Setting up a cocktail bar at home can be a serious investment, but it doesn’t take a bank loan to make yourself a quality drink in your own kitchen. As with nearly any recipe, it’s most cost effective to buy your ingredients in bulk and make many cocktails instead of shopping for one recipe. We priced out the cheapest ingredients available on Amazon Prime/Fresh and combined them with our picks for budget booze to create the cheapest cocktails around. Prices may vary, but this should give you a rough estimate.
While the O.G. Rickey doesn’t get much recognition compared to its gin-based sibling, it’s the cheapest cocktail on the block thanks to low-cost bourbon, cheapo soda water and “half a lime.”
Ingredients: Evan Williams Black Label ($12) + Soda ($3 for a 6-pack of 12-oz cans) + Limes ($4.40 for about 5)
Yields: 10 cocktails
Price per cocktail: $1.94
The Essentials
bourbon
lime
club soda
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Coca-Cola is capitalism incarnate, so it makes sense the soda would be one of the cheapest mixers on this list. Well-priced dark rum and limes by the pound help, too.
Ingredients: El Dorado Original Dark Superior Rum ($14) + Coke ($1 for 1.25 liters) + Limes ($4.40 for about five)
Yields: 10 cocktails
Price per cocktail: $1.94
The Essentials
Rum
Lime Juice
Coca-Cola
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Johnnie Walker costs a fraction of the price of the competition—and tastes just as good. Combine it with simple soda, and you have a budget cocktail to beat the rest.
Ingredients: Johnnie Walker Red ($21) + Soda ($3 for a 6-pack of 12-oz cans)
Yields: 12 cocktails
Price per cocktail: $2
The Essentials
Scotch
Soda Water
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Pink Gin isn’t much more than very slightly flavored gin. Therefore, Pink Gin doesn’t cost much more than straight gin.
Ingredients: New Amsterdam Gin ($14) + Angostura bitters ($10)
Yields: 12 cocktails
Price per cocktail: $2
The Essentials
Gin
Angostura
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Making your own Old Fashioned instead of buying one out at a bar will yield a cocktail at old-fashioned prices.
Ingredients: Evan Williams Black Label ($12) + Angostura bitters ($10) + Sugar ($3.30)
Yields: 12 cocktails
Price per cocktail: $2.10
The Essentials
Whiskey
bitters
sugar cube
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Simple syrup costs basically nothing, and buying your lemons by the pound will keep your citrus costs low, too. The real kicker here is the Old Overholt, which we would love at even twice the price.
Ingredients: Old Overholt Rye ($17) + Lemons ($5.95 for about eight) + sugar ($3.30)
Yields: 12 cocktails
Price per cocktail: $2.19
The Essentials
Whiskey
Lemon Juice
Simple Syrup
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We suppose you could get away with just a bottle of gin for “super dry” Martinis. But if you actually intend to include vermouth in your Martini (as you should, it defines the cocktail), you’re looking at about $2.20 per drink.
Ingredients: New Amsterdam Gin ($14) + Cinzano Extra Dry Vermouth ($8)
Yields: 10 cocktails
Price per cocktail: $2.20
The Essentials
Gin
Dry Vermouth
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The biggest ingredient in a Mint Julep is the crushed ice, so get to thwacking those ice cubes. Plus, the super-fine ice will melt over the course of a long, hot Kentucky day, so that one drink will take you even further.
Ingredients: Evan Williams Black Label ($12) + Sugar ($3.30) + Mint ($3 for .75 oz)
Yields: 8 drinks
Price per cocktail: $2.29
The Essentials
Bourbon
Simple Syrup
mint
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The G&T is one of the simplest cocktails to make and to buy. At $3.57, it tops this list in terms of price, but it’s still a bargain beverage.
Ingredients: New Amsterdam Gin ($14) + Tonic ($3 for a 6-pack of 12-oz cans) + Limes ($4.40 for about five)
Yields: 6 cocktails
Price per cocktail: $3.57
The Essentials
Gin
Lime Juice
Tonic Water
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