Tools of the Trade
You need far less than the catalogs suggest.
Start cheap
One of the genuine pleasures of modern mixology is how little equipment it takes to begin. Between glassware and bar tools you'll spend something, but nowhere near what the glossy sets imply.
Don't be put off by secondhand gear. Soap and water are cheap, and vintage tools turn up at antique shops and yard sales for very little. There's a decent chance someone in your family has half of this in a basement already.
The essentials
Jigger. The standard measure, shaped roughly like a shot glass and usually holding one to one and a half ounces. It's how you pour ounces or parts quickly without guessing.
Mixing glass. Any tall glass you can stir a drink in. A pint glass works. Purpose-made ones with a pouring spout are nicer, but not necessary.
Bar spoon. A small bowl on a long spiral shaft, made for stirring around ice without churning it. Worth knowing: when a recipe asks for a bar spoon of something, that means one teaspoon.
Shaker. Combines, chills and slightly dilutes, which takes the bite off the spirits and lets their flavors come forward. Buy one rather than improvising. They're cheap, and rigging a substitute is more trouble than it's worth.
Hawthorne strainer. The spring-rimmed one, which holds back cubes and chips as you pour. The ice started melting the moment you began, so straining promptly is what keeps a drink from going watery.
Fine-mesh strainer. Small and cheap, used alongside the Hawthorne whenever a recipe says to double-strain.
Julep strainer. The Hawthorne's predecessor, a perforated concave disk. Less common now, though some bartenders still prefer it when a drink is full of herb fragments or pulp.
Paring knife. Probably already in your kitchen, and it handles the twists and wheels that finish a great many drinks.
Muddler. A pestle by another name. Mashing fruit releases juice, and pressing herbs wakes their oils. Many Cobbler shakers have a crude one built into the cap, but a proper one costs very little.
Only if you make those drinks
A swizzle stick chills and aerates drinks built on crushed ice, and nothing else does quite the same job. If you're not making swizzles, you'll never miss it.
A blender is the only way to get a frozen drink, and it turns fruit into the sort of purée that gives a cocktail a velvety weight. Useful, but it isn't bar equipment so much as kitchen equipment you happen to use at the bar.