Bar

A while ago I wrote about an alternative bar set where everyday household items substitute professional barware. However it did occur to me, that I had never had a post about the regular barware items you must have in a home bar. One of the very first post on the gadgets section of the blog was about that, but back then I was just starting. Since then I did optimize my bar set. I should mention also that I am not a professional bartender but I do enjoy the fine art of mixed drinks. It is a very inexpensive way to have fun, and at the same time with the popularity of the cocktails, it is a focal point at every party. You don't have to be a professional level bartender to make a great Martini or a good Moscow mule. All you need is a the right gear and some basic critical thinking for improvising or judging equipment. This post is meant to be more of a guide to help you start a home bar, which based on your needs you can adjust the tools and the spirits to fit your liking.

In the Previous post, we discussed the process of making ice, the tools and the techniques. However, we were left at the most interesting point. What is the best ice and for what application? General purpose ice, cocktail making/shaking, cocktail serving, whiskey tasting etc. This is what we are addressing now. We will see what are the evaluation criteria, and how we can pick the best ice type for each application.

The famous by now hit,"Ice Ice Baby" is a hip hop song written by American rapper Vanilla Ice and DJ Earthquake. Here we will not hip-hop. We will focus to the ice. Ice. The essential part of every cocktail. It is the one item that can ruin a party. Every time I am making cocktails I buy fresh ice since the one left in the freezer can pick up smells like nothing in the world. Ice is water. Water gets a long with many molecules. Some of them smell funky. So when the solid water gets in contact with this molecules even in the harsh freezer environment, it will immediately absorb them. In many cases even the ice-cube trays can pick up smells.

The home bartending is a fun hobby. So much fun, that almost every wedding registry has at least one bar set, that usually ends up in the cabinet never to be used... And now that the hot summer skyrocketed the cocktail demand, home bars become a necessity. Still, however, there are people who think that there is way to much money required to start a hobby that will be only sparkly used. And that actually might be true! If you want good quality hardware a rough estimation comes to about $50. On that you have to add the cost of the liquor and you have a cost that shatters your dreams. And although the liquor cost cannot be reduced (well, it can be, but then a bad hangover will be the price for that decision) the tools can certainly be reduced. Today we will see how you can substitute those tools with items that you probably already have in the household. These substitutions are recommended for those who want to make a cocktail once in a while and they don't really care about cocktails that much. If you are a regular mixer then you should buy the bullet and get a set.

Mixology is referred to the art of mixing beverages alcoholic or not, usually cold in a combination that will yield a drink with a new flavor called cocktail. The word cocktail itself originally was an adjective describing a creature with a tail like that of a cock, specifically a horse with a docked tail; hence (because hunters and coach horses were generally docked) a racehorse that was not a thoroughbred, having a cock-tailed horse in its pedigree (early 19th cent.). Sense 1 (originally U.S., also early 19th cent.) is perhaps analogous, from the idea of an adulterated spirit. Later of coarse the word was used to describe the very well known alcholic (or not) beverages. The earliest known printed use of the word “cocktail,” as originally determined by David Wondrich in October 2005, was from “The Farmer’s Cabinet”, April 28, 1803, p [2]: “11. Drank a glass of cocktail — excellent for the head … Call’d at the Doct’s. found Burnham — he looked very wise — drank another glass of cocktail.” The second earliest and officially recognised known printed use of the word “cocktail” (and the most well-known) was in the May 13, 1806 edition of the Balance and Columbian Repository, a publication in Hudson, New York , where the paper provided the following answer to what a cocktail was: “Cocktail is a stimulating liquor composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters — it is vulgarly called a bittered sling and is supposed to be an excellent electioneering potion, inasmuch as it renders the heart stout and bold, at the same time that it fuddles the head. It is said, also to be of great use to a Democratic candidate: because a person, having swallowed a glass of it, is ready to swallow anything else.”
According to the great book on bartendering “The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks” by David...