home cocktails

stocking your home bar

July 24, 2012 - 1:05pm | by Daniel Priseman

 

There are some interesting drinking trends being attributed to the current economic climate, and two in particular jump out at me. The first is that people are drinking out less frequently these days, but looking for better quality experiences when they do. The other is a trend for trading up to higher quality products when buying spirits to take home. It looks like consumers are trying not to compromise their drinks quality when drinking at home so we’re seeing a rise in premium spirit sales. I guess when you’re going out less often, it makes sense to have a few nice bottles of spirits at home to enjoy on a night in.

These trends, coupled in the resurgence of a cocktail culture that is reaching into the mainstream at last, mean that having a well-stocked drinks cabinet is becoming standard. So if you’re a cocktail lover, who’s willing to turn your hand to home bartending, how do you go about stocking up the home bar with everything you might need for happy hour? It can be quite daunting to try to build a good selection of spirits, vermouths, liqueurs and bitters, not to mention rather expensive, but below are a few thoughts on how to build up your home bar without breaking the bank!

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Dust off your smoking jacket, we're bringing cocktails back home!

August 23, 2010 - 4:09pm | by Daniel Priseman
In my last blog update I talked about the ‘drinking experience’ and how, when all the right elements come together, sipping a cocktail at the bar can be more than simply ‘having a drink’. That led me to think about drinking at home and the small details that can make that experience richer too. For me there is a great joy to be found in making myself, or my friends and family a cocktail, which is enhanced by using the right tools and the right glassware.
 
 
Looking around the b&t office (or the drinking room as my friends seem to call it) I realise that I really have become a cocktail geek. There are shelves of antique cocktails books, a bookcase dedicated to antique glassware and cocktail shakers, two drinks cabinets loaded with everything from tequila to Swedish punsch, not to mention a shelf dedicated to bitters and homemade syrups.
 
 
Surely I don’t NEED all this stuff just to have the occasional drink at home? I got by for ages shaking daiquiris in an old boston shaker I’d pinched from Alphabet and serving them in an inexpensive martini glasses I picked up from Pages. The drinks certainly tasted just as good back then, but perhaps over time I have come to realise that the joy in drinking cocktails comes from the process of making them and the way they are presented as much as from the liquid itself. My daiquiris may still taste the same, but I enjoy them more when they are sipped from a Victorian coupe having been poured from a 3-piece shaker!
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