I need to put together a simple bar - nothing full service, but enough ingredients for a basic cash bar.
We have our house wines and beers, so what I am really looking for is the basics for one liquor/one mixer drinks, like rum and cola, scotch and soda, gin and tonic. I’m aiming at relatively inexpensive common brands of alcohol. Not the bottom shelf, but not the top shelf. Bacardi, Smirnoff - that sort of thing.
I know its not terribly exciting - we’ll save the fun stuff for special occasions. I just need to have the basics assembled in the next couple weeks. Oh, this is for work, not home use. At home I always go top shelf. This is the sort of bar for people who think White Zinfandel is a good wine choice.
Vodka - Absolut as a mixer, Grey Goose as a martini
Gin - Beefeater
Rum - Mount Gay Eclipse
Scotch, Blended - J&B
Scotch, Single Malt - The Glenlivit
Bourbon - Buffalo Trace
Spiced Rum - Admiral Nelson
Tequila - Sauza
All of these are not that expensive, but not rotgut either.
Thanks guys. This gives me a good direction. My only bartender friend is hugely enthusiastic and wants to really overdo it - since she has not volunteered to work it each time, and it’s only likely to be used a dozen time this year, I need to rein her in a bit, so this is very helpful.
Choices are good here - I’ll also lean on the cheap but good side.
Gin - Daresbury Quintessential
Rum - Don Q
Scotch, Blended - Johnnie Walker Red. Stay away from J&B. I broke out the Red Label at a party where some Scotsmen showed up and they drank me dry.
Tennessee - Dickel
Cordials - I like to keep some Drambuie, Pimms, Chambord, and Grand Marnier around. More than this doesn’t get consumed fast enough to be worth it.
Not in a work bar. Better to go with a decent domestic brandy, I think. E&J make a pretty decent one - goes great in coffee, for example.
People who drink blended scotch tend to be very divided over Johnnie Walker. Famous Grouse is a good middle-of-the-pack choice that likely won’t offend anybody. I personally won’t have a blend in the house, but a college room-mate was very fond of J&B.
Very good, but the bolded selections are incorrect. They should be revised as follows:
Bourbon - Jim Beam Black
Spiced Rum - Sailor Jerry
My personal favorite bourbon is Elijah Craig, but Beam Black is perfectly acceptable if you’re looking for a good bourbon that isn’t going to cost too much.
Admiral Nelson is a couple of bucks cheaper, and indistinguishable in a rum & coke.
Elijah Craig is a better choice than Beam. Buffalo Trace goes with anything, and is a delightful sipper as well. BT and EC have also kept their proof where is should be, while Beam has dropped theirs 7%.
As you can see, Mrs. Cake, there are a number of choices you can make and still have a good bar done cheap.
This may be true. I typically drink spiced rum on the rocks.
This reminds me of the horror that is Jack Daniels, surreptitiously lowering their proof, while hiking up the prices. Fortunately, I’ve never cared for their Tennessee whiskey nonsense anyway. Beam Black is still a respectable 86 proof, is better than Beam White, is not as good as Elijah Craig, but I believe will go down more smoothly for non bourbon drinkers. Elijah Craig may be a bit much.
Actually for the Vodka, get an empty Grey Goose Bottle and fill it with Smirnoff and then laugh as folks proclaim how smooth it is and take your SO to the movies with the money you save…
Not if you makes martinis out of it. The differences when drunk straight, or nearly so, are reasonably evident. If you are mixing it, all bets are off (unless you use the aforementioned Kamchatka).
A quick survey of work will let you know if people are going to be mixing with these spirits, or drinking them straight.