Lifestyle

HOME BAR 101

Intent on entertaining, but don’t have a corner devoted to imbibement? Below are some choice tips on stocking the perfect home bar.

If you’re anything like me, sudden passions will strike you seemingly out of nowhere. Aided by a healthy dose of impulse shopping and a brief spree of not swimming in credit card debt, I can easily go from not knowing the difference between a bass and a bass guitar to accumulating an encyclopedic knowledge of the nocturnal feeding habits of Westslope Cutthroat Trout and $1,000 in fly fishing gear faster than you can say “There’s no question that you’re headed directly for bankruptcy!” Intent on saving you from the same shame when outfitting your own home bar, I’ve collected some helpful and healthful tidbits on how to properly (and judiciously) stock a home bar or beverage cart that will impress your friends without negatively impacting your FICO. First, start small. Let me say it again. Start. Small. Unless you’re a member of the Chamber of Commerce or you have a mixtape about to drop, the illusion that you’re constantly going to be emptying choice chic bottles to legions of adoring admirers is probably just that. A few clear liquors, a few brown, one or two conversation pieces from foreign lands and you probably have plenty of impressive imbibement for the actual entertaining you’ll be engaging in. Second, and this is key: All those impressive home mixology tools you drool over? Forget them. Outside of a boston shaker (and a pint glass), a hawthorne strainer and something to zest with, you really don’t need that much more to make an impressive array of complex cocktails. The third rule, and perhaps most important: Stock some liquors that you enjoy drinking. Stocking an impressive catalog of single-malt scotches might impressive someone somewhere, but if you don’t actually enjoy it, you’ll have some very expensive bottle sitting there alone for quite a while. Stocking a liquor you enjoy means you can play around with it and perhaps introduce your friends to something new.

The Gold Standard
Think you splurged a little too much on that tin Boston shaker set? Here’s an untoward purchase to put your heart at ease, at least in comparison. Handcrafted by unapologetically over-the-top jewelsmiths DeMer Jewelry, the world’s most expensive mixologist tool is undoubtedly their jigger, priced at $126,726. Fashioned of solid gold and complemented with 8 carats worth of diamonds, there’s perhaps not a more coveted conversation piece than this luxurious lump of liquor-measuring majesty.