Setting up home cocktail bar — Zero to One
Setting up a home cocktail bar sounds like an expensive thing for some obvious reasons.
Your interest might have taken you to look for recipes on the internet or some books. However, some of the ingredients needed to make cocktails sound very alien and some ingredients can’t even be found easily to purchase. These are the names I am referring to — Galliano, Vermouth, Cointreau, triple sec(this one might sound relatively familiar), Angostura bitters, grenadine, blue Curaçao, etc.
Some of these are expensive too and they can only be used as ingredients in cocktails.
Not being familiar with something or having to spend money on something that you are not certain on making use of, naturally adds friction and that pulls down the motivation.
I am no professional bartender nor a Mixologist. However, I now have a home cocktail bar, set up, I call it One Table Café and I mix real good cocktails😃.
What worked well for me is a gradual evolution — Zero to One.
In this Zero to One on setting up a home cocktail bar, I have shortlisted 11 different cocktails, from the book ‘The Complete Home Bartender’s Guide’ by one of the world’s leading bartenders, Salvatore Calabrese, optimising the ingredients, bar tools and glassware that you would need to spend on and where to buy them, to make all these 11 cocktails perfectly.
I will also cover the detailed recipes and how to make each of these 11 cocktails — 8 Vodka cocktails and 3 Bourbon cocktails in this Zero to One.
Let’s get into the action now.
Here is all that you need to get from Zero to One
- Essential Bar tools and glasses.
- Essential ingredients — Consider them like spices in your kitchen. You use small quantities of them while making cocktails and they last for quite a long time.
- Fresh ingredients like juices or fresh fruits. You should buy the necessary ingredients needed for the particular cocktail that you are making, on the day you are making them, to ensure they are fresh.
Bar tools (total approximate cost — Rs.600)
You would need 4 essential bar tools.
- Cocktail shaker (cost range — Rs.300 to Rs.500)
This is one of the most essential tools for making cocktails. You must have seen this in any cocktail bar. The bartender shaking the cocktail with this, in swag.
This comes in two parts. One, a long, big, glass-shaped steel tin and a smaller clear glass with a strong base, let’s call it a mixing glass. The mixing glass needs to have a strong base, not a brittle one. Some shakers come with steel tins for both parts. Prefer the one with clear glass.
Usually, the ingredients are added in the smaller clear glass or the mixing glass. Cup it with the steel shaker tin and give a thump on top of it to lock them both tight and Shake it till you make it.
It somehow gives a good feeling shaking the cocktails. You would love using this and this would become your favorite tool of all, once you start making cocktails.
Where to buy: Easy to buy online. Look for ‘Cocktail Shaker set’ or ‘Boston Cocktail Shaker’ on Amazon or any other site if you find cheaper.
Note: Don’t rely on a shaker that comes with a lid. It tends to spill while shaking. Take the one with two parts — Shaker and the glass.
2. Jiggers (Usually comes with the shaker set)
The taste of the cocktail has three key ingredients —
- The right measure of the ingredients
- Quality of the ingredients
- Presentation of the cocktail (Yes. It does)
And one secret ingredient — zeal to create something nice.
Jiggers is used to measure the ingredients. It usually comes in ‘X’ shape with two different capacities, usually one double the other. Most common ones are 30ml-60ml jiggers, which is approximately 1oz and 2oz.
Go for a 30ml-60ml jigger as we deal most of our cocktails in these measures.
Where to buy: When you are buying a shaker set, some of them come with jiggers and an ice strainer too. Go for one such shaker set. You don’t have to buy one separately.
3. Muddler (Costs around Rs.200)
As the name suggests, it is used for muddling. It is a wooden stick with rounded ends, used with ingredients like fresh mint leaves, lime, lemon, ginger, etc. to press them together to infuse the juices of them into each other.
Where to buy: Easy to buy online. Look for ‘Wooden muddler’ on Amazon or any other site if you find cheaper.
Note: Look for the ratings/reviews. Some sellers might be selling low-quality muddlers. There are silicon muddlers also available in the market. Preferably stick to a wooden one.
4. Strainer (Comes with some cocktail shaker set)
An ice strainer is used against the cocktail shaker to pour the cocktail into the glass to avoid the ice and other muddled ingredients, if any, into the cocktail.
Where to buy: When you are buying a shaker set, some of them come with jiggers and an ice strainer too. Go for one such shaker set. You don’t have to buy one separately.
You got to have these basic kitchen tools too — A good knife, chopping board, and orange juicer.
Buy them too, if you don’t already have.
Glassware (total approximate cost for 2 glasses each — Rs.900)
It is said that there is a perfect shape of glass for every beverage to taste best in.
These three different shapes of glasses would cover most cocktails and would cover all of our 11 cocktails.
- The cocktail glass is like a 'V’ shaped glass, with a broader rim, costs about Rs.500 for a set of 2.
- Old-fashioned glass is a typical whiskey glass, short in size with a broad rim and a nice base. It costs about Rs.100 per glass.
- The highball glass is a cousin of Old-fashioned glass which is taller and has a smaller rim. It costs about Rs. 100 per glass.
Where to buy: You should be able to find them in any of the home furnishing stores. Prefer not to buy them online. It is better to check the size and quality, touch and feel glass before you buy them. Most of the glasses come in a set of 6. However, if you would not need 6 glasses each, you should look for them in local supermarkets. Some of them sell the glasses individually.
A couple of more simple tools you would need are stirrers and straws for some of the cocktails.
I used to pick a few of them from the bar table whenever I visited bars. They wouldn’t mind me picking a few of them too. 😜
Essential ingredients (total approximate cost — Rs.750)
All the alien names that I have talked about initially, come under essentials. Some of them are liqueurs which are flavored alcoholic spirits, some are non-alcoholic syrups.
Make friends with these aliens, few at a time. Let's start with 2 different syrups that would cover all our 11 cocktails
- Grenadine
- Blue curaçao
These syrups are not necessarily added in all the cocktails but are usually added, a dash or two in some of them, which is about 1–2 ml, and they give an edge to the cocktail. You don’t want to skip them coz, you are going to make perfect cocktails.
Monin is one of those popular brands that makes these syrups, which costs at Rs.375 for a bottle of 250ml. They are used in most bars and restaurants too. I came across a few other cheaper alternatives. However, the quality was not convincing. You can start with Monin too.
Where to buy: You can easily find them at stores like Godrej Nature’s basket or Foodhall or you can order them online.
Another common essential you would need for some of the cocktails is superfine sugar.
I used to pick a few of these packets whenever I visited coffee shops.😀
I am going with the assumption that you would be having a refrigerator with ice trays at your home.
The 11 cocktails
Here are the 11 cocktails you can make now.
3 Bourbon Cocktails
8 Vodka Cocktails
I would strongly recommend you to have the bar tools mentioned and the glasses(at least one kind) ready before you start going through the detailed recipes of these cocktails.
I am going to part this post now and would suggest you to continue further for the detailed cocktail recipes once you have the bar tools, glasses and the essential ingredients ready.
Here is the link for the next post — 11 cocktails to start with.
