Drinking at Home, A Love Story, or: How to Build the Perfect At Home Bar
When it comes to at-home entertainment, preparation is everything. So if you don’t want to abandon your guests in order to make a last-minute run to the liquor store this season or seem clueless about your wine selection, take some tips from the experts by constructing the ultimate at-home bar.
The Tools
You’ll need something to shake, stir, and strain cocktails; this can be as simple as a mason jar and a pint glass or you could go for a more professional stainless steel shaker.
You should also have a muddler, a peeler, a hand juicer (never use anything but fresh juice), some jiggers so you can accurately measure, and a spoon for stirring; also helpful is a hawthorne strainer for shaken drinks, a julep strainer for stirred drinks, and a fine strainer for removing bits of fruit and mint.
The Cocktails
The simplest thing to do to make great interesting cocktails is to make syrups. Add equal parts sugar to water and dissolve. And it’s really easy to add flavors… like something floral? Get some floral tea like jasmine, heat it up, and add equal parts sugar to the tea. I have a drink on the menu at Leyenda made with chamomile syrup (basically strong tea and sugar) that’s amazing.
The Spirits
The staples of a basic bar are rum (go for El Dorado, any age), vodka (I like Reyka), tequila (Tequila Ocho or El Tesoro), whiskey (such as Rittenhouse Rye), and gin. (Get Brooklyn Gin!)
You’ll also need modifiers; sweet vermouth like Cocchi di Torino, dry vermouth like Dolin Blanc, and Cointreau are the most important. I also like having Chartreuse and Maraschino around, and bitters pack a lot of flavor in small doses.
Cocktail Recipe
courtesy of Ivy Mix
Sonambula
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2 oz jalapeño tequila (cut open 2-3 jalapeños per bottle of tequila and let sit for 15-30 minutes, depending on the heat level desired. Strain out the peppers and seeds.)
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1 oz fresh lemon juice
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¾ oz chamomile syrup
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2 dash peychauds bitters
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2 dash Bittermans mole bitters
Shake, serve in a coupe, enjoy!
The Tools
A wine opener. For the Rolls-Royce of wine openers I would choose the Code 38 wine key. Stay away from gadgets like aerators, which make no difference whatsoever.
The Glassware
I keep it somewhat simple for at-home use. I like to use smaller white wine glasses (about 12-16 oz) for both sparkling wine and any unoaked whites. It’s much better for sparkling because it allows the aroma more room to develop and is still small enough to preserve the bubbles and temperature. I use large-sized (28-34 oz) burgundies for Pinot Noir, thin-skinned varietals, and oaked whites, and then the same size Bordeaux-style glasses for all other reds. My favorite brand is Korin’s Ion glassware.
Bottles to Buy
Sparkling
For Large Groups: I’d do Andre Tissot’s Cremant du Jura, a completely biodynamic cremant made in the traditional champagne method. It is outstanding! The region it comes from is named the Jura due to the soils dating back to the Jurassic period.
For a Dinner Party: I’d recommend the small grower-producer sparkling of Domaine Doyards Cuvee Vendemiaire. It has an extended elevage, sees some neutral oak and a longer time on the lees. This gives it an incredible texture and mouthfeel coupled with intense minerality.
To Splurge: Pierre Peters Cuvee Chetillions blanc de blancs made from a small plot in the Grand Cru of Le Mesnil. He’s one of a handful of producers making wine from this reveled plot famous for its chalky soils and the Chardonnay grape.
Red
For Large Groups: Domaine de Vissoux Beaujolais Cuvee Traditionelle. Beaujolais is one of the unsung heroes of the wine world and incredible for the warmer summer. The Gamay grape shows tart red fruit of cranberry and cherry mixed with black tea, a hint of black pepper and incredible granite minerality. Very food friendly for anything from chicken to hamburgers.
For a Dinner Party: La Rioja Alta’s Vina Ardanza Rioja Reserva. Rioja is another of the unsung heroes in the wine region and lucky for us is priced as such. This Tempranillo wine packs so much complexity into the price that it’s tough for any other wine region to compete. With flavors of pomegranate, tart cherry, cranberry, dried herbs, old leather and dill this wine is surprisingly elegant on its feet and ages beautifully.
To Splurge: I’m such a big fan of Syrah and no one does it better than the Northern Rhone. I’d highly recommend Jean-Louis Chave’s Hermitage. It’s an iconic red wine based on Syrah. The Chaves have been making wine from this area since 1481. Needless to say that they got it “right” a long time ago and these wines could easily change your life. They often showcase red and black cherry fruit, campfire smoke, roasted meat, campfire smoke, black olive and wild herbs like rosemary and violet florals. A bottle of this and a dry aged ribeye off the grill could be a match made in heaven.
White
For Large Groups: Granbazan Albarino Etiquette Verde from Rias Biaxas Spain. It is all hand harvested from the oldest and coolest subregion in the area basically touching the Atlantic Ocean. It is full of green apple, pink grapefruit, white peach, and sea spray.
For a Dinner Party: Patrick Piuze Chablis Terroir de Fye. It’s 100 percent Chardonnay but only sees a kiss of neutral oak, is all hand harvested and has amazing texture. Its meyer lemon, white peach, cheese rind, chalk and salt minerality compliment everything from seafood to pasta.
To Splurge: Domaine Roulot Merusault from Burgundy France. One of the top producers, his wines are packed with balance, minerality and complexity. The flavors of hazelnut, brown butter, lemon meringue and limestone go great with just about anything or simply on its own!
The Glassware
Though I’ve been known to drink beer out of a mason jar, the better your glassware, the better your beer. You really should be focusing on the following styles to have on-hand, so that you’re properly prepared for most beers.
Nonic Pint
They have a bulb towards the top of the lip, which allows more of a head to develop, releasing perfumes in beers like pale ales, IPAs, and pilsners. These are much preferred to the standard shaker pint (the standard stackable pint you see in most bars), which allow too much aroma and carbonation to dissipate quickly, meaning the last half of the glass isn’t nearly as good as the first sip.
Stemmed Tulip/or Snifter
Depending on your space constraints either one of these glasses are perfectly acceptable to use for IPAs, porters, and stouts, particularly imperial or any beer that you might only want a few ounces of, like sours, barley wines, etc. They can also be used for Belgian styles, though goblets are a better choice.
I almost always have a growler on me when I know I’ll be by a brewery or place that allows growler fills. Go for one that has a standard opening and screw top lid on the lip. Many breweries and bottle shops have installed counter-pressure growler filling systems that only work with this traditional kind of growler, as opposed to the swing-top or wide-mouth stainless steel varieties. Using a counter-pressure system flushes the growler with carbon dioxide and purges it of oxygen, which extends the shelf life of your beer from 24-48 hrs to up to a week.
Now, if you’re a real baller, you can always invest in a kegerator—a refrigerator specifically built for kegs. It allows you to purchase beer in larger quantity, usually in a size known as a sixtel (roughly 5 gallons), though many are able to accommodate larger kegs up to the standard 1/2 barrel size (15.5 gallons). Popping bottles for friends may seem fun and all but there is nothing classier than walking up to your own tap and pulling a fresh cold one in the privacy of your own home. Better yet, it allows your guests to serve themselves freeing you to entertain at parties without anyone feeling like they need permission to grab another beer.
3 Beers You Should Have On Hand
1. Transmitter PH2
Fermented with passion fruit and the bacteria lactobacillus. A crisp, tart, sour, and refreshingly fruity dance of the senses from our friends in Long Island City.
2. Threes Vliet
A classic German-style Pilsner. Crisp, floral, slightly spicy, and easy drinking. Get your growler filled at Threes Brewing.
333 Douglass Street, Gowanus
3. Other Half Forever Ever
A year-round offering from our friends in Gowanus and perfect for summer crushing. This session IPA is what it’s all about. It’s the kind of beer for long drinking sessions with friends in the summer heat.
Finally, you can incorporate beer into your home cocktail program. Though I mostly stick to beer backed up with the occasional Fernet Branca, I reached out to my homebrew club The Brewminaries for advice on beer cocktails and Greg Besso sent me this recipe:
Dirty IPA
1 oz patron silver (infused with habanero peppers for 2 days)
1 tablespoon agave syrup
1 tablespoon lime juice
Combine the above ingredients with ice, stir to combine, strain into a nonic pint with ice and fill the remainder with your IPA of choice.
And Another Word on Liquor
Whiskey has been riding high as Brooklyn’s preferred spirit for a while now. Which is why we turned to Distiller, the world’s first whiskey recommendation app, for their top bottles.
For an Old Fashioned or Manhattan, try Pikesville Straight Rye: As a classic example of what’s old is new again, Heaven Hill’s Pikesville Rye is the relaunch of a brand that dates back to 1890s, originally produced in Maryland. Though Pikesville was shut down during Prohibition, it reemerged some time later and was the last bastion of Maryland rye production until the 1980s, when the brand was acquired by Heaven Hill and produced in Kentucky.
For a Negroni, go for Compass Box Great King St Artist’s Blend: The Great King Street is a line of blended whiskies from Compass Box. The Artist’s Blend is the first in the series and is comprised of over 50% malt whisky from both the Highlands and Speyside. First fill ex-bourbon, first fill European oak Sherry butts, and new heavily toasted French oak are all employed in the aging of this blend.
For a Daiquiri or a Mojito, try The Real McCoy 3 Year Rum: From Foursquare Distillery in Barbados comes this aged and filtered white rum bottled for the Real McCoy–a company founded by a documentary filmmaker whose research into the famed rum runner led him to found his own rum brand. A Demerara rum like El Dorado 8 is a good choice for a Queen’s Park Swizzle or for enjoying in a glass with ginger beer.
For a Sidecar, go for Pierre Ferrand Original Formula 1840 Cognac: Released in 2011,1840 Original Formula was created as a collaboration between Pierre Ferrand owner, Alexandre Gabriel, their cellar master, Christian Guerin, and cocktail historian, Dave Wondrich. Using a rare 19th century Cognac, Pinet-Castillon Cognac from 1840 as a base, this product is designed to replicate what would have been used then in cocktails and punches. Its youthful fruity and floral character along with its higher proof for added oomph makes it stand out from other VS Cognacs.
For a Margarita, try El Tesoro Reposado Tequila: Produced in Los Altos in Jalisco, this is a 100% agave tequila that uses a tractor-pulled tahona to crush the steamed agaves. It is double-distilled and their reposado is aged from 8-11 months in ex-bourbon barrels.
Credits:
Leyenda: 221 Smith Street, Cobble Hill
Atrium DUMBO: 15 Main Street, DUMBO
Covenhoven: 730 Classon Avenue, Crown Heights
Distiller: distiller.com