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5 Types of Home Bars That Will Impress Your Guests

Home bar designs vary from one manufacturer to the next. There are hundreds of models to choose from, including solid wood bars, wet bars, portable bars, and permanent home bars. Tiki bars and rustic home bars are very popular. This piece of furniture should complement your home and enhance its value. It could be a good source of enjoyment for you, your family, and your friends. When choosing a home bar design, you’ll need to consider your budget, as well as the space available.

Here are five types of home bars that will impress your guests:

Portable Home Bars

A portable home bar can be put away when it’s not used. You can easily move it from one room to another. This type of bar allows you to serve drinks with style without having to permanently dedicate an area of your home to entertaining. It’s the perfect choice for those with limited space. Portable home bars usually have wheels on the bottom, so you can move them around the house or outdoors. Some models fold up when they are not in use. They are less expensive than permanent home bars and provide a lot of versatility.

Permanent Home Bars

Permanent home bars come in all shapes and sizes. Some models can be secured so that children don’t have access to alcoholic drinks. They can be beautiful pieces of furniture that will turn your home into a fabulous living space. A permanent home bar consists of a long counter table, matching bar stools and other accessories. This model offers plenty of storage room for bottles and glasses.

Built-In Home Bars

This type of home bar offers all the features and convenience of a real bar, scaled to the size you need. Built-in home bars are available in different colors, sizes, and themes. They can provide a luxurious retreat for you and your guests. Nothing adds more beauty and value to your home than a built-in home bar.

Tiki Bars

Tiki bars have an exotic look and unique features like bamboo roofs, shields, masks, statues, and custom signs. Most models are small enough to fit a kitchen or living room with limited space. They usually have two or more shelves for bottles and glasses.

Sports Bars

Most men love sports bars. These pieces of furniture are absolutely fabulous. It’s the furniture you’ve been looking for your man cave. Some feature wine storage and built-in entertainment centers, black granite countertops, automated lighting, and a sports design.

What Type of Alcohol Should Your Home Bar Have?

Parties & Entertaining, Stocking your home bar

Starting a bar at home is quite easy. All you need is some free space and a few quality drinks. What is the best way for a cocktail enthusiast to stock his home bar? What type of alcohol should you have? First of all, you should stock up on essential liquors. A few bottles of wine, vodka, gin, bourbon, run, whiskey, and tequila will do the trick. If you have a bottle of each of these, you can make at least 100 different cocktails.

Make a list of cocktails that you enjoy. The list can also include common mixed drinks. This will help you determine what ingredients you need for your favorite beverages. For example, the White Russian is a creamy mixed drink that contains vodka, cream, and Kahlua coffee liqueur. The classic Martini is made with vodka or gin, dry vermouth, orange bitter, and green olives for garnish. If you love the original Kamikaze shooter, you can prepare it with vodka, triple sec, and lime juice. The Caramel Appletini contains butterscotch schnapps, green apple vodka, and a green apple slice for garnish. The beverages you stock in your bar will depend on what cocktails you want to serve.

In addition to basic drinks, you can have separate bottles of different whiskey, as well as separate bottles of dark and light rum. Make substitutions of needed. Don’t be afraid to try new drinks. When shopping for beverages, look for retailers who are willing to help you learn about the different kinds of drinks.

When it comes to buying vodka, choose popular brands like Smirnoff, Stolichnaya, and Absolut. Mexican tequila is a good choice for your home bar. If you want to buy white rum, choose Bacardi. Havana Club and Cuba Libre are some of the best brands of dark rum. English dry gin is a staple for the classic martini, so you should definitely have it in your home bar. Stock some triple sec if you’re making margaritas. Coffee liquor is essential for preparing coffee drinks. White and red vermouth are a must have for any cocktail enthusiast.

Your home bar can also have brandy, Irish cream, rye whiskey, apple liquor, campari, blended scotches, and peppermint schnapps. These are the absolute essentials for your bar. However, you shouldn’t spend a fortune on beverages that you will rarely use. Pick drinks you actually enjoy. After all, it’s your bar. It should reflect your personal taste and make it easier for you to prepare delicious drinks.

The Benefits of Having Your Own Home Bar

Home Bar, Parties & Entertaining

A home bar is a personal place where you can relax after a hard day at work. Let’s face it, sometimes you just don’t want to go out. Why spend hundreds of dollars on fancy drinks in bars and restaurants when you enjoy your favorite beverages at home? You get to choose the drinks, the music, the volume, and the ambiance. The best part about having your own home bar is that you’ll save money over the long run. Whether you choose a permanent bar or portable one, you can select your favorite design and customize it according to your taste.

Here are the main benefits of having a home bar:

You Get to Set the Scene

Many people go out at their favorite bars to catch up with friends, but are unable to carry a conversation because the music is too loud. Some bars and restaurants may not even carry your favorite drinks. Others require a reservation, so you’ll need to plan your day out in advance. When you have a home bar, you get to set the scene. Stock the bar with fine beverages, invite your friends over, and choose the music. You can even watch your favorite sports games without worrying about other people bothering you.

You Can Choose the Design

There are thousands of home bar designs on the market, from solid wood bars to rattan bars and portable home bars. If you don’t want to buy one, you can build your custom home bar. This way you can add custom finishes and accessories that will impress your guests and create the feeling of a realistic bar. Homeowners with limited space often choose portable home bars, which can be can be folded up when not in use. Some models have locks to keep children out.

Add Value to Your Home

A home bar will blend with your home’s overall design and make your living space more appealing. You can add glass cabinet fronts, coordinating stainless sinks, glass door refrigerators, and attractive stemglass holders in a finish that matches the overall theme of the room. For a gentleman who enjoys entertaining, a home bar is a must.

Custom home bars add versatility and make your living space more functional and useful. If your fridge can’t hold all of your bottles, you’ll benefit from adding a home bar to your entertainment room. Most bars are equipped with built-in racks and cabinets that can easily accommodate your drinks.

Kegs, Parties and Problems

Parties & Entertaining

Nothing worse than having your boys over or even worse the ladies that love beer and your kegorator is dead set on spitting foam! Pour rest, pour rest, pour rest is what your life is turning into, and all of a sudden that old bottle of bud light is looking much more appealing!

Next, you check the pressure…same as before…you check the temperature – it’s good. What gives?? Who the hell knows, sometimes the beer gods just aren’t with you! All you can do is just make sure you have a backup plan in the form of beer in some other kind of container. Please never get caught with nothing! I don’t care if you have to keep a Heineken mini keg in the bottom of your fridge, you’ll be glad you did.

However, before you abandon ship, do your routine checks. You may need to just shut of the CO2 and let it chill for a min and try it again with a much lower pressure. You may get a slow pour out of your tap, but that may prove to be better than a crap load of foam which usually = wasting beer. Maybe try and cool the keg down a bit more with some ice or something if you suspect temperature may be the problem.

I also realize there’s a lot of DIYers out there and they may have constructed their own kegorator contraption of some sort and don’t really know if it’s setup right. A couple of things that help are to ensure you use tubing that’s 3/16 inside diameter which gives about 2psi per foot of pressure which is most ideal to prevent foaming.

If you’re having temperature problems make sure your cold plate or coils aren’t too iced up or anything because that actually acts like an insulator and your system is not working correctly or efficiently. Also if you are having cooling issues make sure everything is sealed properly. If needed put some kind of light inside of it and then inspect it in a dark room to see if there is light seeping out anywhere. If you do find gaps do what you can to seal them and see how it goes from there.

Lastly, just do your best to maintain everything properly and keep your lines and taps clean. Make sure you do some kind of routine checks if you’re not using it regularly and for the love of god make sure you know how its working at least a day or so before any big parties your planning. Last thing you want to be doing is screwing with your kegorator and struggling to pour a beer while the parties going on around you!

With a little bit of common sense, preventative maintenance and routine checks you will hopefully not end up being that guy or gal with a crappy keg…leave that to the amateurs!!