During this pandemic we are having “Cocktail Hour with Will” six days a week on our instagram stories. Each day we will teach you either a cocktail recipe or something about entertaining with your home bar. We hope this gives you all a place to relax and let the day wash away. You can see past stories in our highlights.
Whether it’s for entertaining a few guests or a quiet evening around the house, the home bar is a quite essential. Building the perfect cocktail not only lets you express your own personality, but it also offers something new to your guests. It’s as much of an entertainment as it is an enjoyment. Think of each cocktail as an amuse bouche to the main course.
This post contains affiliate links. We make a small commission if you purchase our recommendations.
The basics of a home bar
To setup the basics for the home bar we are going to gather items for the bar, pantry, and refrigerator. These items will include the five main base liquors, Vermouths and cocktail accoutrements, which most cocktails are made with.
5 Main Base Liquors
- Bourbon or Whisky
- Gin
- Vodka
- Light Rum (clear)
- Tequila
Vermouth, Bitters and Wine
- Dry Vermouth (white)
- Sweet Vermouth (red)
- Aganostra Bitters
- Bottle of your favorite red wine
- Bottle of your favorite white wine
When choosing your liquor, vermouths, bitters and wine, it comes down to personal taste. Each one of the items listed above come in many varieties and their flavor profiles can vary drastically. There is a bit of trial and error here, finding which brands you like most. Do a little detective work next time you have a great cocktail and ask the bartender what the drink was made with. Hopefully they will turn you on to something new and exciting.
For the Pantry
- Seltzer
- Tonic
- Bloody Mary mix (can be home made)
- Pina Colada mix (can be home made)
- Green Olives (not in oil)
- Luxardo Cherries (this specific brand is really good)
For the Fridge
- Lemons
- Limes
- Oranges
- Berries
- Orange Juice
- Ice
Upping your home bar to the next level
Once you have your basic bar setup, it’s time to have fun and explore. We like to have items that we can serve before and after dinner such as aperitifs and digestifs or something to add complexity to our standard cocktail recipes.
We prefer our aperitifs to have a more bitter citrus flavor, which stimulates the appetite. An example of an aperitif would be Campari, which can be mixed with soda for a Campari and soda cocktail. For our digestifs, a sweeter and smoother taste is ideal for after a meal. This can be a cognac or Lillet.
Here are a few favorites from our home bar
We always have a healthy rotation of our favorite spirits in the bar. Some things hang around for awhile and others we replenish regularly. Make sure you mix it up once in awhile to keep it interesting.
Bourbon / Whiskey / Rye / Scotch
- Bulleit Bourbon
- Rowan’s Creek Bourbon
- Basil Hayden’s Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
- Hibiki Japanese Harmony Whisky
- Suntory Toki Japanese Whisky
- Old Forester Rye
- Hillrock Double Cask Rye
- Glenmorangie 12 Year Old Single Malt Whisky
- The Balvenie 12 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Gin
- Hendrick’s
- Bombay Dry (lovely in martini’s)
- Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin (most fantastic in a gin and tonic)
- New Amsterdam (a good clean tasting gin)
- Plymouth
- Roku Japanese Gin
Vodka
Rum
- Bacardi Superior White Rum (for mixed cocktails)
- The Kraken Black Spiced Rum
- Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum (great for eggnog)
- Diplomatico (for sipping)
Tequila and Mezcal
- Herradura Silver Tequila
- El Tesoro Anejo Tequila
- Del Maguey Vida Mezcal
- Fidencio Mezcal
- El Buho Mezcal (nice and smokey)
Vermouths and Bitters
- Carpano Antica Formula Vermouth (sweet vermouth)
- Calissano Bianco Vermouth (dry vermouth)
- Dolin (dry vermouth)
- Angostura orange bitters
- Fee Brothers Bitters Grapefruit (amazing in seltzer)
- The Bitter Truth Celery Bitters (great in a garden tonic or bloody mary)
- Bittermens Elemakule Tiki (takes a manhattan cocktail to a new level)
Liqueurs, Aperitifs and Digestifs
- Cointreau (orange flavor)
- Disaronno Amaretto (almond, cherry)
- Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
- Suze Aperitif
- Maison J. R. Brillet Liqueur Belle de Brillet (pear brandy)
- Lillet Servir Tres Frais Blanc (perfect on its own over ice or with seltzer)
- Campari (fantastic with sparkling wine)
- Fernet-Branca (very herbal bitter)
- Pimm’s No. 1 Cup
- Nardini Grappa Infused With Rue
- Rémy Martin 1738 Accord Royal
Mixers and Pantry items
- Zing Zang Bloody Mary Mix
- Fever-Tree Tonic Water
- Luxardo Maraschino Cherries
- Sable & Rosenfeld Vermouth Tipsy Olives (for martini’s)
- Sable & Rosenfeld Vermouth Tipsy Onions (for gibson’s)
- Ginger ale (in small cans)
- Ginger beer (for gin gin mules)
For recommendations on cocktail glasses for the home bar, see our post here.