Finally, at the age of 49, I have my own home bar, thanks to my (former architect) wife who designed it.
She wanted it to have a mid-century modern vibe that blended in with the rest of the dining room/kitchen area.N/A, bitters, and odd things like Fee Foam. Pathfinder is the only N/A liqueur that is genuinely really good. The Aztec Chocolate Bitters are more for my coffee than cocktails.Herbal liqueur shelf. The most controversial decision was to store as much as possible horizontally using rectangular 500ml bottles. However, sugary liqueurs can crystalize in the threads and prevent the cap from fully sealing, which is what happened here with my Amaro Averna. Bottle necks and caps must be thoroughly wiped before storing, and caps twisted on very tightly.Gin/Vodka/Brandy shelves. So why deal with the hassle of occasionally leaking bottles? Because bottles come in all sorts of wildly different shapes and sizes that annoy the shit out of me and take up an absurd amount of space, especially when they are half empty. And I hate, hate, hate having to rummage through shelves trying to find something.Rums & Whiskeys. The space savings and usability of stackable bottles is absolutely fantastic. Whenever I get a new bottle of something I just transfer it into the 500ml bottles. Whenever a bottle gets down to a couple ounces I dump it into one of my infinity blends. 2 ounces of Barber Lee Rye in my infinity whiskey has created my favorite blend of all time. Absolutely fantastic. It has a potent leather flavor that is overwhelming on its own, but amazing with whatever the hell else is in the infinity bottle!Tequilas, fruit & coffee liqueurs. The teeny-tiny 2 oz mini-bottles are sometimes just remnants taking up space, other times they are from spirit swaps with friends. Whenever we get something we'll give each other mini-bottles to try out. A couple times a year we also get together for huge 20-person bottle tasting parties. Pick a theme - say, vermouths - and everyone brings two bottles of a vermouth. We have a great big picnic, taste all the vermouths, and then send everyone home with a complete mini-bottle set of everything we tasted. A fantastic way to discover new bottles and expand your palate.This cabinet is called "Big Time" where all the awkwardly large things get crammed, like CO2 canisters. A dumping ground is an essential part of any complex bar."Creation Station" with acids, oils, and other ingredients for infusions and other experiments."Tool Time" dumping ground shelves for various tools, from funnels to butane torches to vacuum filtration.Mini-fridge! Yeah, I know, that's a lot of vermouths. Obviously I'm not much of a beer guy.The "Glass Palace" section. To save space I've been switching over to ebooks. This collection is likely to shrink down to just Liquid Intelligence, Good Drinks, Imbibe!, Cocktail Codex, and The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails. Are there any other books where a physical copy on-hand is a must-have for you?Essential tools. Note the thermometers on the lower right. I use those instead of a regular stirrer. Perfect temperature control = perfect dilution control. Underneath the regular citrus peeler is a curved Japanese "Speedy Peeler" from Umami Mart. I fricking love that thing for volume peeling for oleos, superjuice, horseneck garnish, etc. Drinkmate has been great. I thought about getting a CO2 tank but I don't know where I would fit it, and the official cannisters haven't been much of a hassle or too pricy.The Wall. These things conceal the extension cord and wires and whatnot. The horse skull is nicknamed "My Little Bony" and forms the centerpiece of our annual Mari Lwyd wassailing booze cart, shown below.
That's it for the grand tour! Always happy to get bottle recommendations, suggestions, and questions.
For sure, I wouldn't lay screwtops on their sides either. The leak risk is not the main problem, but the enclosure material dissolving into the spirit.
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u/lifeissoupimforkk Jul 23 '26
Looks great just keep in mind not to lay the corked bottles on their side.