To make quality drinks which everyone will enjoy, you will need the right bar tools <big>Nifty-Home-Bar.com</big>

The Right Tools for Your Home Bar

No matter what task is before an individual, he or she must have the proper tools to successfully complete the job. If you are a chef, you will need fine quality knives and an extensive range of cookware. If you are a gardener, you will need several sizes of pruning shears and clippers, as well as digging tools to keep your yard trim and beautiful. And if you want to tend bar, whether at your home bar, or professionally, to make quality drinks which everyone will enjoy, you will need the right bar tools, which will allow you to turn out delicious and attractive libations.

Having the correct tools will ease the job of making professional drinks. Let’s take a look at some of the most essential tools:

A Bottle Opener is a must, both for speed and for the health of your hands. Using your bare hands to open bottles of beer can quickly turn your palms and fingers to bundles of cuts and scratches, not to mention chafing them raw. There are many varieties of bottle openers available to suit individual tastes, from standard, utilitarian openers, to novelty openers, featuring presidents, sports figures, cartoon characters, a wealth of otherwise non-functioning objects, and every single member of the animal kingdom, such as Mr. Seal, to the right.

Speaking of "Openers", you must have a good Wine Bottle Opener, or you might as well put a "Gone Fishing" sign on your home bar.

There are many different types of wine bottle openers, from traditional corkscrews to lever-style openers, to vertical corkscrews, to needle or blade style openers, to winged corkscrews, to electric corkscrews, and everything in between. The old-fashioned, traditional “Waiter’s Corkscrew” - slim and lightweight to fit in the waiter's pocket - is probably the most versatile type of Wine Bottle Opener. Very efficient, it will not break the cork (famous last words!). This tool is multi-purposed, as it includes a bottle opener, a sharp blade for cutting the seal of the wine, and the all-important corkscrew, or worm.

Another necessity for all bartenders is the Cocktail Shaker, a stainless steel container used to vigorously shake the ingredients for a martini, and thousands of other mixed drinks. A good rule of bartending is to remember that the colder a drink gets, the better it will taste. Hence, the shaker. Combining ingredients into the shaker with ice, shaking it vigorously, and serving the drink in a chilled glass, will give your guests a tongue-titillating libation.

The two basic types of shakers are the Standard Shaker and the Boston Shaker. The Standard or Cobbler Shaker is a three-piece stainless steel shaker with a strainer built into it. It consists of the shaker tumbler, a lid with strainer, and the cap. The Boston Shaker (seen to the right) is a bit simpler in its design than is the Standard. It is merely a shaker tumbler and a slightly smaller mixing glass. All that needs to be done with a Boston shaker is to seal the two parts together, shake vigorously, and then carefully break the seal and pour the drink.

A Bar Spoon, used mainly for stirring and sometime the measurement of ingredients, is much longer and narrower than a conventional spoon, usually 10" long, and holding 1/6 ounce (one teaspoon) of liquid. Traditionally, bar spoons have a twirled stem, used to pour liqueurs slowly down the stem into a cordial or pousse cafe glass, so that liqueurs could be layered.

One of the essential tools for preparation of quality drinks is the Muddler. [Muddle - to grind or smash into little bits and pieces, releasing the essence of flavor and aroma, to blend into the liquid ingredients of a drink, coalescing into a coherent, single entity.] Used to crush fruit at the bottom of a glass, usually a tall glass, the long, narrow muddler, traditionally made of wood, but now more often stainless steel or plastic, is the tool of choice, rather than ripping the fruit to shreds in a blender or food processor, or leaving large, untapped pieces, by cutting up with knife or machete. It is also occasionally used to mash sugar cubes, herbs, or other solids.

A good Bar Blender is essential for making frozen drinks, such as Daiquiris, Margaritas, and Mudslides. Unlike multi-speed blenders built for the preparation of haute cuisine, bar blenders do not need to puree, grate or chop, but rather only need to be powerful and have the

ability to blend and crush ice. Hint - Putting your liquid in the blender before adding ice will increase the life of your blade. If you are stuck with a less powerful blender that is not ice-crushing powerful, do not try to use it for ice crushing. Rather, use a separate ice crusher, and add only crushed ice to the blender. Waring's Professional Bar Blender with its 390 watts of power (shown to the right) is a favorite of "professional" home bar enthusiasts.

Save lots of time and effort by keeping ice in a cooler or ice bucket so their life expectancy will be as long as possible. It is also significantly more sanitary to keep ice in a closed container, and moving them about from bucket to glass with tongs also promotes the preparation of germ-free libations.

A bartending pro knows that to make uniformly correct drinks, you cannot guess at the quantity of the various ingredients. Rather, accurate measurements of ingredients, especially of spirits and acids (lemon juice, line juice) is essential. The is done primarily through the use of a "bar measure" or "Jigger". One side of a stainless steel Jigger holds 1-1/2-oz. (50 ml) of liquid; the other side, called a Pony, holds 3/4-oz. (25 ml). There is generally only one size to a glass Jigger - one ounce (2 tablespoons).

A Pourer gives one greater control when pouring from a bottle. Generally, it is a small bar tool made of plastic or rubber/metal which fits onto the neck of your liquor or wine bottle. It gives you better control than pouring directly from the bottle. Most common Pourer are fashioned of a rubber cork fitted into the bottle and a metal spout which fits into the cork. Pourer designed for liquor bottles can be fast pour, slow pour, and measured pour, while those

designed for wine bottles are usually much fancier and designed primarily to limit drips and the loss of precious wine drops. There are modern Pourer that are also aerators.

A Bar Knife and Cutting Board are important tools to have at hand for cutting ingredients and garnishes. A sharp 4" long paring knife and/or a sharp kitchen knife of about 8", such as a bread knife or tomato knife with a spearlike tip are substitutes for a real Bar Knife . The sharper the knife, the easier to make a clean cut. Watch for your fingers! and

CHEERS!

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