A gorgeous home bar is something most millennials dream of and it is not because it is fancy. This home bar can be useful to serve guests, enjoy leisure time, and make your home classier.
What's more? Owning a home bar automatically makes increases your home’s value in the retail market. So, if you’re been dreaming of investing in a home bar and finally have the resources, we suggest you start now.
However, you feel like you know nothing about setting up a home bar. Well, no worries! You've come to the right place. We have just the tips to help you start a home bar!
- Cocktail Shakers
You’ve seen these cocktail shakers, right? Most bartenders are using these in classic dance moves to shake and mix a drink. Now, these cocktail shakers are generally two-three-piece equipment that is detachable. It consists of a large and a small glass, which is used to mix drinks. Some of these even come with a strainer, namely the three-piece equipment.
You can get these from any reputed home décor store. However, ensure to buy these as without these your drink won’t taste consistent.
- Glassware
Let’s not ignore how important glassware is when it comes to any kind of bars. Therefore, even for your home bar, invest in a few classic booze glassware. Among what you need is whiskey glasses, martini glasses, beer mugs, and shot glasses.
Now, if you want the latest trends in glassware, you can also invest in coupe or geometric glassware. Apart from these, you can also invest in Collins Glasses for the heavy drinker.
The coupe glasses are ideal for martinis and can replace the martini glasses, as these prevent a drink from spilling. This is because these glasses have a wider rim that can securely hold the liquid when placed below it.
The Tom Collins glasses are ideal for the heavy drinkers. These can hold up to 10 to 12 fl and thus, are ideal for drinking whiskey, gin and vodka.
The geometric glasses are very fancy and are ideal for drinkers who like keeping up with the bar trends. These are mostly oval, circular or pentagon-shaped and can make drinking booze very fancy.
- A Chop Stick or Bar Spoon
The next things you need are a few chopsticks or bar spoons. These are different from regular spoons owing to their long handles and short heads. This bar spoon helps in stirring a sprit easily in a circular motion. As a result, the ice and the liquid are diluted properly, which ensures a smooth flavouring of your drink.
- Ice Bucket
Apart from the above tools, you also need an ice bucket. Now, you might not always drink in the bar, right? So, imagine moving to the lawn with a glass of chilled wine, but its summer and your wine start to heat up.
You do not want that. Here is where your ice bucket or wine cooler can help. The ice inside the wine cooler can stay frozen for a long time. This is especially effective if you wrap the inside of your wine cooler with an aluminium foil.
Therefore, when you store wine in an ice bucket, you can easily keep it cold for a long time. You can buy these ice buckets from any fancy online store. The good ones come featuring a horde of contemporary styles.
Some even feature a fancy wood handle. However, when you are buying ice buckets ensure to pick stainless steel; these are fancy and can last for a long time. For example, the stainless-steel silver-coated ice bucket is ideal for the modern home bars.
- Peg Measurer
The fifth most important thing you need for your home bar is a peg measurer. You can use this to measure the amount of liquid you pour in a drink. These can come up to 60ml or more and can help you understand the right amount of booze to pour for making your cocktail recipe.
On that note, you can go for a fancy peg measurer made of copper or stainless steel. These are fancy and are perfect to complement a modern home bar.
- A Freezer and a Big Ice Tray
You need to have a well-configured freezer, which can easily store all your liquor in the correct temperature. Apart from that, you need a big ice tray.
These are not like the general ice trays you own. The general ice trays make smaller ice cubes, which tend to melt very quickly. However, the big ice tray features wider cubes that make the ice strong and dense. As a result, these tend to melt slower and are ice for complimenting those fancy ice buckets.
Spirits
- Vodka
Vodka is a very cocktail friendly drink. It is light yet has the right amount of kick to give you a pleasant feeling. What’s more? You can either have it in a soda or mix it with your favourite cocktail mix to create a fancy drink.
Now, when it comes to storing vodka, you can buy a few favourites like Smirnoff, Magic Moments, or others.
- Rum and Whiskey
The ideal home bars tend to stock up two kinds of rum, spiced rum and white rum. Spiced rum is mostly used for tropical drinks. For example, rum and coke, rum or Long Island Iced Tea etc. However, white rum is ideal for cocktail lovers. You can mix white rum in daiquiris, mojitos or even other cocktails, depending on the recipe you have chosen.
Now, for whiskey there is one simple rule; the priciest is the smoothest. Therefore, don’t cheap out on whiskey. Go for good ones like Antiquity Blue, Signature or Johnny Walker. These are smooth, long-lasting and offer very good flavours that easily become an acquired taste.
- Gin
This is another easy-breezy spirit very popular with the ladies. However, the flavours of Gin vary from one brand to another. Therefore, you might want to try a few brands before investing in a few good ones.
However, people who love gin, generally recommend these following ones:
- Bombay Sapphire
- Tanqueray
- Beefeater
- Tequilas
Just like your whiskey, you do not want to go cheap on tequilas. Now, there are mainly two kinds of tequilas available in the market. There is the while one, which is better suited for cocktails; while there is the gold one, very suited for margaritas.
Depending on your preference, pick the white tequila or the gold tequila. You can also pick both if you have a knack for mixing drinks.
On that note, now that you’re aware of the 10 ways to set up your home bar, ensure to follow these. f Firstly, get the layout and architecture done, and then stock up with the following. To buy the quintessential barware, you can check out websites like Ellementry. They have some of the best barware in the country! In a matter of weeks, you will have your own home bar ready! Cheers!