How to build a home bar: 30 essential items

The ability to interfere with cocktails is a skill that is useful at all times, but at the time of home parties especially precious. It is quite possible for everyone to equip their own mini-bar; this does not require millions of rubles and a huge kitchen (although it is necessary to find a place to store alcohol). We tell what devices are necessary for enthusiasts, how not to make a mistake with their choice and how to get a minimum of a headache from a home-based enterprise.

Book of recipes

In good books there are not only recipes, but also the history of the cocktail business, specific cocktails and drinks. It’s worth exploring all this, not only to keep your friends occupied with stories while they are waiting for your cocktail, but also just to clearly understand the nature of the drinks you deal with. The owner of the Delicatessen bar and the Yunost cafe Vyacheslav Lankin recommends The Bartender’s Bible Fedor Yevsevsky and Dave Degroff’s The Craft of The Cocktail, and we’ll also recommend Robert Hess’s The Essential Bartender's Guide, which is all but time to be at hand.

From left to right: "The Essential Bartender's Guide", "The Craft of The Cocktail", "The Bartender's Bible"

Shaker

Shakers come in two designs. For beginners, a cobler is more often recommended: it is smaller (even an inexperienced person can handle it with one hand), and a filter is already built into it. The Boston shaker is much larger, there is no filter in it, but it is up to it to adapt itself: it is assembled faster than the all-metal cobbler, because of the simplicity of the design it cannot stick, and the transparent mixing glass minimizes possible errors. There is no need to wisely with the choice of material: the metal is durable, and it has good thermal conductivity, so that the temperature of the drink is controlled automatically.

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: In-bar, Final Touch, Vinzer

Jigger

Make it a rule not to interfere with the eye. The simplest steel jigger will be enough: it costs ridiculous money, but it allows you to measure the correct portion of the drink, and only that is required of it. Jiggers come in different sizes, their bowls can hold one and a half, three-quarters, one or, for example, two ounces. You can actually get used to any option, so choose the jigger you like most, and after practicing a little, you will understand what combination of volumes you prefer. And then you can buy luxury jiggers with a clear conscience.

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Final Touch, Dozenegg, HIC

Strainer

Most cocktails are designed to be uniform in consistency, so a filter is needed. In addition, it allows you to hold the ice in a shaker and not pour it into a glass or a glass (dodgers can do without a strainer, but let's be realistic). The most convenient option - with a spring, it fits snugly to glasses of different diameters. However, springless strainers are very effective, so if beauty is above all for you, you can tinker with them.

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Uber, WMF Faces, Winco

Spoon, corkscrew and tolkushka

Small utensils are as important as big ones. It’s even embarrassing to remind about a corkscrew, but if you still haven’t gotten strong and nestydny, it's time to do it. Still need a bar spoon. She has a long handle to mix cocktails even in tall glasses, the handle is spiral-shaped, and the base is often flat: so not even the thickest liquid will fall into the pile, thoroughly slowed down, and settle down in layers. Madler, too, will come in handy: for some cocktails, you will have to crush greens, berries or fruits, and it will be more convenient to make it just a tolkoo with cloves.

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT:Fackelmann, Funkin, Presentbar

Knives

You will have to cut a lot of fruits, berries and greens, so it is better to have a separate knife under it and follow its sharpness. Better yet, do not skimp on a peel knife: it is often used for decoration and flavor, so it should be cut aesthetically and evenly. Knives, too, are different: those that are more like a peeler, it will turn out to separate large sheets of skin, and "brass knuckles" - fine chips. Most curly knives, by the way, have a special eyelet to cut the zest with ribbons.

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT:Agness, Sus Cutlery, Nadoba Karolina

Glasses

Glasses, like bitters, do not happen much, but three kinds are really necessary, perhaps. Highballs, or tall glasses, will be useful, for example, for tropical cocktails, which add a lot of juice, or for carbonated teas. Negroni and old fashnd are poured over the stocky thick-walled roxes, and martinis and manhattan in the V-shaped legs (it’s not necessary to remember right away, usually in recipes they indicate which glass is needed for a particular cocktail). If you are more interested in trying than drinking, liqueur glasses will be useful: with them you will be able to treat three or four people with one portion of the cocktail.

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Casablanca, Libbey, Devnow

Ice molds

The cocktail should be cold (if it is not a hot cocktail, ok). We suspect that far from everyone has the desire to buy an ice generator, so it is most reasonable to stock up on ice packs. We advise you to fill them with as much space in the freezer as you can free up: worse than the suddenly ending ice at the height of the party can only be that head call on Friday evening. Perfectionists should pay attention to the forms in which the ice solidifies in large chunks or balls: this is a good show off.

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Aliexpress, Aliexpress, Tovolo

Bottles for liqueurs and tinctures

Tinctures are good on their own, but they are also used in cocktails. Maintain and store them better in glass bottles: it is not only beautiful, but also eliminates the possibility of the ingress of foreign smell in the drink. IKEA has the simplest bottles with a convenient rubberized stopper, but we advise you to have different colors and sizes: first, heartier, and secondly, you can share your liqueur with a friend at any time. Well, not every tincture is needed in a huge amount.

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Glavsteklotara, Glavsteklotara, IKEA

Alcohol

Well, and for the sake of what we have gathered all here. At first, I want to embrace everything at once, but it will be expensive. It is better to choose one or two drinks that you are interested in working through (for example, gin or rum), and buy additional ingredients, focusing on specific recipes. It won't be boring: cocktails are not only alcohol, but also a lot of edible ingredients from greens and berries to raw eggs and badger fat. If you are ready to spend money, you can buy all the basic drinks at once: gin, light and dark rum, tequila, bourbon, rye whiskey, sweet and dry vermouth, absinthe, vodka and Cointreau. And do not forget about bitters: these are, roughly speaking, spices, the variety of which the neophyte is overwhelming. You can start with the original orange angostura and some tricky celery, so that there is additional food for thought.