The Ultimate Home Bar Essentials You Need to Be the Envy of All
A home bar is a great addition to any household. But what are the home bar essentials you need to get started? Read on to find out!
Are you looking to put a home bar in your house? It is perfect for those who love to be social and enjoy experimenting with new drinks. Getting friends and family over to sit around your bar and enjoy drinks and conversation is the ultimate recipe for fun. However, if you plan to install a bar in your home, stock up on all the home bar essentials to ensure you have everything you need to make a fantastic impression!
A good home bar has lots of different elements to it to make it great. If you want yours to be extra special then it's important to have all the kit and gear. Think through how you can use your space, as well as the comfort of your guests! Yes, there is lots to think about to have the ultimate home bar.
The home bar essentials you need
Becoming a drinks expert and mixing up some of your own personal cocktail recipes for friends and family will make you feel like you run a speakeasy in the 60's! A home bar is a great place to unwind after a long day in the office and a fantastic feature of any home.
So, to get started, what are the home bar essentials every good home bar needs? Let's take a look!
#1 Pick drinks you actually like! You don't need to go all fancy and get every weird liquor and mixer under the sun. They only end up cluttering up and gathering dust in your home bar as no one drinks them! Stick to things you know you like to drink.
Otherwise, you spend a fortune to impress your guests with drinks that they don't even want. Picking things you like also makes you more passionate and put more care into the drinks you make which is what having a home bar is all about.
#2 Start small and grow. A home bar is different to heading out to your local bar in the city. If you attempt to recreate the look and feel of that, you end up putting too much pressure and stress on yourself. Not to mention, spending too much money.
When it comes to making drinks for your guests a limited menu might be the way to start. Focus on specializing on making a few drinks really, really well. This will go much better than having the ingredients and recipes for hundreds of drinks, but lacking the skill or know-how to execute them properly.
What alcohol do you need for home bar essentials
So, what are some of the bottles every good home bar should have? Let's take a look at the essentials.
#1 Gin. The base for loads of popular cocktails so having a bottle or two of good-quality gin on hand is a great idea.
#2 Vodka. Another popular spirit that works well in cocktails and can be used as the basis for making colorful and interesting shots too. Don't scrimp on the quality of your vodka as some of the cheaper stuff tastes nasty. There is no hiding it!
#3 Whiskey. A few good whiskeys are important. Not only can you make some delicious cocktails from them, but you also can have them as slow, sophisticated after-hours drinks!
#4 Tequila. This fun spirit is a must to keep in your drinks cabinet. Great for shots or to make a classic margarita-the perfect summer cocktail.
#5 Rum. Rum is ideal for lazy summer days. It's a great spirit to put into sweet and fizzy cocktail mixes or punches.
#6 Schnapps and fruit liqueurs. To make cocktails a bit more interesting, a variety of schnapps and liqueurs give them something extra!
Mixers and garnishes
Of course, with all this alcohol you need a variety of mixers to make up cocktails and long drinks for your guests. A well-stocked mixing cabinet includes: tonic water, soda water, Coke, lemonade, ginger ale, juices *like orange, pineapple, and cranberry*, and bitters.
Other essentials to consider are the garnishes and finishing touches for your drinks. Fruit such as limes and lemons are important. Salt, pepper, horseradish, and Tabasco make excellent Bloody Mary's.
Cocktail olives and onions are also crucial home bar essentials. Boozy cherries add a great twist to many drinks and make you look like a cocktail pro! Little snacks to go with your drinks also adds a classy touch.
Additional home bar essentials
Stocking your home bar with all the right equipment and tools is also essential. Make sure you have a variety of appropriate glasses for all the different drinks you make. Matching your drinks in the right glass shows you mean business and make social occasions seem extra special.
Keep sharp knives for chopping, a freezer with ice, a cocktail shaker and strainer, toothpicks and cocktail sticks, napkins, a corkscrew, and a few carefully selected mixologist recipe books which help you become more inventive and practice refining your drink making skills. Straws and umbrellas can also be fun, especially if you make nonalcoholic cocktails for the younger crowd.
Running a great home bar isn't just about the drinks, of course. It's also about making sure you create a relaxed, fun, and sociable space for you and your guests to enjoy. Doing this depends on the amount of space you have. Think about seating-are you going for bar stools or comfy sofas? Lighting-do you want your home bar to be glitzy and glamorous, intimate and cozy, or fun and sparkly?!
What you choose naturally depends on your personal tastes but making sure you planned your space and what kind of look you want makes all the difference.
A home bar should be a great social space in your home. It is a place where people you love come together to relax and unwind, chat and catch up, and have a great night out without going out and spending a fortune by heading to a fancy cocktail bar.
Naturally being a good home bar owner is all about the atmosphere you create and having the right home bar essentials. But as long as you make your home bar a space where people feel welcome and have fun then they'll want to keep coming back for more!
