How to stock a home bar and other cocktail essentials revealed

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When stocking a home bar or bar cart, be sure to keep things as simple as possible – and be sure to properly store spirits and products to avoid wasting money, mixologists told Fox News Digital.

There's no "must-have" spirits needed on a bar cart, Miles Macquarrie, recipe developer at Tip Top Proper Cocktails and the 2024 Atlanta Michelin exceptional cocktails award winner, told Fox News Digital via email.

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"It's only necessary to have all the ingredients for making the cocktails that you want to make," he said. "Beyond that, any other ingredients and spirits are fine but certainly not necessary." 

There's "no need to have every base spirit in the home bar," he said. "And you don't have to make everything from scratch." 

Anyone looking to stock a bar cart should be sure to have modifiers and liqueurs in addition to base liquors, an award-winning mixologist told Fox News Digital. (iStock)

One big mistake that Macquarrie frequently sees, he said, is "too many base spirits and not enough modifiers and liqueurs." 

"It's silly to have three bottles of bourbon, two tequilas, a mezcal and a bottle of scotch and no modifiers or liqueurs," he said. "What are you going to make with that?"

Macquarrie continued, "Home bars should have fresh citrus, chilled vermouth and fortified wines and other liqueurs so that you can take your bottle of bourbon or tequila and actually turn it into a cocktail." 

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Another common error is improper storage, Brett Moskowitz, a New York-based spirits writer and home mixologist, told Fox News Digital via email. 

Vodka, he said, should be stored in the freezer if possible. Vermouths and other fortified wines should be refrigerated as well, he said, "or they go bad quickly." 

"Home bars should have fresh citrus, chilled vermouth and fortified wines and other liqueurs so that you can take your bottle of bourbon or tequila and actually turn it into a cocktail," a mixologist said. (iStock)

"If I'm at someone's home and they ask me to make drinks, I will avoid using the vermouth if it has been sitting on the bar cart opened and without refrigeration for more than a couple of days," he said. 

An often overlooked part of a bar cart? That would be the non-edible parts, Moskowitz told Fox News Digital — the stemware and tools. 

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"You need a stirring spoon, a stirring glass (optional, but recommended), a Hawthorne strainer, a Boston Shaker, a fine-mesh strainer, a vegetable peeler, a knife and a muddler," he said. 

Instead of using a traditional martini glass for the cocktail, Moskowitz said he recommends either a coupe or a Nick and Nora glass.

Proper stemware is an important addition to a bar cart, one mixologist said. (iStock)

"You'll need highball glasses for tall drinks and rocks glasses for shorter drinks served on ice," he said. 

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For anyone feeling stuck in a rut with cocktails and wanting to try something different, Macquarrie offered the following advice.

"When you go to a liquor store, have a recipe in mind," he said. "Buy all the ingredients for that recipe." 

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The next trip to the store, do the same thing – but for a different recipe.

"Before you know it, you will organically grow not only your base spirit catalog but also all of the other things that are needed to make cocktails," he said.