A cocktail party isn’t a cocktail party without the presence of particular drinks. In general, if you want your guests to be happy, you will need whiskey, vodka, scotch, red and white wine, beer, rum, tequila, vermouth, sherry, brandy, gin, cognac, and bourbon. Variety is very important, especially if you are inviting more than four or five people to your special event. Besides the alcoholic drinks, you also need a range of mixers like sparkling water, soda, cranberry juice, cola, tomato juice, orange juice, tonic, grapefruit juice, ginger ale, as well as Tabasco, Worcestershire sauce, horseradish, and cream.
Further, presentation is important. Cocktail parties can be rather swanky affairs. Therefore, you need to offer an assortment of glasses for these drinks, including highballs, wine glasses, martini glasses, and tumblers. Having your guest drink a martini from a wine glass is a drink etiquette faux pas. Make sure you have double the amount of glasses as drinks. You also need garnishes for your cocktail party drinks, like limes, martini olives, lemons, cocktail onions, maraschino cherries, swizzle sticks, and straws. Besides this—don’t forget the ice.
Preparing the mixed drinks might be time-consuming. Make sure you have the appropriate bar equipment at hand. Therefore, if you plan to have many guests over, you can always designate one of your friends as the bartender, or you can hire a bartender to mix the drinks. There is nothing more impressive than having professionally mixed cocktail party drinks. When it comes to specific cocktail party drinks, standouts include the Cosmopolitan, Apple Martini, and Dirty Martini.