Which tools to keep at home

You can already do a lot with what's in your kitchen. A handful of dedicated tools covers the rest.

The basic kit

With these four things, you can make practically any recipe on Kooler.

Cocktail shaker
a metal container for shaken drinks, the ones with juice, syrup, or egg white. The three-piece kind has a built-in strainer and is the easiest to start with
Jigger
a double-ended measure, one side larger than the other. It's what keeps the proportions right, which is what separates a good drink from a bad one
Bar spoon
a long, often twisted handle, for stirring the drinks that never see a shaker, like a Negroni or a Martini
Strainer
holds back the ice and the muddled fruit as you pour. The hawthorne, with the coil around the rim, is the most common one

These come in when making drinks at home turns into a habit, each one for a specific move.

Muddler
crushes fruit, herbs, and sugar straight in the glass
A good knife and board
for cutting citrus peel and garnish without bruising it
Ice bucket with tongs
keeps ice dry and stops a drink from being watered down by accident