Home Bartending Tools

Home bartending tools are widely available online and in stores. When they’re home and handy, the sky is the limit. I’ve listed above and shown my most important tools to have around as I journey through the maze of cocktails.

Almost every cocktail requires either a shaker or mixing glass and some form of measurer like a jigger. If you prefer a non-watery whiskey on the rocks or an Old Fashioned, you’ll appreciate having a large ice cube molder and a peeler for the orange. I’m constantly juicing either lime or lemon for everything from margaritas to cosmopolitans; so you’ll need a juicer. Where mint or other flavoring is involved, you’ll need a muddler and possibly a separate strainer. What’s a martini without a cocktail pick or a mint julep without a straw? And making a Black & Tan by bending your own bar spoon is ridiculous — just get a Black & Tan layering tool. A cocktail stirring spoon can be as ordinary as an ice-tea stirring spoon, or as fancy as a gold-plated long spoon. Kitchen items like the blender or a stove also come into play occasionally. Possibly the most under-appreciated bartending item is the round strainer that squeezes perfectly into a mixing glass — it’s there to pour an icy-stirred drink into a martini glass or simply there to dump out excess water from ice prior to mixing.

You can buy exotic-looking bar kits from various stores and online sources. They usually range from $15-100. I’ve found very nice kits available at Amazon for less than $50. Or you can just buy the items you lack individually.

For more information and discussion about stocking your bar, click the NY Magazine link below for a very good article about the necessities.

https://nymag.com/strategist/article/how-to-stock-a-bar-cart-essential-home-bar-tools.html