I used to have a small home bar, back in the day. It was a bit of a pain to keep it maintained, but I had a roommate that did a lot of the work as well. I also brewed my own beer, which made a unique signature to the bar.
I always started with beer, a bunch of the cheap stuff (light beer) and maybe a modest selection of some of the better stuff like Guiness, some IPAs, other misc ales or whatever you prefer. I had a habit of always picking up some unique beer on my trips to the liquor store in addition to the standard stuff on the shopping list.
Liquor: vodka, rum, whiskey, scotch, tequila, etc. You can't have much of a bar without all of these liquors. Add stuff like Triple Sec, which is essential in a lot of mixed drinks, peach schnapps which is essential in a lot of girly mixed drinks. Those are the bare essentials for hard liquor. Maybe start with that stuff and add more stuff as you get a feel for what kind of drinks you want or need to make.
Wine: it's always good to have a bottle of red and white wine laying around because it always seems to come in handy. Stock more as you can afford it.
Mixers: Sour mix, Margarita mix, Bloody Mary mix are all essential. Then have plenty of various juice on hand: orange, cranberry, grapefruit, pineapple, etc. Coke, diet coke, sprite, ginger ale, tonic water, etc. I always liked fresh lemons %26amp; limes around, especially if I was entertaining. You could go with other stuff like olives, onions, etc but my crowed was never a big fan of martinis. Maybe get some celery to garnish the bloody mary.
Glassware: I liked to keep it simple, pint glasses for the beer, shot glasses and half/full highball glasses for the liquor. I was probably a little lazy when it came to the glassware because I mostly drank beer.
Other misc: You'll also need a cutting board %26amp; knife for the lemons %26amp; limes. A good shaker, if you want to make those kinds of drinks. Corkscrew, bottle opener, blender, towels. Those are the basics, as you get going you'll know what you'll need for the drinks you want to make.
Don't forget ICE!!!. You can never have too much ice. Just a good rule that I learned.
Make sure you've got an organized work area (the bar itself), shelves to display and/or store the essentials. We had ours in the basement and actually bought an extra refrigerator (used) to store all of the beer and perishable bar stuff as well as the ice. Otherwise, have plenty of chairs and tables, couches, etc. A good TV to watch the game or play video games. Maybe a dart board. It really depends on what you want your bar to be like. Experiment with some stuff and see what works for you and what doesn't. Just have fun with it.What are the basics for a small home bar?
I didn't start out meaning to write such a long answer, but as I started remembering stuff and doing a little background web searching I kept remembering this and that... I don't know if we really meant to have such a full-on bar, but it always seemed like we were always running to the store...
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What are the basics for a small home bar?At some point we eventually reached an equilibrium and it was just a matter of replacing stuff as it got used. It can get expensive, so just keep that in mind. Otherwise a bar is simply a "warehouse" of alcohol, more or less. I handled the beer end of things, my roommate was more the liquor guy.
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