Setting the Holiday Bar
Written and photographed by Jennifer Brian
With Halloween in the rearview, Christmas seemed to show up overnight! While we are all scrambling to get our holiday decor, shopping, and menus together, what is on our bar doesn’t need to be an added stress. A few versatile spirits and mixers can transform your bar from a disorganized mess into a curated work of beverage art, allowing a few good bottles to effortlessly create multiple cocktails.
Jennifer Brian, the self-proclaimed Cocktail Evangelist released her first book, Classic Cocktail Revival, this past September.
“Home Bars” can be anything from a solo signature cocktail and a few bottles of wine to a self-serve mecca of mixology. As the host/hostess, you get to decide what works for your event or holiday season. Budgets tend to dictate the extent of the liquor selections, but there are a few other factors to consider when planning your holiday bar.
● How do you want the evening to flow? Not just the energy of an event, but the actual logistical traffic of guests moving in the space. Will your guests mix their own cocktails when they arrive, or will you have beverages pre-poured and ready for them, already garnished and waiting? I have found that having a cocktail ready for guests when they arrive is the easiest way to start the evening and keep traffic at the bar to a minimum.
Photo by Kriech Higdon
● Where will the bar be located? Can guests find it easily? If you have it in the kitchen, will it be in your way while you are trying to pull everything out of the oven at the last minute? Is it located behind the dining room chair of a guest so that they have to move every time someone goes to refresh their drink? Creating a bar in an unconventional area is a fun way to utilize some areas of your home that usually don’t see the bar. Bar carts are brilliant for this, as they can move anywhere. Maybe the study is the best place for the bar since no one will be in there except to refresh their beverage? Or the family room with something fun playing on the TV on mute in the background? Or in the lonely corner of the kitchen that previously housed all of the big house plants?
● Do you need to help monitor how much alcohol folks are consuming throughout the evening? If so, pre-batching cocktails so that you control the amount of alcohol in each pour is a great way to regulate the number of drinks folks are having. Self-serve bars are convenient, but as the evening progresses, the more drinks guests consume, the heavier those pours tend to be. We always want to make sure everyone makes it home safely.
● Do you even want to mess with spirits for the event? It might just be a wine/beer night with bottles on ice and strategically placed on the table throughout the evening.
Setting a holiday bar is also a fantastic time to pull out favorite pieces that you might not have a use for at other times throughout the year. Family pieces that are not typically our taste or favorite random finds at consignment or antique shops can be right at home on the bar during the holidays. My great-grandmother’s Depression-era red glass bowl doesn’t match anything until Christmas, when it takes center stage holding all the citrus for the bar.
The Basics
Good cocktails begin with good spirits. The following are suggestions and not hard-and-fast rules.
Well-stocked bars should include the basic clear spirits
● Vodka
● Gin
● Blanco tequila
● Silver or light rum
Brown spirits should include:
● Rum
● Tequila
● Whiskey
○ Whiskey is a very broad category and can include bourbon, rye, Scotch, Canadian whisky, blended whiskies, Japanese whisky, Irish whiskey, or any other whiskey that strikes your fancy. Start with your favorite and add from there.
A couple of additional bottles that are helpful could also include:
● Dry (also called French) and Sweet (also called Italian) Vermouth for Manhattans and Martinis.
● Orange liqueur such as Cointreau or Triple Sec for margaritas and other mixed drinks.
● Cream liqueur such as Baileys or Rum Chata for sweeter cocktails or after-dinner coffee additions.
In addition to the spirits, the following items are considered essentials for a well-stocked and versatile bar:
Mixers
● Tonic water
● Ginger beer
● Club soda
● Sodas such as cola/diet cola/ginger ale
● Simple syrup & Grenadine
● Fresh juices like lemon, lime, orange, grapefruit, and cranberry
Bitters (for Old Fashioneds, Manhattans, and any other cocktails)
● Aromatic bitters (these can be traditional Angostura bitters or another brand)
● Orange Bitters
● Any other variety of bitters. There are HUNDREDS to choose from
Setting up a bar for the first time can be intimidating, but it can also be a ton of fun. “Stock the Bar” parties are a great way to share favorite bottles with friends, fun holiday gifts, and a sure-fire way to make it to everyone’s “Best Party Ever” list.
For no-stress three-ingredient cocktails, visit www.makeandmuddle.com for all of your cocktail needs! Cheers to less work and more gathering this season!
Jennifer Brian / photo by Jason Palmer
About the author
Jennifer Brian brings three decades of experience in the hospitality industry as a luxury caterer, events planner, and mixologist. The self-proclaimed Cocktail Evangelist is co-founder and sole owner of craft cocktail company, Make & Muddle. A decade in the making, her first book, Classic Cocktail Revival, published by the University Press of Kentucky, was released this past September. Photo by Jason Parmer.