No matter how well-equipped and beautifully designed your home bar is, it will be useless if it’s not stocked with the things you need to create cocktails and other alcoholic beverages you, your loved ones, and guests can enjoy.
Aside from glassware, shakers, blenders, and other mixology tools, you have to buy spirits online to stock your bar with various liquors and mixers. When you have all these, you can make a variety of classic mixed drinks.
You might be able to invent some new cocktails that you can include in your drink menu.
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Best Spirits to Buy for Your Home Bar
If you want to be a mixologist right in your own home, make sure your bar is always stocked with these basic yet essential liquors and mixers:
1. Brandy
Cognac, Hennessey, and Armagnac are the most popular types of brandy, a liquor made from specific varieties of distilled grapes.
Brandies are rich, complex spirits with fruity flavours. Due to their bold taste, they are great as standalone drinks that you can slowly sip.
Brandy is also a key ingredient in various popular cocktails, including mint juleps, milk punch, old fashioned, and sidecar.
2. Gin
This strong liquor, which is infused with juniper berries and different varieties of herbs and botanicals, is not a popular standalone drink.
However, it is an essential ingredient for classic cocktails, such as the martini, negroni, and Singapore sling.
And without this spirit, you won’t be able to make another all-time favourite: gin and tonic.
3. Rum
Rum is one of the most versatile liquors you should always have in your home bar.
Your home bar needs at least one light rum and another variety, such as spiced, aged, or dark.
Light rum is a must-have for classic cocktails, including daiquiri and mojito.
On the other hand, dark rum is essential for a hurricane, mai tai, zombie, and other tropical cocktails.
Rums are affordable liquors, so you won’t have difficulties stocking your bar with one or more bottles of this spirit.
4. Tequila
No one can resist a margarita, so make sure you always have a bottle of tequila in your home bar.
The best type of tequila to get is a blanco or silver since it can be added to nearly all types of tequila-based cocktails.
Aside from a margarita, you’ll need this liquor to make a tequila sunrise, paloma, and dirty tequila martini.
5. Vodka
Vodka is another versatile liquor that should never be absent from your home bar.
This distilled, clear liquor is known for its neutral flavour, which means it mixes well with various beverages. Moreover, it is the foundation for numerous classic cocktails.
Keep in mind that you won’t be able to make a Bloody Mary, Moscow mule, cosmo, and the classic martini without vodka.
6. Whiskey
The whiskey is another must-have for any home bar. Among the other liquors mentioned here, you might find buying this particular spirit challenging since there are different varieties to choose from.
However, you can get help from a sales staff from licenced liquor stores in Dubai to choose which ones you should buy for your bar and mixes.
Having a well-stocked home bar ensures you can make a variety of cocktails and alcoholic beverages for you, your loved ones, and guests to enjoy. To maintain an accurate inventory of your liquors and mixers, consider partnering with professional stocktakers who can help you manage your supplies efficiently. This will ensure your home bar remains equipped with all the necessary ingredients to make classic mixed drinks and even invent new cocktails for your drink menu.
With a bottle or more of whiskey, you can always make an old-fashioned, whiskey sour, John Collins, and Manhattan cocktail.
7. Fruit juices
Combining fruit juice, liquor, and ice in a glass is the fastest way to create a refreshing cocktail that you’ll love sipping.
Keep bottled or boxed fruit juices in your fridge. If you have a juicer, consider using it to make natural juice from your choice of fresh fruits.
Some of the fruit juice flavours you should always have are:
- Orange juice – a must-have for a tequila sunrise, Buck’s fizz, and other cocktails.
- Cranberry juice – a staple ingredient in a cosmopolitan, vodka cranberry, and other mixes.
- Tomato juice – a must-have if you like making bloody Mary.
Try to keep freshly-squeezed lemon and lime juice in your fridge since you can use them as accents and additional flavour.
8. Sodas
Like fruit juices, you also won’t go wrong with stocking up on sodas since you can have an amazing drink by combining them with the right liquor.
Try to diversify your choices of sodas when shopping. Aside from buying well-known brands, get a few lesser-known ones.
For your home bar, make sure you keep a stock of canned or small bottles of cola, club soda, ginger ale, and tonic water.
9. Liqueurs
Liqueurs are essential for your fancy alcoholic mixes and cocktails.
Some of the liqueurs you need to keep a stock of are:
- Amaretto – this is an almond-flavoured liqueur usually made with apricot kernels, peach stones, and almonds, all of which contain benzaldehyde that gives it its almond flavour.
- Coffee Liqueur – this coffee-flavoured liqueur is made of coffee beans steeped in aged rum, vanilla extract, and a simple syrup.
- Irish cream – this is a cream liqueur made of Irish whiskey, cream, cocoa, and other flavourings.
- Triple sec – this is an orange-flavoured liqueur containing around 20 to 40% alcohol by volume.
10. Bitters
Bitters are neutral alcoholic preparations infused with fruits, herbs, spices, and other botanicals. They give beverages a bitter or bittersweet flavour.
The taste you’ll get will depend on their ingredients. The most common flavours you’ll come across include coffee, cinnamon, clove, and cherry.
A small bottle of bitters can last for a long time since you only need to add a few dashes to your mixes if you want to give them a bitter or bittersweet taste.
With these liquors and mixes, you’ll make the most of your home bar and create your favourite beverages anytime you have a craving.