A home bar is a great way to enjoy a drink with your friends, but it’s also a great way to save money. When you go out to a bar, you’re usually spending a lot of money. Making drinks at home can be just as fun but a lot cheaper. Plus, you can make your drinks just the way you like them, which is especially important if you have a taste for something fancy. Here are some tips on how to set up a home bar.
7 Easy Steps to Set Up a Home Bar
Invest in bar essentials
The bar is the focal point of any social gathering. You can have the most beautiful and comfortable couch or the most impressive flat-screen TV in the world, but if you don’t have a great bar, you might as well just invite people over for dinner (or brunch). Whether it’s for a party, dinner with a special someone, or just a night in with your best friends, a proper bar is essential for any good occasion. Getting the right amount of glasses, bottles, and other equipment is often the most challenging part of starting a home bar.
When setting up your home bar, it’s important to stock up on the right supplies. This can be anything from a good wine opener and wine glasses to cocktail shakers, cocktail glasses, and drinking accessories. For those who are just starting out, you don’t need to buy everything at once. Begin with the essentials and work your way up to the finer things.
Get mixers and garnishes
Mixers are the essential ingredient for any cocktail; without them, you’d just be drinking straight booze. So, whether you’re into dirty martinis or mojitos, mixers are a must. There are a ton of different mixers to choose from, but the most common ones are soda, tonic, club soda, juices, and lemon-lime soda. You can also find mixers in powdered form.
Foundation spirits
When it comes to selecting spirits that form the foundation of your home bar, there are a few rules of thumb to keep in mind. First, each spirit must be considered based on its “house” role. In other words, do you use it for mixing or for sipping? For example, a bottle of bourbon and a bottle of Scotch can both be used in a variety of cocktails and for sipping. On the other hand, a bottle of Jagermeister is typically only used for shots or perhaps as a mixer in a cocktail like a Jager Bomb.
Add some instant taste creators
The average amateur bartender’s home bar is likely to consist of the same old, bland liquor choices. A bottle of vodka, a bottle of rum, maybe a little tequila, and a bottle of gin. And that’s about it. That’s fine if you’re a vodka drinker, but if you like to mix things up, those basic bottles aren’t going to get the job done. Add some instant taste creators to your home bar to expand your horizons and get some more creative with your cocktail making. You can keep some tasty fruit close and other garnishes or stock the mini fridge with ice. Speaking of ice, you can store some cool stuff like alcohol freezie pops to serve friends to add to their drinks or have as they are.
Glassware and trays
Glassware and trays are absolutely essential to the home bar. The home bar can be used to store a variety of alcohol, including whiskey, vodka, rum, tequila, and gin. For this purpose, it is best to have a wide variety of shot glasses. If a bar is going to have a large variety of drinks, then it will have to have a large variety of glasses for those drinks. And a tray or two to store the drinks in and complement the décor.
Find a manual or a book
Anywhere you look, there are home bars to be found. But if you are looking for a simple home bar, you need to find a guide. The guide should have simple instructions. It should have no things that are too technical, so you should be able to comprehend it. It should also have all the equipment that you need for your home bar and recipes that you can use to make your favorite drinks.
Install the right design for the home bar
When you think of a home bar, you probably imagine rows of liquor bottles, but a home bar doesn’t have to be a liquor cabinet. It’s simply a place to store your alcohol and mixers — and the more organized, the better. The first step to setting up a home bar is to decide on a location. You’ll want to find a spot that’s easy to access when you’re entertaining but not a spot where you might stumble into it throughout the day. It’s also a good idea to set up your bar location near your kitchen. It’s easier to mix drinks if you have a well-stocked bar and a fully stocked kitchen.