Home Bar Essentials: 12 Honest Must-Haves for a Small Bar Leave a comment

Home bar essentials, short answer: six bottles, four tools, three glass shapes, good ice and an opener that is screwed to the wall so it cannot walk off. That is the whole list. Everything else — the smoke kit, the eleven liqueurs, the neon sign — is optional, and most of it is bought in the first month and never touched again. This guide sets out the home bar essentials in the order to buy them, with what to skip.

1. Home bar essentials: the six bottles

A working bar is built on one bottle from each of the main spirit families, because that is what cocktail recipes are written around. Buy the mid-shelf version of each; the cheapest bottle tastes cheap in a Martini, and the most expensive one is wasted in a Sour.

1. Bourbon. The most-used bottle in an American home bar: Old Fashioned, Whiskey Sour, Manhattan (with rye if you have it), or neat. A straight bourbon at 90–100 proof stands up to ice and mixers.
2. Gin. A classic London dry style. Martini, Negroni, Gin & Tonic, Tom Collins.
3. White rum. Daiquiri, Mojito. Add an aged rum later if you drink it neat.
4. Blanco tequila. Margarita, Paloma. 100% agave on the label, or it is not worth buying.
5. Vodka. The bottle guests ask for. One is enough.
6. Sweet vermouth. Manhattan, Negroni. It is wine, so it goes in the fridge once open and is finished within a month or two. Dry vermouth only if you make Martinis.

That is a complete bar for roughly two hundred dollars. If it has to be three bottles, make them bourbon, gin and sweet vermouth: between them that is an Old Fashioned, a Manhattan, a Negroni, a Martini and a Gin & Tonic.

2. Mixers and bitters

Bitters are the seasoning of a home bar and, unlike most home bar essentials, they last for years. Aromatic bitters first, orange bitters second. For mixers, buy small bottles or cans of tonic, soda and ginger beer rather than litres, because they go flat before you finish them. Fresh lemons and limes matter more than any bottle on the shelf; a cocktail made with bottled juice tastes like a cocktail made with bottled juice. A jar of real cocktail cherries and a bottle of rich simple syrup (two parts sugar to one part water, keeps a month in the fridge) finish the shelf.

3. Ice: the home bar essential everyone forgets

Bad ice ruins good bottles. Freezer-tray cubes are small, cloudy and taste of whatever is next to them. Two silicone moulds solve it: a large two-inch cube for anything served in a rocks glass, and a standard cube tray kept covered for shaking. If you make a lot of stirred drinks, a two-cavity clear-ice mould that freezes from the top down is a fair upgrade; it costs less than a bottle of gin.

4. Home bar essentials: the four tools, and the opener on the wall

Bar tool sets come with fourteen pieces; four do all the work.

1. A shaker. The three-piece “cobbler” shaker has a built-in strainer and is easier for beginners; the two-piece Boston shaker is what bars use and seals better once you have the knack.
2. A jigger. A double-ended measure with lines inside. Measuring is the entire difference between a good drink and a strong one.
3. A strainer. A Hawthorne strainer (the one with the spring) fits over a Boston tin; a cobbler shaker does not need one.
4. A bar spoon. Long, twisted handle, for stirring Manhattans and Negronis in a mixing glass or a pint glass.

A muddler is fifth if you make Mojitos or Old Fashioneds with sugar cubes; a citrus press is sixth. The one tool that goes missing in every kitchen is the bottle opener, which is why the fix is to mount one. A metal wall opener screwed beside the fridge, a bar cart or the garage bench opens a beer one-handed and never ends up in the wrong drawer.

For wine, an electric opener or a waiter’s key; if you are caught without either, our guide to opening wine without a corkscrew ranks the emergency methods.

5. Three glass shapes cover nearly everything

Glassware is where lists of home bar essentials go wrong, because every drink seems to want its own glass. Three shapes do the job. A rocks glass (8–11 oz, heavy base) for anything with a large cube or served neat. A highball (10–12 oz, tall) for anything with soda or tonic. A coupe (5–7 oz) for anything shaken and served without ice; it replaces the Martini glass, which spills. Four of each, and you can host eight people. The full breakdown, including the Glencairn and the double old fashioned, is in our whiskey glasses guide.

6. A decanter for the bottle you are proud of

Not a home bar essential in the strict sense, but the first thing people notice on the shelf. A decanter does not change the taste of whiskey; it makes one bottle the centrepiece and hides a label you would rather not explain. Choose plain glass over lead crystal if the spirit will live in it for weeks. The decanter guide covers how long bourbon keeps in one and how to clean it, and the engraved decanter set pairs it with two matching glasses if you want the shelf to look finished on day one.

7. Home bar setup: where to put it all

A bar cart is the usual answer for where the home bar essentials live, and a fine one, as long as it is not by a window; sunlight and heat are what age a bottle badly, not time. A cabinet with a door does the same job and hides the clutter. Whatever you use, keep the six bottles at the front, tools in one tray, glasses upside down on a shelf, and the wall opener at hip height where a hand naturally reaches. Vermouth and any opened wine live in the fridge. A small cedar humidor sits on the same shelf if cigars are part of the evening; our humidor guide explains how to season one.

If you want the recipes to go with the bottles, the IBA list of official cocktails is the closest thing to a standard, and almost every drink on it can be made from the six bottles above.

8. Home bar essentials you do not need

• Eleven liqueurs. Triple sec for Margaritas, maybe Campari for Negronis. Buy the rest when a recipe demands it, not before.
• A cocktail smoker kit. Used twice, then it sits on the shelf smelling of wood chips.
• Whiskey stones. They barely chill a drink. A large-ice mould does what they promise.
• A fourteen-piece tool set. You will use four of them. See above.
• Specialist glasses for every drink. Hurricanes, snifters, Nick & Noras. Rocks, highball and coupe first; the rest when you actually make that drink.

Setting the bar up as a gift? Our list of gifts for bourbon lovers ranks the engraved pieces that get used, and the client gifts guide covers company orders.

Bar must-haves: the one-minute checklist

If you only want the list of bar essentials for home, without the reasoning, this is it: twelve bar must-haves in the order to buy them.

• Six bottles. Bourbon, gin, white rum, blanco tequila, vodka and sweet vermouth.
• Bitters and mixers. Aromatic bitters, then orange bitters; small cans of tonic, soda and ginger beer; fresh lemons and limes.
• Ice. A two-inch cube mould for rocks glasses and a covered tray for shaking.
• Four tools. A shaker, a jigger, a strainer and a bar spoon.
• An opener on the wall. Screwed up next to the fridge, so it is never lost.
• Three glass shapes. Rocks, highball and coupe, four of each.
• A decanter. For the one bottle you are proud of.

That is the whole list of home bar accessories worth buying first. Everything else can wait until you have made the same drink twice and wished for the tool.

Home bar essentials: FAQ

Engraved bar gifts, made to order

Building the bar in a garage or basement? The man cave essentials list covers the chair, the fridge and the opener on the wall.

Wine on the bar too? See how to use an electric wine opener for the one-button method and why it jams.

Stocking the bar for a beer drinker? Our gifts for beer lovers list ranks the wall opener, the right glass and the fridge by how often they get used.

No room for a full bar? Our bar cart essentials guide is the two-shelf version: eleven things it needs and five to leave off.

Looking for a gift? Our custom whiskey glasses are laser engraved with a name, monogram or logo.