Cocktailcrafting
Cocktailcrafting is the fine art of mixing drinks. Mixing drinks always results in a drink that is better than the ingredients used to make it.
You cannot mix your own drinks unless you have a cocktailcrafting kit in your inventory or either a bartender-in-the-box or a clockwork bartender-in-the-box installed in your campsite. A cocktailcrafting kit allows you to mix one drink at the cost of one adventure, while a boxed bartender allows you to mix one drink for zero adventures. However, your bartender will explode after a certain number of turns and you'll have to build a new one.
To mix drinks, go to your inventory and click on make cocktails.
This section of Visual KoL was ported from the Bartending Guide originally written by ePeterso2. If you appreciate this guide, send him your valuable trinkets, but only after you've sent the folks here a donation to pay their hosting bill. Use the PayPal Donate button at the bottom of the left-hand navigation bar. Thanks! -eP
Drink Categories
There are several categories or "tiers" of drinks. Each starts with a basic booze, then adds additional ingredients which give better gains in adventures and/or stats. In addition, some drinks are created only as a result of a bartender explosion and cannot be mixed on purpose.
The major categories of drinks are:
- Basic Drinks
- Advanced Cocktailcrafting or "Disco Bandit Drinks"
- Tiny plastic sword drinks
- Fermenting powder drinks
- Mushroom fermenting solution drinks
- Ice-cold beer drinks
- Bartender-in-the-box explosion drinks
- Other random drinks
Basic Boozes
There are six basic boozes in the game:
There are other base drink-mixing ingredients that aren't generally considered to be basic boozes but serve essentially the same function:
These items are combinted with various mixers and garnishes to form better and better drinks. The recipes and benefits of those drinks are what this guide is all about.
Advanced Cocktailcrafting Drinks
Advanced Cocktailcrafting is a Disco Bandit skill. These drinks are mixed with a garnish, such as a coconut shell, little paper umbrella, or magical ice cubes. These drinks are generally the best in the game if you don't have a tiny plastic sword or if you're trying to maximize your stat gains. The final drinks typically give:
- 4 Drunkenness
- 18 Stats (either 18 of one stat, or 13.5 of one and 4.5 of another)
- 12 Adventures
Tiny Plastic Sword Drinks
Tiny plastic sword drinks can be mixed by anyone. These drinks are generally the best in the game if you're trying to maximize your adventures. The final drinks typically give:
- 6 Drunkenness
- 18 Stats (all of a single stat)
- 24 Adventures
Fermenting Powder Drinks
Fermenting powder drinks can be mixed by anyone. The final drinks typically give:
- 1 Drunkenness
- 4.5 Stats (either all of one stat or evenly divided among all 3 stats)
- 2 Adventures
Since these drinks can be mixed using components purchased at NPC stores, you can make a lot of them very cheaply. This is a handy way of intentionally blowing up a bartender-in-the-box.
Mushroom Fermenting Solution Drinks
Mushroom fermenting solution is only available as a reward for completing a muscle quest. The final drinks typically give:
- 3 Drunkenness
- ? Stats
- ? Adventures
They can be mixed with mushrooms grown in Degrassi Knoll if you are a muscle zodiac sign.
Ice-Cold Beer Drinks
Ice-cold beer mixes with only a few things:
- Mix with a tomato to make a bloody beer
- Mix with a ten-leaf clover on St. Sneaky Pete's Day to make a green beer
Bartender-in-the-Box Explosion Drinks
These drinks form when a bartender-in-the-box explodes - you cannot mix them yourself on purpose. Some of them are pretty disgusting, but generally they're slightly better than what you could mix yourself.
Other Random Drinks
These drinks don't really fit easily in other categories. They exist either because it's interesting or funny for them to exist, or they used to be part of other recipes but have since changed. These include:
- bloody mary
- eggnog
- especially salty dog
- extra-spicy bloody mary
- lumbering jack
- rum and cola
- spiced rum
- vodka and cranberry
- whiskey and cola
- white Canadian
Drinks That Cannot Be Mixed
Some drinks just drop and cannot be cocktailcrafted, including:
Mafia Wines
A variety of bottles of wine were given away in raffles held by the Penguin Mafia:
- Acqua Del Piatto Merlot
- Acque Luride Grezze Cabernet
- Ferita Del Petto Zinfandel
- Maiali Sifilitici Pinot Noir
- Spasmi Dolorosi Del Rene Champagne
- Uovo Marcio Shiraz
Other Rare Drinks
And some drinks are just plain rare:
- N. O. Beer - Custom item for Noblesse Oblige
- bottle of single-barrel whiskey - Reward for completing a Boozetafarian ascension
Game Mechanics and Impact Upon Drinking
Drunkenness
Drunkenness is an indication of how much booze you have drunk. Each booze item gives you a certain amount of drunkenness, which is added to your running total. If your total drunkenness is more than a certain amount, then you can no longer spend adventures usefully in the game (other than at the clan gym). The maximum drunkenness level that still allows you to adventure is:
- 14 if you do not have the Liver of Steel skill (15+ is too drunk)
- 19 if you have the Liver of Steel skill (20+ is too drunk)
If you try adventuring while you are falling-down drunk, you get the Drunken Stupor adventure.
Drinking Before and After Adventuring
Drinking before adventuring is done to give you the maximum number of turns possible with which to adventure today. Drinking after your day's worth of turns is over is done to give you the maximum number of adventures when you first log in tomorrow (after rollover).
Liver of Steel
Normally, you can drink until you have 14 drunkenness and retain the ability to adventure (adventuring with drunkenness of 15 or more gives you the Drunken Stupor adventure). The Liver of Steel skill raises that threshold to 19 drunkenness (and 20 or more gives you the Drunken Stupor). The Liver of Steel cannot be taken with you across ascensions - you have to get it by completing the Deep Fat Friar's Gate Quest.
Ode to Booze
Ode to Booze is an Accordion Thief buff that gives you one extra adventure per drink. If you can, make sure you have this buff before drinking anything. You will need it before you adventure and after your adventures are complete.
Blender Zodiac Sign
The Blender zodiac sign is purported to give a boost to the number of adventures gained while drinking, but its effects have not been characterized as of this writing.
Optimum Drinking Strategies
A drinking strategy is a list of drinks to consume in a single day to maximize the stat gains or adventures you get.
The optimum strategy for you depends upon a variety of factors (such as ingredients you have, skills you've acquired, effects you have, etc.). There is no single strategy that applies to all desired results for all players in all cases.
The optimum drinking strategies listed have been designed using the drink quality measurements to give you the maximum benefit (in terms of stat gains and adventures) per unit of drunkeness without making you too drunk to adventure.
These strategies assume a softcore ascension for a player that is no longer in Ronin. There are too many variables that exist in hardcore ascensions to come up with a simple generalized drinking strategy, and some ascension paths do not even allow drinking. However, the rest of this guide should give you enough advice to make the proper drinking choices during a hardcore ascension.
The data for these strategies was obtained from the KoL Item Effects website run by Ohayou.
Tiny Plastic Sword and Advanced Cocktailcrafting
Drinks made with the tiny plastic sword (TPS) are the best quality drinks for adventures. However, the tiny plastic sword is a rare item that does not drop in the game. If you are serious about maximizing your adventures, you need to get one from the Mall of Loathing.
All you need is one TPS ever, regardless of how many drinks you make with it. When you mix a TPS drink, the sword disappears from your inventory. You get the sword back in your inventory when you consume the drink. You can borrow a TPS from a friend, then return it to the friend when you're done drinking for the day.
If you cannot afford a tiny plastic sword, your next best alternative is to ascend as a Disco Bandit and acquire the Advanced Cocktailcrafting skill. It will let you make the best quality drinks that do not involve a tiny plastic sword. The Advanced Cocktailcrafting skill is an excellent choice to pick up during an early hardcore ascension as it will give you a big adventure/stat boost for subsequent hardcore runs.
If you have neither a tiny plastic sword nor the Advanced Cocktailcrafting skill and are not interested in getting either, then you can find the Advanced Cocktailcrafting drinks in the Mall of Loathing.
If you're still not able to get the best drinks described so far, then there are many combinations of drinks that provide you with the next best number of adventures or stats per day, far too many to list here. Hopefully the information in this guide will make it possible for you to find the optimum solution.
Optimum Strategy with Liver of Steel
The following drinking strategies apply only if you have the Liver of Steel.
Drinking for Adventures
The following table shows the combination of drinks that will maximize the number of adventures you gain per day.
| Optimum Daily Drinking Strategy for Adventures WITH Liver of Steel | ||
| Primary Stat | With tiny plastic sword |
69 Adventures, 97 Primary Stat |
| Muscle Seal Clubber Turtle Tamer |
Before Adventuring: After Adventuring: |
Before Adventuring: After Adventuring:
|
| Mysticality Pastamancer Sauceror |
Before Adventuring: After Adventuring: |
Before Adventuring:
After Adventuring: |
| Moxie Accordion Thief Disco Bandit |
Before Adventuring:
After Adventuring:
|
Before Adventuring: After Adventuring: |
Drinking for Stat Gains
Best stat-gain drinking strategy
| Optimum Daily Drinking Strategy for Stat Gains WITH Liver of Steel | ||
| Primary Stat | With Advanced Cocktailcrafting |
|
| Muscle Seal Clubber Turtle Tamer |
Before Adventuring:
After Adventuring:
Results: |
|
| Mysticality Pastamancer Sauceror |
Before Adventuring: After Adventuring: Results: |
|
| Moxie Accordion Thief Disco Bandit |
Before Adventuring:
After Adventuring: Results: |
|
Optimum Strategy without Liver of Steel
If you don't have the Liver of Steel skill, you can only drink up to 14 drunkenness without becoming too drunk to adventure.
Drinking for Adventures
Best adventure drinking strategy
| Optimum Daily Drinking Strategy WITHOUT Liver of Steel | ||
| Primary Stat | With tiny plastic sword |
Without tiny plastic sword |
| With Ode to Booze Effect | +W Adventures | +Z Adventures |
| With Blender Zodiac Sign | Effect Unknown | Effect Unknown |
| Muscle Seal Clubber Turtle Tamer |
Before Adventuring: ? After Adventuring: |
Before Adventuring: ? After Adventuring: |
| Mysticality Pastamancer Sauceror |
Before Adventuring: ? After Adventuring: |
Before Adventuring: ? After Adventuring: |
| Moxie Accordion Thief Disco Bandit |
Before Adventuring: ? After Adventuring: |
Before Adventuring: ? After Adventuring: |
Drinking for Stat Gains
Best stat-gain drinking strategy
Best Drinks
The quality of a drink is a measure of the benefit of the drink compared to the drunkenness it gives you. For instance, if a drink gives you 5 adventures and 12 muscle substat points for 2 drunkenness, then it has an adventure quality of 2.5 and a muscle substat quality of 6.
Best Drinks for Adventures
The following table lists which drinks are the best quality for maximizing the number of adventures you get for each unit of drunkenness. They are sorted in descending order by adventures-per-unit-drunk.
Best Drinks for Stat Gains
These drinks are good for stat gains.
| Drinks | Drunk | Adv | Muscle | Myst | Moxie |
| bottle of single-barrel whiskey | 3 | 15.0 (45.0) |
15.0 (45.0) |
15.0 (45.0) |
Drinks by Ingredient
Drinks by Basic Booze
Drinks by Mixer
