Whether you’re quickly becoming a cocktail enthusiast or simply looking to build up your home bartending equipment? Here are 5 essentials to set you on you’re way to creating the finest cocktails.
You don’t have to be a professional to make the finest stirred or shaken cocktails. With a little bit of practice, and investment in some helpful home bar equipment, you’ll soon be showing off your skills and creating a range of tasty tipples yourself!
First up is….
- Cocktail Shaker
There are so many cocktail shakers on the market – but they aren’t all suitable for home bartending. The three-part cobbler shaker (featured in the image) is very popular and tends to be the most commonly used. It includes a basic built in strainer, but a fine strainer is always useful too to save you getting any small bits of ice in your drink.
- Bar Spoon
As fun as shaking cocktails may be, many drinks are actually better served stirred – and for quick mixing, a
tablespoon simply won’t do. Instead, a long-handled, twisted bar spoon should be a main feature of your home bar. It’s always a good bonus to go for one with a flat base that can be used for muddling too.
- Jig
ger
For speedy – but accurate – measuring, most have 25ml and 50ml measure but they do vary. This is far more practical than measuring spoons or cups. You’ll see one in every bar around the world and look they look impressive and stylish on your home bar.
- Citrus Juicer
I must mention here..always, always opt for freshly squeezed citrus fruit in your cocktail (never the less tasty bottled stuff). This lovely yellow model is what we use at TASTE, its quick easy and mess free!
- Ice cube tray
You can’t make a cocktail without ice. The bigger the ice cubes the better, get yourself a decent ice cube tray, and use filtered water, and you will get yourself lovely clear, better tasting ice cubes to make the perfectly chilled cocktail. If you’re feeling particularly adventurous you could go for this Kotobuki Sphere Ball Tray instead of the usual cubed ice.
Once you have all of the above you’ll be ready to start, shaking, stirring and juicing. So get creating the finest cocktails around…all from your home!
Kick-start your home bar with one of our Mixologist Equipment kits.
Image credits: Culinary Cosplay, barware.com