Well stocked home bar

[letterk]

I've put together my liquor collection out of need for specific drinks or spirits I like, rather than thinking at it from some sort of master plan. I'm curious as to what others think is a well stocked bar at home?

[ouch]

Tim's house.

[letterk]

Tim's house.

Or Bob's.

[castlecraver]

There are a few things I always have on hand, considering versatility above all things:

For whisk(e)y, I always have Crown Royal, Powers, WT101, and Johnnie Walker Black in stock. All 4 are great neat, or over rocks, and mix well.

Gin and Vodka I'm not particularly loyal to certain brands. Boodles and Stolichnaya are my preferred, but I often eschew them for higher-shelf offerings as I don't go through them too fast, particularly this time of year.

What really makes a well-stocked bar though, IMHO, is the quantity and quality of your liqueurs and other mixers. I always stock Baileys, Kahlua, Grand Mariner, Disaronno, Galliano, Frangelico, Creme de Menthe, Campari, Drambuie, Midori (hidden in the back, never for my own consumption, I swear!), Vermouths, Grenadine/Juices, etc.

If you go through a bartender's handbook, you'll find that the standard liquors are pretty... well... standard. Keep a bottle each of gin, vodka, whiskey (scotch blend, bourbon, rye, Irish, and Canadian if you can, but you can pare that down as needed), rum and tequila stocked, and there's not too much that you can't make without having the right mixers.

Otherwise, presentation is absolutely key. Having the right garnish on hand is required. Spring for some distinctive glassware if you can. Keep plenty of the right tools around, use fresh squeezed citrus fruit, make fresh syrup as needed, buy the mini-bottles of club soda as they start to go flat the minute you open one.

I'm assuming you have a good handle on the higher shelf offerings like single malts, barrel proof bourbons that you prefer. I don't consider these as strongly for having a home bar "well stocked," as personal preference is so key. You have to judge based on the types of folks besides yourself you'll be serving, and the fact such bottles don't add any great versitility to your bar.

[theperfectstorm]

Manhattans - Require a good Bourbon or a good Canadian -two birds, one stone there.

Martini's - Require either a good smooth gin or a good non-flavored vodka of some quality.

Old School Tropical Drinks (Daquiri's, Mai Tai's, Zombies, etc.) - Require either/both Platinum and Dark (Black) Rum.

That's six bottles there that can handle almost any basic, classic cocktail.

Manhattans and Martini's require red (Sweet) and white (Dry) vermouth.

Tropical drinks can require triple sec or curacao.

After that add in a couple of apertifs/liquors/etc. - a Brandy/cognac/calvados, and a liquor-based one like Irish Mist or Drambuie.

Also, don't forget the ladies - some combination of Amaretto, Kahlua or Sambuca.

For Master's-level credit:

Throw in a bottle of small-batch whiskey (Sam Houston, Booker's, etc.)

A bottle of reasonable Scotch (or Irish whiskey)

and an artisan bottle like Clear Creek Distillery's Apple Brandy or Kirsch.

[Doc4]

Good glasses! Nice, heavy, break-your-toe-if-you-drop-it, crystal cut glasses that make people realise they are having a great drink from a great bar, and not just drinking hooch from a $1.99 Target special.


Presentation, presentation, presentation.

[texcattlerancher]

Where is the Tonic water and cokes/diet cokes for mixers?

[jmwebster]

My bar is stocked with only one person in mind.... me. I never drink Manhattans, or martinis or fru fru girl drinks, so I fail to see the point of having the fixins for these around.

I currently have:

Lagavulin 16
Aberlour Abunadh
Bruchladdich Moine Mohr, 3d3
Isle of Jura (the bottle everyone other than close friend pour from)
Ardbeg

Will be stocking up on Bourbon again soon. (most likely Van Winkle) Also planning on picking up my first bottle of rye.

Also, nice glasswear is very important! you can tell the cheap stuff from the good stuff very easily!

[dpm802]

Reference materials and recipes are always a good thing to keep handy, like a Mr. Boston's Bartender Guide.

I would kick everything up a notch and go for Private Reserve labels of the various name-brand liquors: Rum, Whiskey, Bourbon, Scotch, Vodka, etc. This way, no matter what your guests are drinking, you can serve them a knock-their-socks-off drink.

You can get smaller bottles (200~375ml) of each to keep costs down while starting up ... when you figure out which are the most popular, then go for the 750 size.

Some people mentioned to get good glasses. At the same time, be sure to have on hand some up-scale hardware like shakers, jiggers, ice-bucket, swizzle sticks, napkins, coasters, and so forth.

[guitarslinger]

I always have:

Bourbon: many
Scotch: a few
Irish Whiskey: a few
Gin: a few
Vodka: maybe a mid level and a Chopin
Tequila: mid level - white!
Rum: Gosling Black Seal, Sailor Jerry, maybe some bacardi white just to have it.

bitters: orange, angostura, peychauds, lemon, peach, etc
vermouth: noilly prat dry, martini n rossi sweet, dubonnet dry
a bunch of other stuff. I don't feel like adding any more right now.

[Mottern Man]

All you need are the basics.

I call them the big 4

Rum (Sailor Jerry, or a nice PR type)
Whiskey (Evan Williams for Mixing, Jamison for sippin')
Gin (Beefeater, Tang)
Vodka (Ketel One, Belvedere, Smirnoff Triple Distilled is pretty good for the money)

And some some stuffs for mixing (depending on the drinks you like)
Bitters
Vermouth (sweet and dry)
Garnishes
V8 Juice
Grenadine
Margarita Mixes, Tom Collins Mixes, Sour Mixes, etc.
Assorted Liqueur (such as Grand Marnier, Sambuca, Khulua, Irish Cream, etc)
Assorted Soda (well just coke and 7 up will do)
Tonic Water
And if it is you are "The Ladies Man" toss out the Courvoisier and get Remy Martin

[toucanlamp]

I think it's just best to have all the basics covered, you might get some guest who loves Campari or Southern Comfort or Sambuca or Tequila etc. etc. but unless you have several thousand dollars just begging to be spent and lots of storage space, you can't be always prepared to please everyone.

I think most people would agree that it's important to have at least a 750 ml bottle of a Vodka, Whisky, Rum, and Gin like the others have said. Beyond that I'd say you might want to have on hand the popular liqeurs that lots of people like such as Khalua, Bailey's, or Grand Marnier. In my experience, other than standard liquors like listed above, the stuff that is drinken most often are things like these which people have after dinner in coffee.

Anyhow, among the kind of average people I have tended to mix with, 90% of them at social gatherings drink beer or wine exclusively so having lots of high quality spirits at the ready isn't often much of an issue.

[Rem Freeman]

Mixers cannot be overlooked nor stressed enough!

[labrat_333]

Take it slow, figure out what you need and go from there. Last year I went a little overboard on cocktail parties ended up with about 50 bottles in my home bar most of them liqueurs. When I finish these I will probably cut down to about 10-12 bottles of what I use most.

I've gone through a couple bottles of most the major liquers, whisky, rum, scotch, gin, tequila, vodka, etc.. But alot of the mixers and liqueurs have still never been opened or barely touched.

I'm still trying to find drink recipies so I can use up all these liqueurs.

[Suzuki]

Or Bob's.

[AKady]

Ok so my stuff is not nearly as stocked or high end as everyone else here, but for a college student I do pretty well since I dont allow phillips in the house.

I find that it is good to have rum (sailors), Whiskey (Bushmills, Canadian, Makers, and the Jack for mixing), Vodka(handle of adve i think), Gin(350 New Amsterdam), brandy ( Mainly for me and the guys).

I also have Kallua, Vermouth, Chocolate liquer, and triple sec.

What I found nice over the summer is for every week or month pending how many people were coming over, I would set like a house special drink that I made up (i.e. Lemonchello Martini, Mojito) I would set one sweet and one bitter. Most of the time the ladies went with that and it helped cut down the number of things to buy.

[johnniegold]

Such a great thread and such great responses.

One of the key ingredients of any well-stocked home bar, imo, is knowing what your guests like. There is nothing that pleases me more than asking someone what they want to drink and they'll ask: can you make a Dark & Stormy? And then see the look on their face when you break out the Gosling's Dark Rum and Ginger Beer and put it in a nice, weighty 8 oz tumbler with a big juicy freshly-cut wedge of lime.

As for presentation, it cannot be emphasized enough: garnish your drinks with the appropriate fruit, olives, onions etc.

I have seen so many great suggestions but the one key ingredient that I don't see is: ICE!

How many times have you been invited to someone's house for a cocktail and when you get your drink it has the "white" ice from the freezer or even worse, from the ice dispenser from the freezer door.

This ice will inevitably alter the flavor of the drink and if the water filter needs to be changed, the ice may even have an unpleasant odor.

You have gone to the trouble of preparing a nice drink, in a nice glass and with the appropriate garnish only to detract from the drinker's enjoyment because you overlooked the simplest of all the components to a wonderfully constructed cocktail. The ICE!

I never use the ice from the freezer. I always buy a sleeve of spring water ice ( a sleeve usually contains 6 or 7 5 lb bags of ice.) I keep it in the freezer in the garage. When we have guests, say more than 3-4 couples, two bags will suffice. If there is ice left over, I put it in my ice-dispenser in my freezer and I still dispense it through the door.

If I am having one drink, I keep an ice tray in the freezer filled with spring water.

So remember ICE is NICE. And always have plenty on hand.


Dean Martin: When are you gonna get some heat in this place, I'm freezin'.

Frank Sinatra: Then get your hand out of the ice bucket.

[Confuzius]

You can also use boiled, filtered (britta etc) water to make crystal clear ice.
http://www.instructables.com/id/make...al-clear-ice!/

At my last inventory I had 52 bottles in my liquor cabinet. It all started when I got a bartending book and was dissapointed by the things I couldn't make, a bottle or two here and there and it adds up.

I keep a running mental list of things that I don't have and will pick one up if there's a sale, or I've got some extra cash. The things that I dont have yet will probably last a few years or need to be thrown out before I can finish the bottle.

I'm pretty much at the point where all I'm missing is; creme de cassis, midori, banana liquor, sloe gin and various flavoured brandies.

Sloe gin is at the top of the list for next purchase.

[BigRich]

Honestly, I have a rather extensive collection of spirits but it's all very selfish. I don't entertain that often so if you come over and you don't like any of my whiskies, brandies, or wine then I guess you're SOL.

[boboakalfb]

My bar weighs pretty heavily towards my tastes, so if you are a fan of Whisk(e)y, I have a few to choose from.

That being said, I have a few Gins, various Tequilas and even a few bottles of Vodka on hand.

I do know what my friends like so make it a point to accomidate their preferences as well. I have even been known to mix Vodka and Dry Vermouth garnished with an olive or twist. (Not for me of course.)