Putting up a home bar should, of course, requires one to have at least a basic knowledge on drinks for all occasions. A bar's heart will always be the drinks it has to offer. This article will provide the basic concepts and knowledge on drinks, made easy through three simple steps.

The first step is what they call the selfish phase. The principle of self-centeredness applies in this initial stage. Letting yourself be the customer firsthand, by listing and making sure that your own favorites are stored up should make this stage handy. In simple terms, your top three cocktails should be included in here. Drinks like gin and Black Russian could be added up in your primary list. Other basic drinks to shore up gin will be coffee liquor, tonic water, sweet vermouth, vodka together with bourbon and bitters which serves as neutralizers.

Nevertheless, bear in mind that at the same time you are being selfish, you are also being economical. There is nothing worse than stocking up on all of the favorites of your guests and then making no room for yourself. The idea here is to instead consider yourself first as it is your bar.

Phase 2 is considered mainly for the friends and family. This is a very different line of stock that you will be looking at. This is one that would basically contain everything else; from liqueurs as well as garnish. Let us take a closer look at this and the contents thereof. You would have to consider a line of whiskey and this is not just one line, you should look at all of them, from single malt to premium.

Whiskey should be bought as follows, blended, Irish, Scottish, and then Rye. The idea here is to make sure that you have all of them at hand, as this is the phase where we do consider others and the fact of the matter is that it has been proven that there are more people that drink whiskey than any other spirit.

The liqueurs in phase two are of a wider range than phase one also. This would be more for the cocktail range as well. The liqueurs range from triple sec, various schnapps, green-labeled vermouth, Italian vermouth, and Amaretto. The garnish and the condiments that are up for consideration should be real fruit; there is nothing tackier than garnish that is not edible. The other condiments that you should consider are salt, castor sugar, Worcestershire sauce, limes, lemons, black pepper, bitters, maraschino cherries and so forth. The list of condiments is endless.

Mixers should also be regarded into the second stage. It is because they make the taste variations more tempting and luscious. Staring from tonic water, cranberry juice, milk, soda water, coke products, water, pineapple juice, and even beer could be few excellent choices. Though overwhelming as it looks, having one by one, slowly but passively would be the trick in finishing what is left in this stage.

The final phase of the home bar set up should be the following; a wider range of cognacs, liqueurs and then of course you should extend the range of your mixers in time as well.

For info on how to build a home bar check out the bar pictures at BPO.

Posted under Wine