A bartender shares substitutions for cocktail ingredients and tools you might not have at home

Rachel AskinasiMay 24, 2020, 17:21 IST

Aleksey Reznikov behind the bar at the Garret West.Rachel Askinasi/Insider

Liquid sugar, sparkling wine, and vermouth are hardly pantry staples for amateur mixologists, but they are common ingredients in so many favorite cocktails.
Aleksey Reznikov, head bartender at Manhattan's the Garret West (West Village) and a partner at the Garret Coctelería (Nolita), offered up swaps for some of those popular components.
He recommends using anything from honey to maple syrup in place of sugar and swapping beer for sparkling wine.
The expert even has a hack for those of us without a cocktail shaker handy: An ice cream carton.
You can also pick up pre-batched, specialty cocktails from the Garret to support its staff — bottles are available for pickup at its East Village location and for delivery on Seamless.

Just because you don't have all the ingredients your cocktail recipe calls for, doesn't mean you can't partake in happy hour.

"This is where it gets fun," head bartender and partner at the Garret bars in Manhattan Aleksey Reznikov told Insider. "If you don't have some of the ingredients, don't worry."

For cocktails that call for prosecco, like an Aperol spritz, the expert says you can use beer instead. "No sugar? No problem," he said. You can use any pantry staple like honey, maple syrup, or jam.

He said there are just a few basic things to remember when it comes to crafting a cocktail: citrus usually needs a sweet component to it, and sugar by itself needs some bitters.

So go ahead and get creative!

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If you're missing lemons, you can use limes or even grapefruit instead.

Grapefruits, limes, and lemons are all delicious additions to cocktails. Sean Gallup/Getty Images

"No sugar? No problem," Reznikov says. You probably have something in your kitchen you can use instead, like maple syrup.

You can substitute sugar (left) with syrup (right). Hollis Johnson/Insider

If you're missing sparkling wine, add seltzer to the white wine you may have on hand.

White wine (left) and sparkling water (right). Hollis Johnson/Business Insider, The Washington Post/Getty Images

An Aperol spritz calls for prosecco, but you can use beer instead.

Beer and prosecco are equally as refreshing. Sydney Kramer/Insider

If you're out of dry vermouth and want a martini, you can use olive juice for a different flavor.

A dirty martini has olive juice in it. Brent Hofacker/Shutterstock

You can also make substitutions for tools, like a cocktail shaker. Reznikov says a hard ice cream container works just as well.

A cocktail shaker (left) and a hard, plastic ice cream container (right). Shutterstock, Keith Homan/Shutterstock

Reznikov says that, unfortunately, things like bitters, vermouth, and Aperol are hard to replace. But, you can always try to get creative.

Cocktails made with vermouth. Shutterstock

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