Quality instead of quantity!
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The dream of having your own home bar - thanks to the pandemic and lockdown, the desire to have your own bar at home has become even greater for many. But whether it's a real bar with a counter and bar stools or a decorative bar trolley - finding the right basic equipment is not that easy. Here you'll find all the tips you need to mix high-quality drinks at home.
The most important thing when setting up your own home bar is, of course, the right drinks. There are a few basic rules that you can follow:
1. quality before quantity
As with everything, when buying spirits and mixers for your own bar, it's better to buy good than a lot. This doesn't mean that you have to buy the most expensive of every drink. The price is not necessarily decisive for the quality of a drink. But if you want to mix high-quality drinks with great flavors, you shouldn't fall back on cheap booze.
When buying drinks, pay attention to the selection and origin of the ingredients and the special features of the processing. The more you can find out about how the drink is made, the better. Can't find any information about the product? That should be informative enough - hands off!
Of course, what you need for your home bar also depends on your personal preferences.
2. buy drinks from the mid-price segment for your home bar
If you're just starting out with mixing cocktails, you shouldn't go for the expensive specialty products straight away. It's better to start with a few classic products from the mid-price segment. Whether gin, whisky, rum or vodka - thanks to the enormous range of small and regional producers, you can also find really high-quality products here. They are perfect for getting started in the world of cocktails - and it won't hurt your wallet too much if a drink goes wrong.
3. less is more!
You don't need to have every spirit in your home bar. If you mainly mix for yourself and you don't like whisky anyway, you don't need whisky on the shelf. It's better to buy specialties as and when you need them rather than on spec. Otherwise you'll soon have more dust catchers in your bar than you'd like. And getting the stuck bottle of brandy out of the cupboard years later isn't really fun.
Especially when buying alcohol for your home bar, it's better to buy a few bottles than one of each type.
Buying drinks for the home bar as and when you need them is a really good start. But if you want to mix your way through the world of cocktails, you don't want to have to go back to your local liquor store or place a new order online for every bottle. That's why we have a few recommendations for you on which drinks you should definitely have in your home bar.
We know very well: the choice of alcoholic drinks is huge. But fortunately, there are some basic spirits that you can use to mix up a variety of delicious cocktails:
Whether for the mobile home bar or the fixed counter in the party cellar, a basic selection of a few alcohols is enough for many cocktail variations.
If you put these six types of spirits in your home bar, you can already do a lot with them. However, there are also ingredients that are used less frequently, but in cocktail classics such as the Caipirinha or Cosmopolitan. Think of these alcohols as optional additions to your basic equipment:
What many people often forget: For cocktails, a well-stocked home bar not only needs alcohol, but also juices, syrups and fillers. However, as the selection here is almost as large as the range of spirits, we have a few recommendations for you here.
Juice
Generally speaking, the fresher the juice, the better. That's why it's best to use direct juices (also known as mother juices) or home-pressed juices for your home bar. You should avoid so-called fruit juice drinks or nectars, which generally only have a very low fruit content. Exception: fruit products that are so viscous that they could hardly be processed as direct juice. Banana nectar is therefore perfectly acceptable.
Fresh juices are a must in every home bar.
If you want to taste your way through the cocktail scene, you should definitely have the following juices to hand:
Bartenders also often use cranberry juice, pineapple juice and pomegranate juice. However, as juices don't keep for very long, you should only buy them when you really need them.
Syrup
What is syrup and how is it different from juice, you ask? Syrups are fruit or herbal juices that have been preserved with sugar and are therefore generally much sweeter and thicker than direct juices. Their advantage: they last much longer than fresh juices, can be used in a variety of ways and sometimes act as a sweetener with a special kick. You can now fill your home bar with syrups in all colors and flavors.
Many cocktails rely on syrups. You can also make them yourself.
If you want to make sure that the syrup only contains the ingredients you want to taste, you can of course make it yourself. Essentially, syrup is made according to the following ratio: 1:1:0.5 - for example, 1 kg of fruit + 1 liter of water + 0.5 kg of sugar.
The ratio should be adjusted depending on how sweet and/or watery the fruit used is. In some cases, this requires a little finesse - or the right recipe. In some recipes, citric acid is added to extend the shelf life of the syrups - and to spice up the taste a little.
As a basic syrup, you can always buy a simple sugar syrup (also known as purified sugar) or prepare it yourself. This is used in many cocktails anyway - and can serve as a quick substitute if you don't have a particular syrup to hand.
Filler
As with juices and syrups, the choice of suitable filler basically depends on the recipe of the cocktail you want to mix. However, it is always a good idea to have the following fillers in stock in your home bar:
Cola, tonic water, ginger ale - it never hurts to have fillers in stock.
If you are particularly fond of creamy cocktails, you should always have some cream, milk and coconut milk on hand.
Do you want to prepare delicious cocktails for guests who don't drink alcohol? Then put a few non-alcoholic spirit alternatives on the shelf! You can use them to prepare great mocktails and virgin cocktail variations quickly and easily.
For alcohol-free cocktails, you can simply put alcohol-free spirit alternatives on your shelf.
You can find recipes & inspiration for alcohol-free cocktails here: Alcohol-free cocktails - 15 recipes to enjoy without alcohol
Now that you've found out which drinks are best to fill your home bar with, you still need the right equipment. Here you can find out what you should definitely have in your bar.
When it comes to mixing accessories at home, it's best to use stainless steel materials
You don't need much to mix and serve cocktails. If you're just getting into the mixology scene, you should get the following utensils:
In a Boston shaker, two cups are inserted into each other.
With these utensils, you are definitely well equipped for preparing cocktails in your home bar. But what about glasses?
In principle, three types of glass are sufficient for a wide range of cocktails:
If you have tumblers, long drink glasses and champagne or cocktail bowls at home, you are well equipped on the glassware front.
What you shouldn't forget: straws! These are now also available in glass and stainless steel - not only sustainable, but also pretty to look at.
Your bar is set up and you just need some recipe inspiration? Take a look here: Cocktail recipes with gin
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