One of best parts of graduating from living in an apartment and into a home is the new-found freedom to customize your domain. You can install a garden, knock out some walls to expand a room or replace the carpet with wood floors.
All these home improvement projects pale in comparison to building your own home bar. Your bar can be the focal point of your man cave, a place where you can entertain your friends or the place you go to unwind at the end of the day.
Once you have the bar in place, the next challenge will be gathering all the must-haves to make your bar functional. These basics are a great jumping off point for any first-time home bar owners. You can upgrade the quality of your tools once you get your sea legs and learn what works best for you and your bar. Here are the must-have tools for your bar when you are on a budget.
A staple for any bar, this often taken-for-granted tool can make the motion of getting to your drink faster and more efficient. Instead of searching for your mobile bottle opener, you can just grab and pop in one fluid motion. Also, having a clearly mounted bottle opener saves you from your friends constantly asking if you have a bottle opener. Who doesn’t love that kind of freedom?
Best part is that this item doesn’t break the bank and you can find a decent mounted bottle opener on Amazon for under $10.
Cocktail Recipe Book
Whether you are a savant at mixing drinks or you’re beginning to learn the ropes, having a handbook on deck is the unsung hero of any bar. Having a trusty cocktail handbook close by can save you if one of your guests ask for a drink you never heard of before or if you are wanting to experiment with crafting and trying new drinks.
As you might expect, there are many, many recipe books out there for you to choose from. Some of the go-to’s include: The PDT Cocktail Book (the one I use), The Joy of Mixology, The Ultimate Bar Book or Death & Co. Any of these books will treat you right and can be found for about $15 to $30.
The Hardware
Much like a carpenter needs the right tools to complete a project, you’ll also need the right gear in your adult beverage tool belt to enhance or craft certain drinks. This is a broad and ever expanding category so we will hit the basics to get you started. You can find these tools for about $10-$20 online. Nothing fancy, but they will get the job done.
Muddler- the bar equivalent of the pestle and mortar, the muddler crushes various spices, fruit, herbs and even vegetables to add new flavors to your drinks. You can experiment with different items to add to drinks to create a new flavor profile. Try to avoid muddlers that have a coating or varnish, this can contaminate your drink and you’ll have a bad time.
Jigger—one of the most important tools of any bar is the jigger. The jigger is a measuring tool to help you get the right amount of your liquid ingredient into your drink. Sure, you can eyeball your measurements, but an over pour (or under) can ruin your hard work you’ve put into your drink. Like in baking, precision is key to mixing a drink.
Juice Press—if your drink calls for fresh juice, like from a lemon or lime, a hand press is your tool. There’s a variety of sizes you can get, depending on the kind of fruit you are expecting to be pressing. Just be sure to wash these guys thoroughly, the flesh of the fruit can fester and become a problem if left unattended.
Hawthorne Strainer—this handy tool is to help you separate the unwanted parts from your cocktail. This would include ice, fruit remnants or other particles from the ingredients you used to make your drink. The Hawthorne is a staple for any bar.
Shakers— an obvious tool to your bar is the cocktail shaker. After all, you need to mix your mix drink somehow, right? Most shakers have built-in strainers to help with discarding the remnants of your ingredients. Clearly you will need one of these on hand when you fire up your bar.
Pour Spouts—these guys help you pour accurate amounts of liquid for your drinks while simultaneously preventing spill of your liquid gold. A no-brainer tool for your bar.
The Glassware
Glassware can be pretty intimating for anybody new to the bar game. Each mix drink has their own specialized glass whose shape and size plays to the drink. Even different kinds of beers have their own glass that should be used to consume it. Where do you even begin?
The best advice is to get a variety pack that has one of each kind of glass and then you can experiment and see which glasses you use the most and works best for you so you know which glasses to stock up on. There are generally three types of glasses that the rest of the glasses branch off from.
Old-fashioned glasses—these glasses are best for drinks served on the rocks, neat or cocktails. The wide mouth of the glass allows for larger ice cubes and also can use the muddler right in the glass.
Tall or Highball glasses—typically used for drinks that need to preserve carbonation or fruity flavors, like a mojito. The tall body of these glasses allow for more ice to keep the drink chilled and are used for drinks that have more of an emphasis on mixers and flavors instead of alcohol.
Stem glasses—drinks that are served cold, but not on ice, are poured into stem glasses, like a Martini. The stem-design is to allow you to hold your drink without getting the beverage warm. Also, wine glasses fall into this category.
