🍎 Having a bar at home is a luxury, but also a sort of a must, as is knowing how to make a few simple drinks to blow your guests away. Bartending at home doesn’t mean you toss bottles over your head, and glasses have flames all around them, rather it is knowing how to make drinks for your party.
🍹Making a full bar at home is pretty expensive, so it is good to start slow and not get lost in the process. If you have any particular needs, stick with them rather than making the full set. Most top-shelf liquors have a slight difference in taste compared to regular bottles, which can be lost when mixed with other liquors or chasers. I would suggest staying away from top-shelf bottles to save money since you may not enjoy their flavor to the fullest.
🍺I recommend having a 12 bottle set at your home bar. It includes seven hard liquors, one liqueur, two vermouths, and two bitters. You can make over 200 drinks with these. Be sure to stock up on a lot of ice cause that is very important for making any drink.
🍻 Base alcohols:
- Amber rum
- White rum
- Triple Sec
- Cachaça
- Whiskey
- Brandy
- Vodka
- Gin
- Sweet vermouth
- Dry vermouth
- Aromatic bitters
- Orange bitters
🍾 After the base spirits are acquired, here are some more liqueurs you can add to your bar to make a lot more drinks:
- Irish Cream liqueur
- Crème de Menthe
- Crème de Cacao
- Coffee Liqueur
- Amaretto
- Midori
🍻 For any home bar, beer, wine, and champagne are staples. It is good to either have them stocked up or buy them before a gathering.
🧉Just as crucial as the alcohols are the non-alcohols. These add extra pizazz, flavor, and volume to your drink. Each drink calls for its own set of mixers, but here is a general list that will make sure you are covered.
🍸 Essential Juices:
- Lemon and lemon juice
- Cranberry juice
- Pineapple juice
- Orange juice
- Tomato juice
🥃 To make your drinks more sparkly and bubbly:
- Lemon-Lime Soda
- Tonic Water
- Club Soda
- Ginger Ale
- Coke
🍷 Nice-to-have-around (Garnishes and other mixers):
- Cinnamon and/or Nutmeg
- Blue agave and/or honey
- Maraschino cherries
- Coffee and/or Tea
- Lemon and Limes
- Salt and Pepper
- Whipped cream
- Tabasco sauce
- Fresh mint
- Oranges
- Olives
- Celery
- Sugar
- Eggs
- Milk
🥂 There are many premixes available in the market, but I recommend staying away from them. Not only are they loaded with sugar, preservatives, but they are also contrary to the objective of having a home bar.
🍶 Equipment:
- Bottle pourers
- Bottle opener
- Bar spoon
- Corkscrew
- Glassware
- Strainer
- Mudder
- Shaker
- Jigger
I love fools’ experiments. I am always making them
—Charles Darwin
🍹It is essential to always keep experimenting and making new drinks; some will be a hit, some a miss, some will make your guests drool, and some will make you look like a fool. But the most important thing is to keep experimenting and learning.
Here are some of my favorite creations:
Spicy Mango:
- 1-part Mango juice, 1-part Jose Cuervo Especial, 1/3-part Spiced Rum, 1/3-part lemon juice
- Shake with ice and serve.
Leejin:
- 1 oz Gin or 1 oz tequila. Litchi juice.
- Shake with ice and serve with tonic water.
Sparkling Cranberry:
- 1-part Cranberry 1-part vodka, with a little bit of sweet vermouth, ¼-part lime juice.
- Shake with ice and serve with sparkling water on top.
Screwdriver:
- 1-part vodka, 1-part Orange juice, ½-part pineapple juice, ¼-part lime juice.
- Shake with ice and serve.
🍸There are many Instagram accounts that show drinks you can make at home. My favorites are @TipsyBartender and @TheWeekendMixologist. They are fun to follow and make it easy to learn many cool, intricate, and classy creations.
