In Paul Harrington and Laura Moorhead's Cocktail: The Drinks Bible for the 21st Century, there are four lists for stocking the home bar: three: rum, gin, Cointreau six: above plus whiskey, sweet and dry vermouth nine: above plus vodka, bitters, and Maraschino twelve: above plus bourbon, brandy, rye Seemed like an interesting question to pose here: what would you select? A fan of the decimal system, I thought I'd suggest ten as a base list -- which I think one could set up with about $200.