The following is a guide to stocking your bar for a dinner party. The quantities might seem extravagant, but that’s because they are. This is not a list of everything you will open, or everything you will drink, or everything that you will necessarily even need to cater a dinner-party for six persons. This is a guide to stocking your fridge, freezer, bar and cellar so that you will not run out of booze over the course of an evening; so that your guests will (within reason) be able to drink something they like, when they want to; and so that you will not any feel stress or anxiety in the process.

That being said, I am not suggesting that you wait on your guests hand-and-foot like an obsequious butler from a children’s fairy-tale. If a friend sits at your dining table and asks you if he can have a Ramos Gin Fizz, the answer should be no. And after that, you should make sure to never, ever invite him back. But if he says, actually, can I have a beer? when you offer him wine, it’s nice to just say yes.

A DRINK TO START

It doesn’t need to be complicated. It could be a negroni, which is easy to pre-batch, and can be poured over ice as and when people arrive. Champagne is a classic for a reason: it’s special, delicious, and — most importantly — easy.

Shaken cocktails, unless you are a professional (and I am assuming, for the duration of this article, that you are not) are an absolute no. You do not want to find yourself relentlessly cracking ice cubes for individual Mai Tais whilst answering the door, serving snacks, and introducing your guests to one another.

WINE

You need a red wine and a white wine. Some people don’t like red wine. Some people don’t like white. Some people don’t like wine at all, but we’ll come to that in due course. It doesn’t matter what you’re eating. If they want red wine with fish, I say let them.

Your budget or interest in wine will ultimately dictate its quality, which is absolutely fine. The most important thing is that it’s drinkable, and that you have enough.

Enough really means a more than you’ll drink. For six people maybe have four bottles of each on hand—it means if everyone ends up wanting one colour, they can all have it, and be kept in drink for quite some time. Not all the bottles have to be the same, and they don’t all have to be equally as good or expensive. Crucially, you don’t have to buy them all yourself. It’s eminently reasonable to ask a trusted guest (perhaps a generous guest, with a nice cellar of their own) to bring a bottle. Unless your friends (like mine) are competitive and fervent drinkers, you won’t get through all eight bottles of wine. They’re just there so you are prepared, and relaxed, and you can say yes when someone inevitably asks, “is there any more white?”

BEER

Just buy some beers and put them in your fridge. Then you will have cold beers, for when someone wants a beer. They might want a beer when they arrive, they might want a beer with dinner, but at some point, someone will want a beer. It doesn’t need to be expensive beer, but it should be good enough, and bottled. Peroni works well for this purpose, as does Moretti or Estrella Galicia. Something fancier (like the Kernel Table Beer) can work, too, but make sure it’s not too niche or divisive (a 8.9% ABV double IPA, for instance, is generally a no).

SPIRITS

If you have a gin and a few bottles of tonic (buy three times as much tonic as you have gin — it is always the first thing people run out of, which is a fundamental oversight), it means you can make a gin and tonic for those who don’t want wine or beer. Maybe you’ve got a halfway-decent bottle of vodka lying around for a vodka tonic instead. Just have something light, and clear, to hand, and something easy to mix it with.

AFTERS

Dessert wine is a fantastically treaty way to end a meal — and can be one of those easy touches that makes a dinner party dinner feel special. You don’t even need to make a pudding: I’ve ended many a dinner party with a hunk of Comte, a bunch of grapes and a bottle of Jurançon Molleux. Heaven.

You might, also, have a decent bottle of whisky to hand, or an eaux-de-vie lurking in the freezer.

They are also, often, a great way of telling people “right, it’s time for you to get out of my house”, without having to actually say it.

NON ALCOHOLIC and GARNISH

It is non-negotiable that every host should be prepared with a lot of the following (and I mean a lot):

—Lemons

—Ice

—Soda Water

Plus a handful of limes, and an orange. A home bar is also incomplete (in my humble opinion) without a bottle of Angostura Bitters — which has the power to transform whisky into an old fashioned, a gin and tonic into something special, and a glass of soda water into something delicious.

It’s important to be able to offer non-drinkers something nicer than tap water. Soda and-bitters is my go-to non-alcoholic option, but it does contain trace volumes, so be careful. A bottle of elderflower cordial is an easy and well-loved option here. What you don’t need to do is buy gallons of juice, non-alcoholic beer or de-alcoholised wine.

A glass of soda water with ice and a slice of lemon tells someone you care about them just as much as the person you just handed a glass of champagne. Again, as always, it’s the little things that make a big difference.