Stocking a cocktail bar

[Smuterella]

OK - I need some advice. I have a lovely deco cocktail bar and need to kit her out with cocktail making equipment and ingredients.

Any advice on shaker sets (boston vs 3 part) - at the moment I'm using an old sauce jar!

Essential glassware?

Recommendations on basic but good quality spirits and mixers for an entry level cocktail maker?

Cocktail recipes - either book or online recommendations.

All advice very gratefully received.

 

[Geesie]

For the liquids, I stand by my advice.

For glassware, I pretty much got everything I had at Macy's. They have reasonably cheap glass sets that go on sale all the time, tons of different designs. I have sets of highball, rocks, cocktail, wine, and margarita glasses plus snifters.

I don't have all the different styles of wine glass because I don't care that much. Sorry aficionados. [huh]

For beer glasses I have a bunch of odd logo glasses collected here and there.

 

[Miss sofia]

I use a deco style three-parter i picked up in a junk shop and have had no problems with it. Various glasses tumblers, highballs, champers cups etc, all picked up second hand. Pinup girl glasses or novelty cocktail sticks, umbrellas etc are always good for a bit of kitsch if the occasion calls for it! Some long handled spoons, whisks etc are handy too.

I do have an original cocktail book written by Harry Craddock, the famous "Harry' of Harry's Bar and of the American bar at the Savoy, and the Monte Carlo Automile Club. Given his impeccable credentials that does me!!

It is in reprint on Amazon, i just checked and they have a few second hand copies too.

Hope this helps!

 

[Smuterella]

ooh, fab for pointing me to that thread and for the advice!

 

[Smuterella]

I use a deco style three-parter i picked up in a junk shop and have had no problems with it. Various glasses tumblers, highballs, champers cups etc, all picked up second hand. Pinup girl glasses or novelty cocktail sticks, umbrellas etc are always good for a bit of kitsch if the occasion calls for it! Some long handled spoons, whisks etc are handy too.

I do have an original cocktail book written by Harry Craddock, the famous "Harry' of Harry's Bar and of the American bar at the Savoy, and the Monte Carlo Automile Club. Given his impeccable credentials that does me!!

It is in reprint on Amazon, i just checked and they have a few second hand copies too.

Hope this helps!

Ooh, thank you!

 

[jmrtnko]

Well, we already know you have grenadine... and you've already read the previous thread, so I'll skip the liquids.

There's nothing wrong with a good 3-part cobbler shaker, though that sauce jar does have a ton more Roaring 20s personality. A vintage cobbler is fine, but get two, because old ones can leak, or lock up on you at the worst possible moment.

Just get a mini wire mesh strainer to use with it. That way you can strain out the little ice chips coming out after a shake for that extra professional pizazz!

A Boston shaker is great if you are making multiple different cocktails at the same time. You can get multiple glasses and just rinse the metal cup between cocktails. Super fast. And with a hawthorn you can control the ice a little more on the pour. But if it's just one cocktail at a time, it might be overkill.

Craddock's Savoy book is basically canon. For recent books, David Wondrich's Imbibe is great for history and is a modern translation of (measurements and ingredients) the Jerry Thomas books. Gary Regan's Joy of Mixology is also a good all-around book with a lot of new and classic recipes and technique.

 

[Danny Ocean]

OK - I need some advice. I have a lovely deco cocktail bar and need to kit her out with cocktail making equipment and ingredients.

Any advice on shaker sets (boston vs 3 part) - at the moment I'm using an old sauce jar!

Essential glassware?

Recommendations on basic but good quality spirits and mixers for an entry level cocktail maker?

Cocktail recipes - either book or online recommendations.

All advice very gratefully received.

Hi Smuterella,

Depending on how often you intend to have cocktails, is going to have a bearing on how much you want to spend on the equipment. Personally, I have cocktails every weekend, and just add bits and pieces, as and when required.

For the shaker, I prefer a Boston type. I find them easier to use than a 3-part, and the heavier glass part takes a lot of abuse, plus you can see the contents. A new professional boston shaker is typically £5-£6, so not expensive. With this, you will need a wire strainer, to keep the broken ice, and fruit particles out of the cocktail.

I bought all my equipment from here, and the price & service were both great:
www.ebay.co.uk/BOSTON-COCKTAIL-SHAK...rink_Wine_Bar_Accessories&hash=item45ebcf37ef

Other essential equipment, would be a long handled bar spoon (with a muddler on the end), a couple of stamped measures (I tend to go for a 35ml), sharp knife, zester, cocktail sticks, cocktail cherries, olives......oh, and plenty of ice!

As far as glasses, I'd go for some highballs, old-fashioned's, martini's, as well as your normal beer & wine glasses.

Spirits & mixers: This is the costly bit! You need some basic spirits, which will get you going, and I have listed my personal favourites. Gin (Tanqueray), vodka (Russian Standard), white rum (Bacardi), dark rum (Woods), dry & red vermouth (Martini or Cinzano), Campari, Cointreau, Baileys, Grenadine. The list is endless.......! For mixers, your standard fruit juices (orange, grapefruit, pineapple), plus indian tonic, lemonade, coca-cola, soda water etc. Fresh fruit: limes, lemons, oranges, pineapple.....

I would definitely recommend buying a couple of books first, along with your standard bar equipment. I have several, but the best two are:

"750 Cocktails & Mixed Drinks" by Stuart Walton, Suzannah Olivier & Joanna Farrow. www.amazon.co.uk/750-Cocktails-Mixe...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1286921894&sr=8-1

"501 Must Drink Cocktails". www.amazon.co.uk/501-Must-drink-Cocktails/dp/0753715325/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1286922054&sr=1-1

Both books offer great advice on setting your cocktail bar up, as well as detailed info on more unusual cocktail ingredients.

Hope the above is of use, and good luck with your bar.

Cheers!

Danny O

 

[Smuterella]

Thanks fellas, great info!

 

[Edward]

It'll be expensive to stock up the bar that first time out, all in one go, with the basic spirits. Might be worth looking into more affordable versions - Hendricks is just as good as Tanquery, imo, for instance - and significantly cheaper (at least in my local Sainsburys). For whiskey, I would recommend Sainsbury's own brand Irish whiskey, which is clearly labelled as having been distilled in Ireland. There are only the two distilleries on the island, both of a very high quality, so you're getting something that is, imo, the equal of an acceptable Bushmills or Jamesons. I might be inclined to spend the money on something fancier if drinking it neat, but for mixing that stuff is great. For a good spiced rum, Sailor Jerry's is the top of the tree, but Morgans is great too, and cheaper.

You could always host a cocktail party and get your guests to help out with stocking the bar??

I'd start small with the key ingredients of half a dozen good cocktails, then add to that gradually with bits for others.

 

[Smuterella]

I've actually decided to learn a drink each fortnight. Get the ingredients, practice, move to the next one.

thanks for the recommendations fella!

 

[ClothesHorse]

Trader Vic's Bartender guide (1947) is a great classic also. I love the vintage illustrations, and drinks that really are nolonger made. I like Helen Corbitts Cookbooks for the same reason.

All the best,

CH

 

[John in Covina]

The Old Mister Boston cocktail books are handy. Liquor, cordials / liqueurs mixes and drink varieties tend to go thru fashion phases. An old cocktail book may not be a good representation of what people are drinking now. If you have a big chain liquor store in town and a good mom and pop store ask about the various books they'd recommend.

If you buy liqueurs or cordials as mixers for drinks you should not get big bottles as the unused portion loses flavor after a while once opened. If you are doing a drink theme party then you can get bigger bottles if you estimate you'll go thru them.

Good for stocking list:
2-Bourbon 86 & 100 proof
Blended American Whiskey (Seagram's Seven)
3- Scotch - light , heavy, single malt
Canadian Whiskey
Irish Whiskey
3-Gins American, London and specialty
2-rums light and dark
Vodka - 80 & 100 proof
Dry Vermouth
Sweet Vermouth
Brandy domestic like E&J
Cognac
Light Dark and Anejo - tequila

By studying the drink books you can decide what liqueurs you'll need like:
Grand Marnier, Southern Comfort, Drambuie, Chartreuse, Ameretto etc.
or flavors like peach, creme de menthe, and creme de cocao.

Maybe some aperitifs Campari, Dubonnet

Old books also can list items for cocktails that are near impossible to find or very expensive! Falernum...

 

[John in Covina]

Also, if you are looking at bar-ware check and see if there is a local restaurant supply in your area that you can visit. They often have some sturdy bar-ware and glassware selections at fairly inexpensive prices.

 

[FRASER_NASH]

There's a few 'cocktail' related threads (just do search on 'the word' ) which throws up 'must have' bottles..etc in the bar. A real working centre piece would be a nice deco'esque cocktail shaker. Also you can pick up some nice 20's; 30's; 40's cocktail sticks for skewering your cherry or olive, and it makes for a great talking point. Good Hunting (try Ebay)!! (as the fun is in the hunt!).

 

[jmrtnko]

If you're here, you already have access to pretty much every modern recipe you could ever want. There are several wonderful, large collections of quality recipes available online for free.

The reason I recommend old cocktail books is that they present a strategy of cocktail construction that was more based on skill, balance and seasoning. After Prohibition in the US, mixing became more focused on speed, flavoring and ease. The result was the rise of vodka (flavorless and easy), one-dimensional drinks (modern dry martini), and pre-made mixers.

Over the last 10 years, people have started to realize how much of the cocktail had been lost, and classic and classically-inspired drinks have made a huge comeback. Making these drinks gives you much more of an understanding of the different techniques to balance out different flavors and ethanol. Techniques that are still the basis of almost all drinks made today. They also use individual ingredients instead of modern, pre-made mixes which just simply taste better and gives more room for experimentation and personalization.

Mixing drinks at home is very, very different than being behind a bar. You don't need 1000 drinks. You don't even need to really know more than one if you like it enough. But you should understand what makes that drink work and perfect it to your tastes. And it should be just as enjoyable to make as it is to drink. This is sadly something that most modern books don't teach you.

As for old items, there's been a huge boom in vintage ingredients lately. Velvet Falernum has been around for a while, and Fee Brothers makes a non-alcoholic version you can even buy on Amazon, not to mention the multiple recipes online to make your own. Old Tom gins are back. Rye is booming. There are dozens and dozens of new bitters. Yes, some of these are a bit pricey and they're not generally available at your corner store, but they bring cocktails back from the "drink for people who don't like the taste of alcohol" to the incredible concoctions that made them so popular in the first place.

 

[John in Covina]

The only reason I brought it up was not to totally discourage making the old drink formulas but to give consideration to sourcing them. Although I have not done it in a long time, in the past we'd pick a theme for a party and have one or two theme drinks to be the basis of the party so people can try something out of the ordinary. When recreating these formulas it's best to know and locate everything you'll need before hand so you know it can be done and not have any disappointments.

 

[marcoshark]

just Two things I'd like to throw in. Vintage and Glass Sizzle Sticks!!! Once again, ebay is your best buddy for these. Also for extra credit, there are some printing businesses that can also print on cocktail napkins (usually low print runs as well!) for that extra bit of fun!