Essential Items You’ll Need to Set Up Your Own Cocktail Bar at Home
So you’ve decided it’s time to set up your own cocktail bar at home – great!!!
Whether it’s a small corner of a room, within a sideboard, or perhaps you’re lucky enough to have a brand new house with a REAL bar (life goals!!), what do you actually need to start your first home cocktail bar?
If you plan on doing any sort of home entertaining, I’ll walk you through the essentials for almost all basic cocktail recipes.
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Mixing and Measuring Your Home-Made Cocktails
Broadly speaking, you need one vessel for shaking cocktails and one for stirring.
Generally, cocktails based on citrus, cream, egg white, or similar ingredients are normally shaken, while spirit-forward cocktails such as martinis should be stirred.
So what equipment will you need?
A Cocktail Shaker
There are two types of cocktail shakers – a Cobbler Shaker and a Boston Shaker.
A Cobbler Shaker has three parts: a large tin, a lid, and a removable cap with a built-in strainer.
A Boston Shaker, on the other hand, looks more like two cups or metal tins, one slightly larger than the other that fit together.
The easier of the two for amateurs at home to master is the Cobbler Shaker. The Boston Shaker can take a little practice but works wonderfully for theatrics once you get the hang of it!
Mixing Glass
For your stirred drinks, you’ll want a dedicated mixing glass.
A Jigger
While you might be comfortable free-pouring single spirits, measurements in cocktail recipes are far more important, so you’ll want to be accurate.
You may not know its technical name, but I am sure you know it by sight: a Jigger is a small double-ended measuring cup.
Cocktail Stirring Spoons
You will want something long to maneuver around the ice for any stirring recipes, so a proper Barmen’s Spoon will be handy.
Cocktail Muddler
Ok, come on, get all those giggly jokes out of your system, ladies – yes, this rather ah, phallic-looking implement is going to be your best friend, especially if there are any mojito lovers in the house.
Tools For Serving Your Cocktails
So now you’ve shaken or stirred your cocktail, what tools do you need to present it?
Cocktail Strainers
This is how you get your drink from the mixing stage to the serving glass stage.
With a Cobbler Shaker, you can easily use the built-in strainer in the lid. However, for mixed drinks or drinks with smaller particles you don’t want to serve up, there are a few different types of strainer to familiarise yourself with:
Hawthorne Strainer—This has a metal coil at the edge and slotted gaps for the liquid to slide through. It should fit snuggly over your shaker tin or mixing glass while you pour it into your serving glass.
Julep Strainer—This slightly fancier contraption uses a wide, bowl-shaped metal plate with holes in it for the cocktail to pour through while restraining the ice cubes.
Fine Strainer—This one looks more like a tea strainer. It is used in addition to the Hawthorne Strainer for shaken drinks.
Juice Extractors
You will want a small juicer to extract juice from freshly squeezed citrus.
A Reamer
Ice Molds
Whilst it’s easy enough to buy large bags of ice cubes these days, which are OK for mixing or shaking your cocktails, for the presentation, you want to step it up a level.
Citrus Peeler
Channel Knife
Metal Cocktail Picks
Forget the plastic. These days, you want to invest in a nice set of reusable cocktail picks.
Tongs
Putting it All Together – Your Home Cocktail-Making Kit
So now you’ve got a rundown of all the essential kit you need, do you build it up piece by piece or go ahead and buy all the kit at once? I can say, without a doubt, just buy the whole kit!
Even if you’re not a regular cocktail constructor, it’s not as expensive as a night or two out on town to buy all your gear.
The absolute simplest way to do it is to buy something like the Mixology Bar Tenders Set (I own one!), which has all the main pieces you need in one stylishly presented kit.
Wedding present? Mother’s Day gift? Hint hint?
For more lovely concoctions you can make with your newly purchased cocktail kit, head over to our cocktail recipes section here.
In our next installment, we will cover all the basic glassware you need to set up your own home bar.
You can find all our drink supplies and giftware guides here
Little Party Pixie advocates quality over quantity. Always drink responsibly!
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