How To Set Up a Home Bar

HOW TO SET UP A HOME BAR


Entertaining at home!
Easy and economical.
F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote a lot about home cocktail parties. Read “Tender is the Night”. Great novel, by the way.
Here are some easy and helpful hints on setting up a home bar, and becoming a favorite neighborhood bartender!
SETTING UP
As far as location goes, a large kitchen counter will suffice. Someplace near a sink is a necessity. You’ll be dumping out ice from your shaker, and you need a faucet to rinse.
For appearance, a nice thin tablecloth over the counter will be very attractive. But nothing too fancy or expensive, as there may be spillage.
On your countertop, you’ll need an area for liquor, mixers, glassware, garnishes, bartending tools, and an ice bucket.
SPIRITS
Here’s the basics: vodka, gin, light rum, tequila, scotch, bourbon, blended whiskey, dry vermouth, sweet vermouth, triple sec.
As far as the types or brands of liquor you use, that is up to you. Buy something decent, but it doesn’t have to be top-of-the-line. (For example, if someone wants a scotch and soda, don’t use a single malt scotch. That’s alcohol abuse!)
If you want to go the extra mile, other spirits you may want to stock: brandy, cognac, Gran Marnier, crème de menthe (white and green), crème de cacao (dark and white), Drambuie, Amaretto, Apple Pucker, and champagne.
WINE
A few bottles of red, and a few bottles of white are all that is needed.
For white, a chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, or a pinot grigio. Keep refrigerated.
For red, a cabernet, merlot, or a pinot noir.
BEER
Just a few choices will suffice.
An American mass-produced brand, an import or a small batch brew, and perhaps some type of lite beer for the calorie conscious.
The beer can be kept in the fridge or in a large ice chest on the floor.
GARNISHES
Olives, onions, Maraschino cherries, lime wedges, lemon wedges, orange slices, lemon twists.
To cut wedges: cut the ends off, then cut in half lengthwise. Slice each half two times, lengthwise, to create three wedges.
For orange slices: cut the ends off the orange. Cut the orange in half lengthwise. Place the half piece flat side down. Slice off half circles, going around the orange on the side, not from top to bottom.
For lemon twists: use a channel knife, which has a stainless steel flat piece with a hole. Through the hole, you can slice off a long spiral length lemon peel. Cut off the ends of the lemon, and start cutting/peeling from top to bottom.
To flame an orange peel: cut an oval shaped orange twist, about one-and-a-half inches long and three-fourths inch wide, with a small bit of pith on one side. Light a match, and hold it a few inches above the drink. Hold the twist by the sides, about 3-4 inches above the drink, skin side facing the drink. The match should be between the drink and the twist. Briskly snap the twist, so that the orange oil shoots through the



flame and onto the surface of the drink. The result: a bit of pyrotechnic display, and carmelized orange oil floating on top of the cocktail!
CONDIMENTS
Bitters, grenadine, Tabasco sauce, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, simple syrup, sugar.
To make simple syrup, combine equal parts (for example, three cups each) of sugar and water. Bring to a boil, then let cool. Voila: simple syrup!
JUICES (use fresh fruit juices)
Orange juice, lemon juice, lime juice, pineapple juice, tomato juice, cranberry juice, and grapefruit juice.
MIXERS
Cola, diet cola, club soda, tonic water, 7-Up, ginger ale.
GLASSWARE
Martini glasses, rocks glasses, highball glasses, wine glasses, brandy snifters, pilsner glasses, and champagne flutes.
BARTENDING TOOLS
Shaker set (metal and glass), long cocktail stirring spoon, wine opener, bottle/can opener, cocktail strainer, paring knife and cutting board, muddler, and jigger.
COCKTAILS YOU NEED TO KNOW
Martini, Manhattan, Margarita, Bloody Mary, Screwdriver, Daiquiri, Rob Roy, Old-Fashioned, White Wine Spritzer, Whiskey Sour.
COCKTAILS THAT WOULD BE NICE TO KNOW
Cosmopolitan, Sidecar, Mint Julep, Mojito, Rusty Nail, Negroni, Seabreeze, Monkey Gland, Singapore Sling, Ramos Gin Fizz.
COCKTAIL RECIPE BOOKS
These three are must have’s: “The Craft of the Cocktail,” by Dale DeGroff, “The Joy of Mixology,” by Gary Regan, and “Secrets Revealed of America’s Greatest Cocktails,” by Robert Plotkin.
And to add a fourth: "The Ultimate Cocktail Book," by Ray Foley.
If you want to go back in time and see how the professional bartenders of days gone by mixed cocktails, try to get copies of “How To Mix Drinks or The Bon-Vivant’s Companion,” by Jerry “the Professor” Thomas, 1862, or “The Savoy Cocktail Book,” by Harry Craddock, 1930. Both are out of print, but worth seeking out.
EXTRACURRICULAR READING
“Imbibe!” by David Wondrich, “Bottled Wisdom,” by Mark Pollman, and “Cocktails of the Ritz Paris,” by Colin Peter Field.
MEMOIRS
For the best memoir of a bartender ever written, read “Hemingway’s Paris,” by James Charters as told to Morrill Cody. (Original title: “This Must Be the Place.”)
Jimmy Charters was a bartender in 1920’s Paris. His book is a memoir of his bartending experiences in Paris. His customers included Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Harpo Marx, James Joyce, Silvia Beach, Gertrude Stein, Sinclair Lewis, Oscar Wilde, etc. Unfortunately, this is also out of print, but again, worth seeking out.
BAR/COCKTAIL SITES
http://www.ardentspirits.com/
http://www.kingcocktail.com/
http://www.barmedia.com/
http://www.misscharming.com/
http://www.spiritjournal.com/
www.theartofthedrink.com/blog
http://www.museumoftheamericancocktail.org/
http://www.usbg.org/
http://www.bartender.com/
http://www.sircocktail.blogspot.com/
http://www.vezeo.com/
www.better-drinking.com





FILMS
Some good films with bar/cocktail/drinking scenes:
Casablanca, Guys and Dolls, The Seven Year Itch, Where the Buffalo Roam, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Naked Lunch, Bar Fly, The Strawberry Blonde, The Thin Man, and Cocktail.
A note about "Cocktail": not a bad movie, but the book was so much better. The book "Cocktail," by Heywood Gould, was definitely written by an ex-bartender. The movie was a bit of a farce. All this flipping bottles, etc. These bartenders should go work in a circus! The best bartender is one who makes a great cocktail and gives great customer service. I think service is more important at times than the cocktail. Nothing against Tom Cruise, who is a great actor. But I think Gene Hackman looks more like a real bartender than Tom Cruise!



Lastly, remember that you are setting up a home bar to entertain friends and guests. You are not setting up some high end concept at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.
Enjoy being a home-bartender, and remember what Mark Twain once said:
“The cheapest and easiest way to become an influential man and be looked up to by the community at large, was to stand behind a bar, wear a cluster diamond pin, and sell whiskey. I am not sure but that the saloon keeper held a shade higher rank than any other member of society.”