The holiday season can be downright stressful! That’s why we reached out to our friends at W&P Design to share their tips for surviving the holidays. Based in Brooklyn, New York, they make some of our favorite products, including the Carry On Cocktail Kit, Peak Ice Trays, the Mason Shaker (and plenty of other great stuff, too). When it comes to hosting, traveling and gifting, they know their stuff.
Take it away, W&P Design!
Tip #3: Stock Your Bar
Hosting a holiday party? You’ll want to make sure that your bar is well stocked. Over time a home bar turns into a repository for strange, sweetened liqueurs and handles of bad booze that your friend brought over that one time, all gathering dust and taking up space. It’s embarrassing. Here’s how to refresh your bar and make some legendary holiday party cocktails:
Step 1: Throw out all of the bottles you haven’t used in the past year.
Step 2: Refresh your basic cocktail ingredients: sugar cubes, simple syrup and aromatic bitters.
Step 3: Pick up select classic mixers like club soda, tonic water and ginger beer. Avoid those that contain artificial flavors and sweeteners.
Step 4: Make sure you have the essential tools for mixing up drinks, including a cocktail shaker, mixing glass, muddler, jigger, strainer and ice trays.
Step 5: Buy some booze! Stocking your home bar can be daunting; the sheer number of options on the market is often distracting and can paralyze the best of us. We suggest 10 essential spirits: Aperol, bourbon, Cointreau, gin, mezcal, dark rum, light rum, rye, tequila and vodka. Not sure what brand to buy? Talk to someone at your favorite wine and spirits shop!
Here are our top picks for stocking your home bar this holiday season:
View all the W&P Design picks here.
Throw out all the bottles you have not used in the past year? Seriously? It isn’t as if that bottle of dark rum is going to go bad. And I would add scotch to the list of must have spirits. Maybe dry vermouth, too.
I would encourage hosts to also stock juices, tonic, club soda, and other non alcoholic options.
Cheers!