Here’s a crash course on starting your own bar program at home.
With a few less happy hours at the bars and more cocktails on your couch, it may be time to elevate your at-home bar program. It’s simpler than you may think. Karen Taylor Quinn, Co-Founder of I’d Rather Be Meryl, shares her best tips to getting started.
First, get your 6 essential ingredients: whiskey, an interesting but not expensive tequila, gin, Vermouth, Angostura bitter, and citrus. Wait, no vodka?! No vodka because you can substitute it with gin and it adds a layer of complexity.
If you’re still missing your vodka, make it part of your house cocktail. A house cocktail is a drink that you know how to make like the back of your hand and always have the ingredients on hand. It is much easier to serve up a drink you know you’re good at than try to please 5 different people with 5 different drink orders! Your house, your drink! This is where you can add a few ingredients to your library and it begins to become more complex.
Finally, before you start looking up the perfect shaker technique, you might not need it! The real bar tool you will need is a long spoon (the one in your silverware drawer will likely do the trick!) Shakers are often only used when a cocktail has citrus in it. Otherwise, a long spoon will do the trick (and save you money and arm fatigue!)
For more tips on building out your at-home bar program or inspiration for a house cocktail, visit Karen’s blog here.
