How to Stock a Home Bar: What to Keep in the House

Most home bars grow by accident. A bottle from a party, something brought back from a trip, a mixer bought for one recipe. Eventually there are eleven bottles on the shelf and still no reliable way to make a drink someone asks for.

A working home bar is smaller and more deliberate than that. Four bottles cover the overwhelming majority of what guests actually request, and everything after that is preference rather than capability.

The four-bottle house set

Vodka, whisky, rum and tequila. Between them they cover the drinks people name without thinking: a vodka soda, a rye and ginger, a rum and coke, a Margarita, a Paloma, a Caesar. Nothing exotic, but these are the orders that actually come up.

Built from the range we deliver, that set runs about $330:

• <strong>Smirnoff No. 21 Vodka</strong> — 750ml, $80.00. The workhorse. Vodka soda, Moscow Mule, Caesar, vodka tonic.
• <strong>Crown Royal Deluxe</strong> — 750ml, $80.00. Canadian rye that works neat, in a highball with ginger ale, and in an Old Fashioned.
• <strong>Appleton Estate Signature</strong> — 750ml, $80.00. Jamaican rum with enough character for a rum and coke that tastes like something.
• <strong>Jose Cuervo Especial Silver</strong> — 750ml, $90.00. Covers Margaritas and Palomas, the two most-requested warm-weather drinks.

What each bottle actually makes

Vodka

The most useful bottle in the house precisely because it tastes of very little. That neutrality is the point — it disappears into whatever you mix it with, so one bottle produces four or five genuinely different drinks. If you buy nothing else, buy this. The full vodka range runs from Smirnoff and Absolut at $80.00 up to Grey Goose at $130.00.

Whisky

For the guests who want something with character. Canadian rye is the versatile choice; J.P. Wiser’s Deluxe sits alongside Crown Royal at $80.00. Jameson at $90.00 is the softer, more universally liked option, and Jack Daniel’s at $90.00 is the one most people recognise. See the whole whiskey range.

Rum

Underrated as a house bottle. Aged rum sips neat, mixes with cola without vanishing, and makes a Daiquiri if you have limes. Captain Morgan Original Spiced Gold at $80.00 is the sweeter, more mixable alternative to the Appleton.

Tequila

The single most-requested spirit in the GTA between May and September. A blanco is what you want for cocktails. Sauza Hacienda Silver at $90.00 is the value pick; 1800 Blanco at $120.00 steps up. Our tequila versus mezcal guide explains the categories.

Beer and wine belong in the plan too

A home bar that is only spirits fails at the most common request of all, which is simply a cold beer. A twelve-pack of Molson Canadian or Coors Light at $80.00, or Corona Extra at $90.00, does more work at a gathering than a third bottle of spirits ever will. A White Claw variety pack at $80.00 covers the seltzer drinkers.

For wine, the Jackson-Triggs bottles come as 1.5L magnums at $60.00, which is about ten glasses from one bottle — the right format when you are pouring for a table rather than yourself.

Mixers, citrus and ice

The bottles are the easy part. What actually separates a good home drink from a poor one is everything around them.

Keep tonic, soda water, ginger ale and cola in small bottles or cans rather than large ones, because carbonation dies fast once opened and a flat mixer ruins a good spirit more thoroughly than a cheap spirit does. Fresh limes and lemons are not optional; bottled lime juice tastes like bottled lime juice and no amount of good tequila hides it.

Ice matters more than any piece of equipment. Use large cubes for anything served over ice, because small cubes melt fast and water the drink down before you finish it. If you are hosting, plan on roughly 1 kg of ice per guest for chilling and another half kilo for the drinks themselves.

Tools worth owning

Four things cover essentially everything: a jigger for measuring, a shaker, a bar spoon for stirring and a strainer. That is a small outlay and it will not need upgrading.

Skip the gift-set kits, which are usually four bad tools in a box, and skip the muddler until you are actually making Mojitos regularly — the back of a wooden spoon works. Two glass shapes are enough: a rocks glass for anything short and spirit-forward, a highball for anything long and mixed.

When to upgrade

Once the four are working, upgrade the one you drink most rather than adding a fifth category. If vodka empties fastest, move from Smirnoff to Tito’s at $90.00 or Belvedere at $120.00. If it is tequila, Casamigos Blanco and Patrôn Silver are both $160.00.

Special-occasion bottles are a separate decision from stocking a bar. Hennessy Very Special at $140.00, Don Julio 1942 at $280.00 and Moét & Chandon Impérial Brut at $160.00 are bottles you buy for a reason, not to fill a shelf.

What not to buy first

Flavoured vodkas, cream liqueurs and the bottle you tried once on holiday are the ones that end up unfinished. The test before adding anything: can you name two drinks you will actually make with it? If not, it is decoration.

And resist buying expensive before buying broad. A $280 bottle of tequila is a lovely thing and it will not help you make a rum and coke for a guest. Get the range working first, then upgrade what you drain.

Stock the shelf

J&J Alcohol Delivery covers Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, Vaughan, Markham, Richmond Hill, Oakville, Burlington and North York, seven days a week and long after the LCBO has closed. Browse the full range at our shop or call (437) 328-0030.