The phrase “cocktail safety” may sound like an oxymoron, or the punch line of a barroom joke. After all, we’re talking about alcohol, and a brandy Alexander is hardly as harmless as a smoothie.

But as modern bartenders dig into their cocktail chemistry sets for new techniques and arcane ingredients, Camper English, a drinks writer in San Francisco, decided it was time to create a website to head off potential disaster: CocktailSafe.org.

“Bartenders today are obsessed with experimentation, which I think is for the best,” Mr. English said. “But it’s often confusing as to what is safe and what is legal to use in beverages.”

There are a surprising number of cocktail components and procedures to be worried about. The website’s index lists more than 60, including fat-washing, in which a spirit is mixed with the oils of a solid, such as bacon or nuts, then frozen; the fat separates and is scraped away, leaving its flavor behind. “Botulism is a concern,” Mr. English said.