If you’re expecting guests for a party or dinner engagement at your home, cocktails should always be a feature on your social menu. However, many people don’t know how to make simple cocktails. Never fear, with just a few bottles of liquor (i.e., gin, vodka, whiskey, rum), and the right mix and garnish, your dinner guests will be talking about your gathering for months to come. You can prepare the following classic cocktails quite easily at home:

1. Moscow mule
The ingredients in a Moscow mule cocktail include four ounces of ginger beer, one sixth of an ounce of lime juice, and one and one half ounces of vodka. It is served on the rocks, or pouring the cocktail over ice. The recipe is made by combining ginger beer and vodka in a highball glass or copper mug, adding lime juice, and stirring gently. Adding a lime peel garnish after doing so is optional.

2. Whiskey sour
The whiskey sour is considered an official cocktail recipe you should know by the International Bar Association (IBA). The recipe involves two ounces of bourbon whiskey, an orange peel or cocktail cherry, one ounce of fresh lemon juice, three fourths of an ounce of maple syrup, and ice. Using a cocktail shaker, add the lemon juice, syrup, and bourbon whiskey. Fill the concoction with ice, shaking it until it’s cold. Strain the drink into an Old Fashioned or lowball glass. Serve it with a cocktail cherry, ice, and an orange peel.

3. Cosmopolitan
A cosmopolitan is a cocktail involving vodka. Its ingredients include one ounce of cranberry juice, half an ounce of cointreau, half an ounce of fresh lime juice, along with one and a half ounces of vodka citron. A lemon slice or lime wedge are standard garnishes. To prepare this mixture, all ingredients are added into a cocktail shaker, adding ice. Shaking well, the cocktail is then double strained in a large cocktail glass. It is served without ice and the garnish is applied upon completion.

4. Gin and tonic
True to the name, the main liquids involved in making a gin and tonic include tonic water and gin. One to three parts gin is mixed with three parts of tonic water. It is served on the rocks. A wedge of lime is the standard garnish in this recipe. A highball or rocks glass is recommended. In order to prepare this cocktail, a person simply adds the aforementioned amounts of tonic water and gin to a glass filled with ice cubes, garnishing it upon completion.

5. Bloody mary
A bloody mary is a more complex, vodka-oriented cocktail. Its ingredients include one lime wedge, one lemon wedge, one pinch of smoked paprika, celery salt, and ground black pepper. The recipe goes on to include two ounces of vodka, two dashes of Tabasco and Worcestershire sauce each, four ounces of tomato juice, four ounces of tomato juice, and two teaspoons of prepared horseradish. Finally, the garnishes include a parsley sprig, lime wedge, green olives, and a celery stalk. In order to prepare this drink, the first step is to pour the celery salt onto a small plate. The juicy portion of the lime or lemon wedge then gets rubbed along the lip of a pint glass. The celery salt then gets rolled onto the outer edge of the glass, filling the glass with ice. The lemon and lime wedges are added into a shaker, adding ice and the remaining ingredients, shaking gently. Finally, the cocktail is strained into a prepared glass, and optionally garnished with two speared green olives, a celery stalk, a lime wedge, and a parsley sprig.