What lives here
Every bottle on this list got opinionated. We tell you what it tastes like, what cocktails actually suit it, what to skip it for, and which other bottles do the same job better. The kind of writeups your know-it-all bartender mate would do if he typed faster.
If a brand is here, it earned its place by being either genuinely great, genuinely common (so worth knowing), or genuinely overrated (so worth saying so). We do not get paid to say nice things.
How to use it
Got a bottle and not sure what to do with it? Find the brand page and the cocktail recipes that actually suit that bottle are on it. Substitution table tells you what to use instead. Skip-if section tells you when to put the bottle down and pick a different one.
Buying for a home bar from scratch? The category hubs (Gin, Whiskey, Vodka, etc.) cover the bottles worth owning, in roughly the order to buy them.
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Every brand in the Bottle Library
Newest pages first. The Library is growing weekly, hit refresh in a few days and there will be more.

Baileys Irish Cream

Crème de Cassis (Lejay)

Mr Black Coffee Liqueur

Chambord

Carpano Antica Formula

Dolin Dry Vermouth

Aperol

Campari

Cointreau

Kahlua

Goslings Black Seal

Mount Gay XO

The Kraken Black Spiced

Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva

Plantation 3 Stars

Appleton Estate Signature

Bacardi Superior

Sailor Jerry Spiced

Captain Morgan Original Spiced

Havana Club 7 Year

El Tesoro Blanco

Del Maguey Vida Mezcal

Cazadores Reposado

Herradura Reposado

1800 Tequila Reposado

Olmeca Altos Plata

Espolon Blanco

Casamigos Blanco

Don Julio Blanco

Patron Silver

Skyy

Reyka

Cîroc

Stolichnaya

Belvedere

Ketel One

Grey Goose

Tito’s Handmade Vodka

Absolut Vodka

Smirnoff No. 21

Glenfiddich 12 Year Old

Crown Royal

Bushmills Original

Wild Turkey 101

Bulleit Bourbon

Buffalo Trace Bourbon

Maker’s Mark

Johnnie Walker Black Label
Frequently Asked Questions
Direct answers to what people ask about the Bottle Library.
What is the Drink Lab Bottle Library?
It’s our running guide to the bottles worth knowing. Each page has tasting notes, brand backstory, the cocktails that actually suit that bottle, substitution advice, and a where-to-buy block. Think of it as the spirit-by-spirit equivalent of our cocktail recipe pages.
How do you pick which bottles to cover?
Two filters. First, do enough people search for it to make a page worth writing? Second, do we have an actual opinion about it? If we cannot answer the second one we skip the bottle. There are plenty of brands we have nothing useful to say about and we will not pretend otherwise.
Are these affiliate links?
The where-to-buy block on each page links to retailers that stock the bottle. Some of those links may be affiliate-tagged in future, with full disclosure. Right now they are plain product URLs and we do not earn anything from them.
Why are some categories empty?
The Library launched with the most-asked-about brands first. Whiskey, vodka, tequila, rum and liqueur pages are coming weekly. If a brand you want is missing, the search bar at the top of the site is the fastest way to check, and the cocktail recipes that use that brand will already be live.
Can I suggest a bottle?
Yes. Send the brand name through the contact form. We prioritise brands with high search demand and brands the audience asks about repeatedly.


