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Industry professionals and mixologists share tips for your holiday home bar plans.
Whether you have a bar cart in a corner, a work in progress cocktail bar or a well-planned bar area, our experts have some tips and tricks to share with you this holiday season so you can up the bar on your bar game.
No matter your expertise in the world of boozy libations, these experienced hands share a thing or two on putting your best shot forward and enjoying those high spirits.
Adrian Lindsay is a North Carolina-based bartender with several years of experience in the industry. He has even created several recipes shared here on Cuisine Noir. Here are his insights on creating a great home cocktail bar for the holidays:
Top Cocktail Bar Do’s and Don’ts
If you are going to be experimenting and making a bunch of cocktails, don’t get top-shelf liquor. Save the good stuff for martinis and manhattans.
What’s the investment?
For a budget bar, you can start under $100 or get it down to $50, depending on the kind of liquors. Get affordable brands. For a full bar, you want the basics – vodka, gin, whisky, tequila. You also want to add vermouth in there; it’s the hot thing in the spirit industry right now.
Your default shopping venue?
Thrift shops. I like the old stuff, the vintage barware and glassware, it’s more creative and colorful, except for when I am working a party and need steel barware. A lot of places are offering complete packages where you can get a cocktail shaker, strainer, bar spoon, jigger, all in one. Get a complete set of shakers.
Cocktail making tips and tricks?
Keep a balance. You’ll need liquor, a sweetener of some sort, simple syrup, some type of sugar or agave or honey, maple syrup is really good to use now in cocktails, and then the acid. If you are going to use citrus, best to give it a really good shake to blend everything else and it helps give it more texture. Having herb garnishes is nice, so lots of rosemary and thyme. Dehydrated fruit always makes cocktails look pretty.
What’s your home bar situation?
Since I bartend regularly, I have all the basics covered – gins, tequilas, rums, and I have a lot of liqueurs. LS Cream, the Haitian liqueur out of Canada, is perfect for this time of year. It has cinnamon and nutmeg in it, so goes well with desserts, on the rocks, mix it with brandy or bourbon.
I have lots of Vermouth. The real insider trick is getting to know simple syrups because you can create different flavor profiles. Rosemary simple syrup is my holiday syrup to use. Add that to a little sparkling wine for your mimosa.
What are your favorite brands? And some spirits to up your home bar game?
Anteel coconut tequila is crazy good. It goes well with warm apple cider, so you can have warmer cocktails. Some Armagnac and a good Vermouth add to your home bar.
Warm libation for cooler weather?
Mulled wine. It gives the house a great smell. You can have a pot on, have people over just sipping on mulled wine. It’s low to no alcohol depending on how long you keep it on because most of the alcohol is going to evaporate out of that.
What’s your favorite cocktail? And a cocktail for guests this holiday season?
I enjoy Negroni in all its different variations. And for guests, a Rosemary Gimlet.
Check out recipes from Adrian in our recipe corner and follow him on Instagram for more ideas.
- LS Cream Introduces Traditional Haitian Drink to a New Audience of Drinkers
- Nayana Ferguson of Anteel Tequila Inspires Women to Create Their Own Legacy
Camille Wilson is a cocktail blogger at The Cocktail Snob and covers everything in the cocktail/home entertaining realm on her site. She offers virtual mixology classes available by request via her website. One of the popular themes is one bottle three cocktails, where she demonstrates three completely different drinks just using one spirit.
Top do’s and don’ts?
Start with what you like because you are the one who has to drink it and make drinks with the stuff that you have at home. You can gradually take some risks and branch out of your comfort zone.
Bar tool essentials include a cocktail shaker, a jigger, a nice bar spoon, and I’m a huge glassware fanatic, so [I] recommend having a low-ball glass, a high ball glass, and a martini glass. For bar carts, first decide if it’s a functional or decorative piece and that might help you figure out what to put on it and which one to buy.
What’s the investment?
For liquor or mixers and some of the tools, around $200, but it’s not something that you have to replenish often.
Your default shopping venue?
I love Marshall’s and Home Goods. Also, CB2 and even stores like H&M.
What’s your home bar situation?
Besides a bar cart, I just have an explosion of alcohol at home! I get so many bottles gifted to me; I have run out of space to put them.
Cocktail making tips and tricks?
Try different garnishes like a bouquet of mints, peel of a citrus or a sprig of rosemary to increase the presentation value. Cocktail picks are also pretty. And switch up your mixers using sparkling wine or ginger beer instead of club soda to add more flavor.
For a simple cocktail to make at home, try a whisky smash with berries, simple syrup, lime juice and herbs. Add a flavor blaster for a cool smokey effect to your cocktail.
Spirits that up your home bar game?
St. Germain, it’s an elderflower liqueur that you can add to champagne. Something that people don’t think a lot about when they are first building their home bar are liqueurs, like triple sec, which is an easy way to add flavor to a drink. And use fresh citrus when possible as it affects the taste of the cocktails. Use a citrus press to squeeze the juices.
Warm libation for cooler weather?
Warm apple cider with a couple ounces of bourbon.
What’s your favorite cocktail? And a cocktail for guests this holiday season?
My favorite is a daiquiri. When people hear that, they think of those really sweet, frozen drinks that you get on the boardwalk, but it’s actually just a three-ingredient cocktail of lime, rum and sugar.
It’s so simple and easy to customize. I would serve a big pitcher of it, and then people can sweeten it if they like, add some more lime juice to make it tarter, or add a flavored syrup to make it a mango or strawberry daiquiri.
Follow Wilson on Instagram for more great tips and suggestions. Be sure to also try her Pasquale’s Punch recipe.
Ashlee Tuck is the founder and editor of Will Drink for Travel, where she combines her love of travel with unique and native spirits. A lifelong learner and amateur mixologist, she considers herself a cocktail enthusiast and has shared her love for libations via her site for the past six years.
Top do’s and don’ts?
The simplest tools you need are a jigger, strainer, muddler and mixing tin. But also, good cocktail books like Death & Co. and simple spirits like vodka and tequila. St. Germain is versatile.
Garnishes like dried lemons or lime are fashionable and also angostura bitters. Some club soda, tonic water, cranberry juice to use with other things. You can make a good cocktail with just two or three ingredients. And keep your bar area clean and organized with a fancy cup holder or ice glass jar.
Your default shopping venue?
Amazon, they have everything. I have started working with reservebar.com – they have a great selection of alcohol, including Black-owned spirits. (She offered her code for readers: wdft10 for 10% off two bottles or more).
What’s the investment?
I just bought a small bar cart for $50, but the key is not buying everything at one time and adding to it as you can. Staples to include are bourbon and whisky.
What’s your home bar situation?
I have a bar closet with all of my spirits in there, and whatever I use regularly, I keep on my bar cart. A great fall and winter flavor is Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur.
Warm libation for cooler weather?
A hot buttered rum called Kamala’s Cocktail with Indian cardamom and Jamaican rum — deliciously warm and strong.
Ingredients that up your home bar game?
Cinnamon and apple cider are big around this time of year. Also, on my website, I have a list of more than 80 Black-owned spirits so you can support them.
What’s your favorite cocktail? And a cocktail for guests this holiday season?
Any variation of a Paloma because I love grapefruit juice. And for guests, an old fashioned because you can make that as sweet as you want or not.
To discover more Black-owned spirit brands, follow Tuck on Instagram.
