How to start a home bar with 5 bottles
A home bar doesn't need to look like the back wall of a pub, and I think most people buy far too many bottles they only open once a year. 5 well chosen ones cover nearly everything you'll actually make, and if you're flavouring your own from essences on a neutral spirit, you can make them up as you need them.
One thing worth knowing before you start, because it trips people up. Mixing an essence into a neutral spirit you've bought isn't distilling and doesn't need a licence. Distilling that base spirit yourself does, though, and it's an excise manufacturer licence from the ATO even if you never sell a drop.
1. A bourbon
A Kentucky style bourbon essence gives you something sweet and oaky to drink neat or on ice, and it's the base of an Old Fashioned if you like those. We stock the Still Spirits Kentucky Bourbon in the shop, and the Edwards Super Smooth Kentucky Bourbon is on the website if you'd rather order online.
2. A white rum
White rum is the one you'll reach for in summer, because it goes into most things with lime in them, a mojito or a daiquiri for a start. The Still Spirits White Rum essence goes straight into a neutral spirit.
3. A smoky whisky
This is the bottle for sipping slowly on a cold night. The Still Spirits Smokey Whiskey essence leans peaty, and it's worth having one bottle that tastes nothing like the others.
4. A dark spiced rum
Dark spiced rum is the one I'd make for anybody who drinks rum and cola. The Still Spirits Dark Spiced Rum essence has vanilla and warm spice through it, and it's just as good with ginger beer.
5. A vodka
Vodka is the bottle you'll use most and notice least, because it's the quiet base under a lot of cocktails. A clean neutral spirit with a vodka essence is plenty, and the cleaner your base spirit is, the better every other bottle on this list tastes too.
How much essence goes in
Every essence has its dose printed on the bottle, so go by that rather than a number you've read somewhere. Each bottle wants a day or two to settle before you judge it.
Shop related products
- Edwards Essences Super Smooth Kentucky Bourbon. For the bourbon bottle.
- Still Spirits White Rum 50ML. For the white rum.
- Still Spirits Smokey Whiskey 50ML. For the smoky one.
- Still Spirits Dark Spiced Rum 50ML. For the spiced rum.
- Edwards Essences Vodka Essence. For the vodka.
Did you know we also keep the Still Spirits Kentucky Bourbon and Still Spirits Vodka essences in the shop, along with 1125ml spirit bottles by the each or the carton of 12. They're not on the website, so give us a ring on (08) 8536 4333 to check what's on the shelf.
- Still Spirits Smokey Whiskey essence, what it does
- Still Spirits Spiced Rum essence, how to use it
- How to make a clean, neutral vodka at home
If you can't decide which 5 suit you, Brewhilder is good for that, or have a look through the homebrew range.
My own shelf has never stopped at 5, so do as I say and not as I do.
Candeece
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