Don’t Be a Bottle Buying Fool!

I’m sure it is no surprise to you if I tell you that the number one question I probably get out of all the potential home bar questions out there is “what is the best way to stock your bar when starting out?” so I figured I’d share a little bit about that here in my blog.

First, just like everything else home bar related, there is no one way to do it. But that’s OK, that’s truly what I love about home bars. Everyone has their own take on it and the more you talk to people the more you pick up.

However, to answer this question, I’m going to put myself back in the shoes of someone who has no bartending experience, limited budget and no real general direction as to what type of drinks they will end up serving the most. This may go against what most people do, but the reason I am going to direct you this way is so you don’t make the mistake of buying things you don’t need and end up with bottles of whatever just taking up space and collecting dust.

The method that I’m referring to is what I call the “evolution method”. Assuming you don’t have any real drink making experience this will be the best foundation for you to build from. First go get yourself a good drink making guide so you can make sure you learn how to make drinks correctly. Next you’ll want to think about what mixed or liquor drinks, mixers, shooters etc. that you like if any and that your friends like. Whatever you see or find people drinking when hanging out at bars or wherever, just start thinking. You’ll want to write some of those down and lookup the ingredients. Try to find a few that contain the same basic ingredients so you don’t have to buy up a bunch of different stuff unless you want to but I’m talking starting small here. If you have a certain theme to your bar like Tiki for example, then of course you may want to learn some tropical drinks for starters.

So imagine this, you buy the ingredients to make just one or two drinks you want to start out with. This way you can practice making this drink and sort of make it your specialty (depending on it’s complexity). Find a way to make it good. Then start branching out to other drinks that use the same ingredients or maybe the same but +1 so you can slowly start branching out. Then just keep going from there. The result will be that you will only spend money on things you know exactly how to use and you become great at making drinks with them.

This is the most practical and efficient way I know to start growing your collection and mastering the art of drink making and growing your drink menu at your bar. I understand it may seem a bit limited to some people at first but that’s OK, it will grow. But until then you will have more of a specialty bar. You can take other peoples suggestions as to what they want and start branching out that way to. Hell, make your bar a BYOB bar in the beginning if they want something you don’t have and just ask to keep the bottle so you will have it for them next time. Before you know it, you’ll have mastered your bottle collection and you’ll have gone from looking like newbie to “alright this guy or gal knows what they’re doing!” FYI – If you’re interested I share several other great methods for stocking a home bar for different situations in my Ultimate Home Bar Setup Guide and Membership site!