I think the author was approaching it from a sense of “what do I need to make a certain drink” rather than “how do these drinks actually differ?” The “edit” in

I think the author was approaching it from a sense of “what do I need to make a certain drink” rather than “how do these drinks actually differ?” The “edit” in this case is going out and buying a bottle of something. In that sense, it makes sense to say that if you want a whiskey on the rocks, and you have the ingredients for a vodka martini, the “edit distance” represents “you don’t need that vodka and vermouth- you do need to go buy whiskey”. Which seems obvious, but the idea is to apply it to less-obvious drinks: if I have a fairly well-stocked bar, should I buy Angostura bitters or créme de violette to maximize the range of things I can make? (I’ll admit, the author kinda buried the lede, but I think that was their idea.)