly sippable neat, with a rounded mineral taste and vanilla undertones.

Best: For a fun gift

Part stylish joke, part cocktail kit – this would make an excellent gift for a friend who’s over-indulged at the home bar. The distinctive red steel tin evokes a vintage first aid kit – Alka-Seltzer and Berocca tablets are thrown in for good measure – and can be personalised with a name or date.

Inside you’ll find two classic LSA highball glasses (each worth at least £10) and enough Absolut Vodka and Big Tom spiced tomato juice to fill them with generous servings of bloody mary – just add Tabasco to achieve your desired level of heat. Not-Another-Bill also offers an Emergency Cocktail Kit, filled with your choice of premixed drinks and miniature spirits, plus an espresso martini gift set.