Home Bar Liquor List - What To Buy?

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Originally Posted by jkim05

There are some good recs here, but I don't think for what you're looking for you're trying open a restaurant so three of each alcohol is kind of unreasonable. In my experience with bartending and entertaining, here's my take on what you need in a home bar:
The first thing you're gonna wanna stock are the five basic liquors: Vodka, Gin, Rum, Whiskey and Tequila. These are gonna be the bottles you use to make most of your mixed drinks. Just go middle of the road with these, no need to spend a lot of money on alcohol that's gonna be mixed with sodas and whatnot so a good level to go with might be Stoli, Tanqueray, Bacardi, Jack Daniels and Sauza/Cuervo. These are just suggestions, and I know some purists may complain about some of my recommendations, keep in mind these are not for sipping, they're for making mixed drinks.

You've got good stuff in your bar already, so if you don't want to purchase additional stuff, you can just use what you've got, but I'd think most of what you have is more high end then stuff you would normally stock your bar with.

The next stage of alcohols you would need are a dark rum, brandy, irish cream, a coffee liqueur, triple sec and sweet and dry vermouth. With these in hand and a few non-alcoholic mixers, you can mix almost any of the traditional mixed drinks and coffee drinks. Here's my rec on what to spend on these: spend enough but not too much. Go one step above generic, but there's no need to go high end on any of these. They won't get used enough at a home bar and unless you're having a themed party, the people who order drinks with these as ingredients shouldn't be too picky as to what alcohol you're using. It is nice to be able to provide the exact drink a guest is looking for though.

From there you can start stocking different types of cordials and liqueurs if you'd like, but there are so many, I suggest just picking them up as a drink recipe you might want to try calls for them. Odds are you won't use the whole bottle and there will be plenty left over. This includes ports, sherries as well, unless you want to specifically stock those.

Now for sipping beverages...you're list is basically pretty well stocked in this department. Everyone has their own favorite scotches/whiskeys/tequilas/bourbons/rums/etc., so you can't have everything. Just pick up things a bottle at a time as something you want to try comes up.

When it comes to things like infused vodkas and what not, I used them when I worked in a professional bar, but unless there is a specific drink you want to make using a specific flavored vodka, or unless you drink that flavor a lot, it tends to just sit there...forever.

Now for mixers, etc: My recommendation is to get some of those small individually sealed bottles or cans, you can keep a couple near the bar and they don't take up too much space and have some extras in the garage or basement just in case. You'll probably want cranberry juice, orange and pineapple juice is not a must but it does give you a lot of versatility, lime juice (get the sweetened syrup like Rose's), tonic water, club soda, Coke/diet, 7up, ginger ale, simple syrup, sour mix and bitters. Other than fresh ingredients and garnishes, this should be about all anyone could ever ask for in a home bar.

Oh and one last thing. Get a nice drink recipe book, it makes bartending a whole lot more fun when you can actually use some of the different bottles to make a delicious concoction.

You have gotten some good recommendations. I particularly thought Ji gave a very well thought out plan. Beyond the basics of Rum, Vodka, Gin, Whiskey, Tequila Sweet and Dry Vermouth, an Orange Liquor like Triple Sec (or Grand Marnier or Cointreau if you like rich drinks). I like Bacardi Anejo rum, Luksusowa Vodka, Gordons Gin, and Evan Williams Bourbon for very good cost per value staples. The basics can be combined in an infinite variety of ways and are always good to have on hand the rest should have a specific purpose or they don't get used.

I would cater the rest of your liquor cabinet to the tastes of your most frequent guests rather than trying to be prepared for any possibility. Otherwise you will invest a lot of money on stuff that just sits on the shelf for years. For example I have a six year old bottle of Ouzo with two shots gone.

I would also say for sipping drinks particularly things like single malt and other Artisanal liquors buy what you enjoy. It is the hosts prerogative. Keeping a full range and variety of styles of single malts for instance on hand just in case someone may like one specific style at some point seems unnecessary. Now if you want to experiment on a peaty scotch like Laphroaig and you don't like it, you will eventually have a guest thrilled you have it on the shelf. If you are going expand your range experiment with things you are interested in not only for potential guests. With the explosion of brands and styles and flavors a home bar just can't cover everything any more.

As for flavored Vodkas or other unusual liquors like Pama which I really like BTW. I would research a one or two interesting drinks you can use as signature drinks that you can offer to people who don't know what they like and want something tasty. Then you can just stock up on the flavored liquors that work for that drink. I use the Pama for a banging Cosmopolitan. I also tend to keep and Irish Creme on hand and Godiva Chocolate liquor to make a Chocolate Martini for the sweet drink crowd.

Last thought. Someone mentioned having good glassware is nice and can help make a drink. Another key is appropriate garnishes be it maraschino cherries, fresh citrus wedges, olives etc... I have a small grater and grate dark chocolate to go on my chocolate martinis which makes a good drink memorable.

It is better to be prepared to cover the basics (which goes a long way) and a few special things well than overextending yourself trying to cover every eventually.
Good luck.