Create a bar in your own home
Don’t have room in your home for a full-blown home bar but want to have some fun get-togethers in your home that include cocktails? Then read on for some essentials: no home bar is complete without.
This post won’t be exhaustive, but it will give you some great ideas on how to create an entertaining space with all the bits and bobs you need to make a good variety of drinks. So useful for people buying their first place – you will need at least some of these things for a successful housewarming party!
Essential Home Bar Tools
Whether it’s a built-in bar or a mobile bar cart, you’ll need the following mixological tools:
Shakers:
Shakers are available in a variety of forms and sizes, but they all have one thing in common: making fantastic cocktails. Larger shakers enable you to make a larger quantity for pouring out numerous drink servings that taste identical.
Muddlers:
It’s simply a pestle, with tiny teeth or texture on the bottom to help grind garnishes like mint to release more flavour (essential oils) into your mojito.
Bar spoons:
The long handles are both entertaining and useful. These spoons allow you to check that the cocktail is well-mixed, especially if you don’t want to use a shaker, since they reach all the way down to the bottom of highball glasses. It’s also useful for scooping out garnish from the bottom of the glass.
Jiggers:
These measuring cups ensure that the taste and strength of your beverages are constant.
Cocktail Strainer:
You’ll need an easy technique to strain the herbs and citrus garnishes into the glasses without losing half your drink once you’ve muddled them in there.
A good strainer swiftly separates the solids from the liquids, bringing a bartender touch to your cocktail that screams “upscale lounge.”
Drinkware:
Cocktail glasses, like the drinks they contain, are available in a wide array of shapes and sizes. The following are some of the most popular types:
Martini Glass:
A martini glass has a wider mouth to allow the drinker to detect the aromas of the cocktail, and its triangle form makes it simple to add garnishes.
Highball Glass
A highball glass is a tall, straight glass that’s ideal for spirit and mixer mixes.
The Collins glass is the same height as a highball glass, but it’s narrower. You don’t need both highball glasses and Collins glasses at a home bar, so choose one or the other.
Rocks Glass
A double rocks glass, sometimes known as a rock glass or lowball glass, is a short glass, for spirits poured from the bottle onto ice- aka “on the rocks.”
Shopping
If you are starting from scratch with your home bar, then my advice is to take it slowly on the shopping. As boring as that sounds, there’s a reason!
Going to Ikea and picking up everything you could possibly need in one fell swoop sounds appealing, but I’m pretty certain you won’t love everything you have bought a year or so down the line. I certainly haven’t when I have batch bought a load of stuff.
It pays to take your time to consider your basic style when you are purchasing things like this. If you are an ultra modern Japandi type- then Ikea might be right up your street. Then again, you might like to seek out something quirky, like teapots to serve your drinks in.
Glasses can be so much more than just a liquid holder, they can be beautiful too, and depending on your storage, they can even act as decor in your home. Angel Adoree always makes a great feature of her vintage teacups and mismatched saucers to serve drinks in. Maybe this is more your style?
The same goes for the essential tools of a home bar. You could get any old ice bucket, but how about a pretty vintage silver one with matching tongs and an attractive drip tray underneath? Wilko sells essential cocktail making kit, and that’s just fine to use if it’s your style or budget. But a bit of patience and a bit of searching might just turn up some gorgeous kit that wouldn’t look out of place at a New York speakeasy.
However you plan your home bar, make sure you enjoy the process of putting it together. Take a notebook to a cocktail bar, and observe what you want to take into your own place. Importantly, note what you don’t want to take inspiration from as well. Making your living room look like a Be@One isn’t everyone’s idea of chic, after all.
Above all, cheers!
