Finding the perfect Home Bar
When you think of a bar, you almost immediately get the image of a commercial bar, with all the bottles behind the bartender, all the tools set to prepare nearly any drink, and all the possibilities. But the truth is that you can rarely adopt a club/restaurant bar in a house or apartment. There is no space.
The usual scenario is some furniture that serves as a bottle/glassware holder with some tiny space to serve the drinks. Usually, the drinks that are served at homes are not that elaborate. Hence,! you don’t need too much paraphernalia to entertain your guests.
But despite the looks of the furniture, a home bar is always a special place. Is an essential element wherever you want to entertain in your home. Is where you gather with your friends when they come over to visit, wether is a big bar or a small cabinet.
In my case, I wanted a cool bar for my apartment. One that looked good on its own, but that also could showcase a right amount of bottles. It also had to have a comfortable shelve to serve drinks. I was definitively going for some furniture, but it had to be unique.
My wife is an extraordinary interior designer and thought of every detail in the house. So even though I was in charge of getting the bar, I had to make sure it fits the eclectic, kind of Danish 50’s design. It took us a lot of time to find the right one until one-day our friends at Mobel Siglo XX found one piece of French furniture in a garage sale that was perfect for our bar spot. It was great!
Once we refurbished the piece and put it in place, it looked like it was made for us. And then the fun part began, buying the booze that would enhance the new acquisition and give life to the new spot in the house.
So I had my bar in place, but it wasn’t quite how I was picturing it. The +50 bottle holding shelves only had a couple. I needed to start making plans for how to fill it up.
I always had enjoyed Rum. Venezuela is a well-known country for this spirit. We have a lot of cane sugar plantations and have been producing rum for 200 years. It’s a perfect drink for multiple occasions, but it’s best known for a tropical beach style drink like the Cuba Libre or Mojito. It was an excellent idea to start a collection of Venezuelan Rums as a way to stuff the bar. So that’s what I did.
I began with my favorite brand at the moment Ron Santa Teresa. I tried to stay in the top tier bottles because they were perfect for the showcase, bottles like Bodega Privada and 1796. The cool thing was that I quickly found out that there were a lot of brands making great rum. Found knew flavors, types of rum and bottles that hadn’t tried or seen before. Including my now favorite Ron Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva.
Once I gained momentum, I had more than 40 bottles of the best rums in Venezuela. It was a great collection, and I felt I had to keep going. I had to start adding rums from places like Jamaica and other Caribbean Islands, and even different types of spirits. Definitively something was cooking! It was a great feeling!
Cheers! 🥂 Remember to raise the bar, drink consciously and live every moment mindfully.
