As you can imagine, the one question I get most by the people interested in our videos is: “How Do I Start?” That is, how do I begin the process of creating a well rounded home bar? And the answer to that question is always with a question: “Well, what do you want your home bar to be?” This response always seems to elicit frustration from the asker, some of whom I guess want just an easy cookie cutter answer on how to do it cheap and easy with minimal effort.

The thing is, there is no cookie cutter way to approach this and it is intensely personal. You really do need to know what you want your home bar to be. A bar stocked for someone who loves Bourbon or American Whiskey is going to look much much different than that of someone who loves Scotch or someone who wants to be able to make good cocktails. And if we go down the rabbit hole further and break the cocktail bar down, we need to know what kind of cocktails do you want to be able to make? Classics? Modern? Culinary? Or do you want to mess with the latest in scientific culinary gadgets? Each has a much different approach and each has a much different budget. All that said, after a LOT of hemming and hawing and avoiding this topic, I decided to endeavor to answer this question or at least give some pointers on how to start to build your collection.

Since I mainly focus on cocktail creation, I’m assuming that the people reading this post are mainly interested in making cocktails. And if I’ve learned anything about our YouTube audience, most people want to be able to have the things to make a wide variety of Classic and Modern Classic cocktails which don’t take too much effort outside of making some syrups. I will warn you before we begin, that this is an expensive hobby and to get everything I’m listing below is probably going to cost a couple grand at the end of the day. But I will say that in my experience, if this is something you’re truly interested in, it’s absolutely worth every cent invested. You will also learn a lot.

WELL SPIRITS

Well Spirits are those low cost (and if you’re doing it right) high quality spirits you find resting in a bar’s well. It is the collection of spirits which are low cost enough to be readily replaceable, are highly versatile and are used for the base of most cocktails In the bar. The other name I give them is Workhorse Spirits or daily drams. These are the backbone of your bar and will be the spirits you will use most. Everything else is extra credit.

*I also keep the Grandad 114 around as well.

BITTERS

No cocktail bar can function without a small selection of bitters. For those who don’t know, bitters are a high proof spirit macerated with herbs, spices, citrus and other botanical elements. They are usually distributed in dashes and are incredibly concentrated in flavor. They are ( as the guys from Death and Company so succinctly put it) the bartenders spice rack.

Their function is to either amply other flavors or add a new layer of flavor depending on which you use. There are three main one’s you’ll need to have in order to make the vast majority of classic and modern classic cocktails. In my humble opinion, you can never have too many bitters, and if stored properly they’ll last forever as they are completely shelf stable. This could become another obsessive collection for you but we’ll leave that subject to another time.

AMARO & LIQUEURS

Amaro is another type of bitter but whereas cocktail bitters are meant for consumption in drops and dashes, Amari (plural of Amaro) are what are referred to as potable bitters, or ones meant for consumption in larger quantities. They are an Italian class of bitters with 200 years of history and are traditionally used as a digestif: something consumed to help one digest. They are a much used class of spirit and are a must for a well rounded bar as they’re featured in a large swath of cocktails. I also lumped in other liqueurs you’ll need that don’t fit the Amaro class but are musts anyway.

VERMOUTH & SHERRY

Vermouth and Sherry are classes of Fortified wines which have become Must have’s for the home bar. You should keep in mind that because they are both wine based they must be refrigerated after opening, and although there are many ways to extend their lives, they are not shelf stable and will eventually go off. Many bottles can be purchased in the smaller .375ml option so as to not have to store large bottles of things you may not use often. The shelf life of these wines in about 6 months in the fridge but for best test I try and use mine within 3.

CITRUS SYRUPS

Of course no cocktail Bar would be complete without the use of citrus and of course syrups. For citrus I recommend using fresh fruit and if making a small amount of cocktails, hand squeezing is best for the best flavor in drinks but also to mitigate waste. As for syrups all can be made at home and in small batches so they can be used up in good time.

Alrighty. I think that’s everything you need to be able to stock a home bar for a versatile group of cocktails. There are other things to consider such as tools and glassware but I’ll cover those in separate articles.