Stocking a Bar Cabinet
When we redesigned our kitchen, one of the big things I knew I wanted to bring in was a bar cabinet. At our old house we used to have this built-in shelf that made for such a fun little bar area and we missed it so much when we moved into the house we bought. Today, I'm going to be showing how I stocked are bar cabinet.
While our bar will be leaning more towards whiskey drinkers, your bar cabinet should be specific to you and those you drink with. The biggest thing to keep in mind are the types of drinks you want to make. When we built our cabinet, we tried to keep in mind 3-5 drinks we could make for anyone on the fly. This meant also being able to have things with long shelf lives. Do you and your drinking buddies have specific drinks you usually gravitate towards? Then those ingredients and tools should be what you always have on hand.
Having a nice assortment of glasses is key to any bar. You can have all the alcohol and mixers you could own, but it won't do you much good without glasses. We've been slowly assembling our line-up over the years, but finally feel like we've got it down: American pint, beer steins, lowball, highball, Irish coffee mugs, shots & shooters, red wine, and flutes. Our collection has been curated from all over the place: gifts from others, parts of holiday bottle sets, Burlington, Marshall's, Dollar Tree, beer tasting events, and our wedding. You don't have to spend a ton to start out. Check your local secondhand shops, discount stores, and Dollar Trees. The best glasses to have on hand are pint, flute, wine and shot. If you can snag 4 (2 if your circle is smaller), you've got an amazing starter set to get you through a year of celebrations! We got our lowball set with a decanter from Burlington for $10 and its our favorite glasses to use for any drink!
Next is your alcohol! We always try to have a bottle of whiskey, wine and Prosecco on hand at all times. Even though we don't really drink wine, they make for great ingredients in a lot of Italian dishes. Think of how you and your loved ones like to relax or celebrate. What are the most common drinks you have? Keeping a middle-shelf bottle of each on hand means you're always ready when the timing strikes. For those who don't know, the quality of the alcohol increases the higher up on the shelves they are at the store. Your lowest grade alcohol will always sit at the bottom, while your highest (and most expensive) will either be on the top shelf or in a cabinet. Wine works a little bit differently due to the varieties and brands, but this rule of thumb still mostly stands. The average bottle at middle shelf will run you about $20. During the holidays, most stores will offer gift sets where the bottles will come with 1-2 glasses, and often times accessories, for the same cost as a standalone bottle. For example, Grey Goose often comes with a shaker, and Jack Daniels Honey often comes with 2 metal bee stir sticks.
Mixers typically have long shelf lives and help to elevate drinks to the next level. Since we usually make whiskey-based drinks, we always have Coke and Root Beer on hand at all times. During the summer, we keep club soda, Amaretto sours, simple syrup, pineapple juice and Arnold Palmer on hand for Old Fashions and Southern teas. During the winter, we keep Cinnamon Dulce syrup (homemade) and unfiltered apple juice on hand for a spiked cider drink. How this inventory looks for you will depend on your favorite drinks.
We found that the most tools we end up using are jiggers, a zest peeler and stir sticks. It's very rare that you'll ever need a lot of the other tools if you're a simple drinker. I always recommend getting the full set rather than just the few pieces as you'll save more in the long run and you'll be glad on those one-off nights that you have the fancier tools.
And there you have it! It's really easy to stock a bar cart or cabinet or even shelf. And if you can't decide how and where to start, always start with your favorite drink and the ingredients. Since it's your home or office, you want to cater to the people who use it the most. From there you just 1 or 2 items for the occasional guest that you have, and one go to item that almost all people enjoy! Bar cabinets and parts will always evolve over time so don't be afraid that you will "get it wrong" because there are no wrong answers here!
Let me know in the comments below what you like to store in your bar area! I'll be sharing our favorite drink recipes soon here and on my Instagram account (@withlovejoey), so be sure to follow me on Instagram or subscribe to my monthly newsletter to make sure that you don't miss out on those!
