“As you slide down the bannister of life, may the splinters never point the wrong way.”

A basic introduction to setting up your home bar.

Home entertaining, friends and family both, can be one of the great joys of life. The art of social drinking, after all, is all about providing or enjoying hospitality. Setting up a home bar does not necessarily have to be an arduous or an expensive task. Learning a few basic cocktails (or inventing your own) can be good fun and will add to your reputation as a gracious host.

Whether you are enjoying your favorite cocktail at home or in the company of friends at your local bar; you might as well know how to mix a good drink (just in case your bartender is a rookie or you run into one of those unfortunate places where they skimp on the ingredients and try to pass off a gin fizz as a Collins).

Read on and enjoy!

Setting Up the Bar

Get some tips on what you need to set up your own bar and the basic equipment for mixing and serving drinks.
Bars can be as simple or as elaborate as you care to make them.
So go ahead, set up your bar, provide the basic bar stock, learn to mix the drinks and then enjoy the party!

Click here for tips on setting up your own bar

Basic Bar Stock

Now you have your bar, it is time to stock up! Again your stock can be basic or expansive - depends on your budget and drinking preferences. But if you want to be a good host then there are a few “essentials”. In this section we will give you some advice on how to stock your bar.

Plus you can dig deeper into your favourite subject. For those with the interest, we give you some more background on the various spirits you are likely to use. It makes for interesting bar talk if nothing else.

Click here to learn more

Mixing the Drinks

Know the difference between a Tom Collins and his brother John? Here are some of our favorite bar recipes to get you started.

We have chosen to include pretty standard cocktails that do not require  esoteric ingredients and that are pretty much readily available in Asia - where most of our readers reside.

Of course, we reserve the right to add to this list from time to time - but only after we have tried a recipe for ourselves. There are of course plenty of websites where you can find additional recipes should you need them

Click here to get started mixing your drinks