So, You Own a Home Bar - Now Use It!
Greetings, Jake D. Ramshop, spokesperson for BarMade, here again to talk about the proper way to stock, use, and entertain with that home bar of yours. If you purchased one from BarMade, well thank you very much!
Home bars range from a few liquor bottles stored in some obscure kitchen cabinet, to an elaborate custom-built bar in its own allotted space. No matter what you have, if it isn’t stocked with the right beverages, and you don’t know the proper way to mix cocktails, or how to serve them, well then you might as well go down to Binky’s Bar around the corner and get wicked cocked (that’s highly inebriated for you non-New Englanders)!
To save you from that massive hangover, there are countless publications, online and in print, not to mention all the tales from the “personal experience experts” on how to set up that bar real proper like. It can be mind boggling I’ll tell ya! Let me share with you three of my favorite publications. These books were gifted to me by a dear friend, and they provide great information to set up a home bar and make you the perfect host.
The Waldorf Astoria Bar Book, by Frank Caiafa (Penguin Random House, LLC, Copyright 2016 by AB Stable, LLC DBA Waldorf Astoria New York), has a very informative chapter on setting up the home bar. You will learn not only the basic tools, glasses, liquor and liqueurs, and techniques needed to assemble drinks at home, but how to create that perfect atmosphere to make your guests comfortable. These are followed by some 350 pages of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel’s most popular drink recipes.
Harry’s ABC of Mixing Cocktails, by Harry MacElhone (copyright 1919, 1986 by Andrew MacElhone, published 1986 by Souvenir Press, LTD). Author Harry MacElhone, affectionately known as “Europe’s Bartender”, opened the New York Bar in Paris France in 1919. The New York Bar is purportedly the birthplace of the “Dry Martini.” In his book, Harry details how to arrange a bar, the “business” of tending a bar, and hints to the bartender to give satisfaction to his/her guests. What follows, is 60 pages of cocktail recipes.
Old Mr. Boston De Luxe Official Bartender’s Guide compiled and edited by Leo Cotton for Ben Burk, Inc. Boston, MA. (my personal edition- copyright 1935, 1936, 1940, 1941[5th printing Oct 1941]). Probably officially known as the “father of all alcoholic beverage recipes”, this publication was to promote Old Mr. Boston alcohol beverages, and remains so to this day. It contains a very informative Home Bar Guide to becoming the perfect host in 12 easy lessons! Oh, and don’t forget to look at the recipes.
Well, there you have it! BarMade, in no way endorses these books over any of the other fine bar publications and periodicals (to keep the legal eagles off our tail feathers), but merely mentions them as a resource and illustration on setting up a home bar. Every home bar is unique to its owner and motif, and specifics were purposely avoided so as not to cloud one’s creativity. But hopefully we’ve pointed you in the right direction and you’ll enjoy that bar for years to come!
Once again, BarMade regularly adds new products, so please continue to check our website.
Well folks, it’s been great chatting with ya, and thanks for tuning in! “Til next time!
Cheers!
Jake