Cocktail Bar Essentials
1. The art of drinking starts, logically enough, with opening the bottle. Hence the deluxe corkscrew. The automatic pourer measures a jigger—and just a jigger at a time.
2. Three basic essentials for a well-equipped home bar are: a mixing spoon, a lime squeezer, and a double-ended measuring cup, for a jigger or a pony as needed.
3. Preferable equipment, likewise, is a professional bar shaker having an accompanying wire strainer. The Martini mixer is suggested for drinks that require stirring.
4. The cutting board must be readily close at hand for quick preparation of fruit for drinks, for hors d'oeuvres, etc. It's also handy to keep a disposal bin close by.
5. And when you are ready for the ice, set the icer for fine, medium or coarse, whatever the recipe demands. Use it as well for crushed ice for chilling glasses.
6. Use only fresh fruit juices in the drinks you create, never those canned types. This electric squeezer operates on AC-DC and is clean and fast. It's a very useful bar aid.
7. Bar muddlers are made from lignum vitae, which is the toughest known wood. They are employed in muddling sugar or in mashing mint. Glass ones are utilized as drink stirrers
8. Masculine leather coasters are created from cowhide having saddle stitching and are water repellant. Jackets for the long drinks and napkins must not be forgotten.
9. And when the drinks are already made, the bottles may be re-corked using decorative stoppers to fancy up the bar. These stoppers are usually hand painted and colorful.
10. Without an ice bucket, disarray will reign. Also never forget to have a provision of sparkling water on hand, either bottled or in refillable syphon form.
11. A prissy accessory touch for serving vintage wines is a wine cradle for use at the table. Wine may be poured without taking out bottle from basket.
12. For decanting, a simple glass funnel would prove one of those temper-savers, and ought to be found behind every bar. The label around decanter names the contents.
13. And, as a last deluxe touch, the electric blender—the whiz kid, which can genuinely give your drinks a spin.