Designing The Perfect Bar

To create the perfect bar, you’ll need to start with where you set it up  and the perfect bar needs a perfect bar table or cabinet.  Everyones version of perfect will be different but I think a classic butlers tray is a great choice.  It takes up the minimum amount of room to offer all the necessary liquors & mixers as well as ice, glasses and a few of your favorite bar accessories.  36″ or so is the right hight and tucks away when you need space.  If you have more space and more money a proper bar with bottle storage, tools, and storage for glassware would really keep the party classy.  Once you have decided where there are jus a few things you’ll need to pick up…

1 bottle of bourbon
1 bottle of gin
1 bottle of rum (light)
1 bottle of tequila (100 percent agave)
1 bottle of orange liqueur, such as Cointreau or Grand Marnier
2 bottles of vodka —1 plain and 1 infused, such as Hangar One’s Mandarin Blossom (keep 1 in the freezer at all times and 1 on the bar)
Angostura Bitters
Champagne or sparkling wine
1 bottle of dry vermouth
1 bottle of sweet vermouth
1 bottle each of white and redwine

TOOLS

Boston cocktail shaker
Hawthorne strainer
Double jigger
Bar spoon
Basic cocktail glassware such as rocks glasses, collins glasses, wineglasses, and champagne flutes
Citrus squeezer
Muddler
Waiter’s corkscrew
Champagne stopper
Cutting boards
Paring knife
Bowl for ice
Ice tongs
Toothpicks
Paper cocktail napkins

And then there are the mixers.  You can’t please everyone all the time with the mixers, but you can try.  It’s easy to keep a can of coke on the bar and maybe a fizzy water and a diet something. Here are the things your bar should really not be without.

Big bottle of cranberry juice
Big bottle of orange juice
Soda water (seltzer)
Tonic water
Cola
Ginger ale or ginger beer
Lemon-lime soda
Brandied cherries (we’re not into maraschino cherries)
Cocktail onions
Green olives with pimientos
Superfine sugar

So now you have a pretty “adult” bar, and hopefully the proper glassware to go along with all the right bottles.  This last list are the things that you should grab fresh, or check your stock before you assume you have these things, they are a deal breaker.

Limes
Mint
Ice

That should just about do it.  Brace yourself, this project will not be cheap.  Do I even have to tell you that brand name bottles will taste better and are less likely to give you a hangover?  Buy the best you can afford and drink responsibly.