Cocktail Cabinet Clearout

Busy spring cleaning? Crazy for Kondo? Have you considered decluttering your cocktail cabinet? Follow our barmens’ suggestions and you’ll find it’s the most fun you can have doing household chores. 

Bottles of shame. We’ve all got them. The curious booze that seemed fabulous on holiday but didn’t taste quite the same once back home. Birthday and Christmas presents you’d never have bought with your own money. A liqueur you only needed 3 tablespoons of for a recipe. Stuck in a cupboard or on a shelf, taking up space, gathering dust and – ew! – maybe even getting a little sticky.

Don’t throw them out, drink them up

You can clear them out, save money, and have a lot of fun doing so when you set yourself the cocktail cabinet clearout challenge. The rules are you don’t buy any new bottles of wine, beer, or whatever you normally imbibe, until you’ve made use of the booze already in the house.

To inspire you, we gave our barmen a list detailing the contents of a pretty messy cocktail cabinet at least 15 years in the making. It included esoteric liqueurs and fortified wines as well as volumes of spirits.

Make a punch, make a party

George Simmons of Heddon Street Kitchen immediately saw the potential to make punches. These are a great way to use up quantities of rum, bourbon, whiskey, pisco and tequila. And if they’re ready-flavoured varieties of these (cherry-flavoured bourbon, for instance), so much the better, because punch welcomes a mix of fruity flavours. 

If you haven’t drunk punch since those student party days, this is a must-try because punch is in high fashion once again. You’ll find plenty of alcohol-specific punch recipes on the web – or just have a go yourself.

The time-honoured mantra for how to make punch is ‘one of sour, two of sweet, three of strong and four of weak’ ­– so get in some fruit juice, fresh fruit pieces and fizzy mixers and blend to taste with your chosen booze. Invite your friends. Just think: you could have a party or two’s worth of drinks in the cupboard and not even realise.

Mix and match cocktail ideas

Paul Hogg of Bread Street Kitchen took a considered approach to our clearout challenge, using his cocktail making expertise to suggest clever pairings. All you need, he says, is a cocktail shaker and lots of ice.

For example, if you’ve got tequila and Cointreau (or triple sec) in the cupboard, just get some fresh lime juice and you have a refreshing Margarita. A cherry-flavoured bourbon can be mixed with vermouth to give a Cherry Manhattan.

If you have walnut and coffee liqueurs to make use of, brew a round of espressos. Once the coffee is cool, shake it with the liqueurs over ice and you have nutty espresso martinis.

Stray fruit liqueurs can be put to good use topped with soda or fizzy wine. Try St Germain elderflower liqueur with lemon juice, sugar and soda, for instance. For crème de cassis, the best use really is the classic Kir Royale with sparkling wine – always a good aperitif. 

Don’t forget the kitchen

When a bottle of something runs out, chef Will Stanyer at York & Albany often raids the liquor cabinet to find replacements. And the results can be highly successful.

He’s used Frangelico almond liqueur in place of Madeira and Port in chicken liver parfait, and added Drambuie to peppercorn sauce to serve with steaks.

Orange-flavoured Grand Marnier is readily paired with duck or used in pate, and is delicious splashed into blood orange jelly.

Use cider or perry in place of white wine – this is particularly good with chicken or pork stews. 

The main thing, says Will, is don’t hesitate to be experimental with your cooking: the worst that can happen is that it’s not especially nice.

Once you’ve cleared out the liquor cabinet – who knows, you may find you’ve acquired a taste for cocktail making. If so, gather friends and colleagues for a masterclass with Bread Street Kitchen’s mixologists, or join the team at Heddon Street Kitchen for a dazzling Cocktail Connoisseurs’ Experience.