A home bar sounds like a big commitment, the sort of thing that needs a dedicated room and a wall of bottles. It does not. A good home setup can live on a single shelf or a trolley, and with a handful of the right bits you can make a surprising number of drinks straight away. The trick is to spend money on what matters and skip the rest.
Start with a few versatile spirits
You do not need twenty bottles. A small core covers most of the classics. Gin gets you a gin and tonic, a martini and a negroni, and our guide to Easy Gin Cocktails covers all three. A whisky covers an old fashioned and a highball, both of which also appear in our Whisky Cocktails You Can Make at Home guide. A white rum handles a daiquiri and a mojito. Add a sweet vermouth and a bottle of bitters and you have unlocked a proper list of drinks from just a few bottles. Build out from there only when you find yourself wanting something you cannot yet make.
The tools that actually earn their place
Most cocktails need very little kit. A shaker and a jigger for measuring will get you through the vast majority of recipes, and if you buy only one thing, make it those two. A bar spoon and a strainer are useful next steps. Everything past that is nice to have rather than essential, so do not let a shop talk you into a drawer full of gadgets you will never touch.
Glassware worth owning
Four glasses cover almost everything. A rocks glass for spirit-forward drinks and anything over ice. A tall highball for long drinks like a gin and tonic. A coupe or martini glass for anything served without ice. And a wine glass, which doubles for a spritz. Glass shape genuinely changes how a drink noses and tastes, so this is not just for show, as we cover in Why Glassware Changes How Whisky Tastes. If you are into sipping spirits neat, a nosing glass is worth adding, and our Mini Ember Nosing Glass suits whisky, gin and aged rum alike.
Mixers and the small extras
Keep the mixers simple. A good tonic, some soda water, a cola and a bottle of decent fruit juice cover most needs. Fresh citrus matters more than almost anything else behind a home bar, so keep lemons and limes in. A little sugar syrup, which you can make in two minutes with equal sugar and hot water, opens up a lot of classics.
Chilling your drinks properly
Ice is the ingredient people forget to think about. Bigger cubes melt slower and water your drink down less, which matters for anything you sip. If you like a spirit cold but do not want it diluted at all, whisky stones are worth keeping in the freezer, and our Whisky Stones do the job for whisky and beyond.
Taking the bar with you
A home bar does not have to stay home. If you like making drinks at a friend's place or on a weekend away, a flask that carries a pre-batched cocktail saves you packing bottles. Our Flight Flask holds up to 100ml and takes a batched old fashioned or negroni as happily as it takes neat spirit. For carrying a few bottles safely, our Bags and Carriers keep everything upright and protected. Our guide to How to Take Your Drinks Anywhere covers this in more depth.
Build it slowly
The best home bars grow one bottle at a time, bought because you wanted to make a specific drink rather than to fill a shelf. Start small, learn a few classics well, and add as you go. You will end up with a setup that suits how you actually drink, which is worth far more than an expensive collection you barely touch.
See our other Guides
Hand-picked guides, stories and tips from the world of whisky, travel and the great outdoors.
