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Building blocks of a good home bar
Beverage educator and consultant Karina Aggarwal, aka @gigglewater on Instagram, takes us through the essentials of setting up a home bar while busting some common myths
A night out with dinner and drinks is always fun, but hosting at home can be far more enjoyable, especially when you have the freedom to mix your own cocktails. Building a home bar doesn’t have to be stressful. It’s all about starting small, stocking the essentials, understanding your likes, and letting things evolve.
We spoke to beverage educator and consultant Karina Aggarwal for a complete guide on how to set up a home bar, so you can have at-home cocktail hours throughout the year.
Beautiful Homes: For someone setting up a home bar from scratch, where should they begin?
Karina Aggarwal: I like to think of it as “tools” (glassware and accessories) and “products” (spirits and mixers).
Start with a solid set of glassware.
• Universal wine glasses (you don’t need separate ones for red and white—a medium-sized bowl will work for both)
• Old-fashioned or rock glasses
• Some tall highball glasses
You also need bar tools.
• A good wine opener (I suggest a brand called The Waiter’s Friend)
• A jigger/peg measure
• An ice bucket
• A few pretty stirrers are always handy.
If you’d like to tinker with cocktails, then a shaker, mixing glass, bar spoon, and strainer. But if you’re not likely to use these often, just use a jar as a shaker.
You will need a concise lineup of versatile spirits.
• Vodka, gin, whisky (blended and single malt)
• Tequila or mezcal (since they’re the flavour of the moment)
• Rum—white and dark
If you really want it to seem like a ‘grown-up’ bar then add Vermouth, Campari, Aperol and a triple-sec like Cointreau. Always have a stock of mixers on hand like soda, tonic, and ginger ale.
BH: What are some must-have garnishes and extras?
KA: Lime wedges and wheels, lime juice, orange or grapefruit, cucumber, and mint, depending on what everyone is drinking. Jalapeños and olives for a picante or martini. You will also need sugar syrup or agave syrup for cocktails and ice. This can set you up for everything from a gin and tonic to a martini, margarita, or negroni!
BH: What should one keep in mind when choosing glassware?
KA: For home use, you want glassware that is durable and functional. And if they look good while managing the first two points, then that much better.
What is a realistic budget for a starter home bar?
KA: The price points are really varied, it depends on your budget or the level of ‘premium-ness’ you want. Glassware, for instance, can be high-end. Zalto and Riedel glasses can be upwards of Rs.5,000 for a single stem. Brands like Lucaris and Ocean are much more affordable and still work well.
BH: Is it better to start small and build over time, or invest in a complete setup?
KA: Let your bar grow as you do. Experiment with flavours—different spirits, bitters— and add them to your bar slowly. Keep what you’re likely to use rather than what you think should be there.
BH: If budget isn’t a concern, is there a tool or piece of equipment you think people should splurge on?
KA: An ice maker can be really handy.
BH: Any tips for bars in a small space?
KA: SpeedX is a brand that makes beautiful home bars that are compact, functional, and customisable to a degree. I highly recommend a unit from them. My bar is from Spin. Although it doesn’t hold all my bottles, it is great to open up when I’m hosting.
BH: What are some easy cocktails every home mixologist should learn?
KA: I’m a really lazy home bartender, so I feel home mixology should be simple. You can play with different kinds of sodas and tonics, and change the rims. You can try a salt rim, or a salt and Tajín rim, and create a multitude of flavour combinations. From a classic cocktail perspective: an old-fashioned, a margarita, a martini, and also a negroni. They are very simple to make. If you have the ingredients in your bar, you can just put it together in the right proportions. For margaritas, you can play with flavours again: use syrups, tamarind, guava, and other fruits.
BH: What is the best way to serve drinks at a party? Should the host mix and serve cocktails, or allow guests to pour themselves?
KA: It’s always nice to have a bar that's self-explanatory and laid out, so that guests can pick and choose what they want.
Make it very clear where your spirits are, whether they are white or dark, and use an ice bucket for beer and wine. Then, keep your mixers in one location (tonics, sodas, etc) and lay out all your garnishes.
I strongly suggest pre-batches or pre-mixes for your cocktails. Bloody Mary, picante, and margarita mixes can be prepared ahead in large decanters or jars and you can add the alcohol later and let people garnish it themselves, or put out little notes saying, “use 60 ml of the pre-mix and 30 ml of gin/vodka/tequila.” It’s difficult for a host to run back and forth between the bar and guests, so let your guests help themselves.
BH: Any advice on pairing drinks with food at a party?
KA: Unless you're doing a sit-down meal, don't stress about pairing. You can do straights with Indian food, or if you're doing cocktails, maybe look at Indian-themed cocktails or familiar ingredients. But largely, unless it’s a sit-down dinner where you have to think about meat and wine, don’t worry too much!
BH: What’s your own home bar like? Are there any favourite bottles and special stories behind them?
KA: As someone from the industry, my home bar is full of stuff that's very special to me. There are spirits I've helped distil or bottle. I've gotten winemakers, distillers, and brewers to sign special bottles. I also collect corks! My centre table is full of corks from bottles of wine that I've tasted, a lot of them are marked with special dates.
I collect special bottle caps and I recently created a frame of some really interesting ones. I also have equipment that I've collected. A recent acquisition is this little pour of sorts that I got from Normandy in France. A lot of winemakers and distillers around there use it. It automatically measures a portion before you pour it into a glass, so you get a tasting portion. It's old-school and I love it!
BH: If you could only keep a few spirits in your home bar, what would they be and why?
KA: I would definitely have a nice, smokey, earthy mezcal. A single malt, perhaps a sake, a bottle of really elegant red wine, and possibly a port wine or a dessert wine that I could sip on post my meals. Port is something you can open and keep for a long time.
BH: Any alcohol-related myths you’d like to bust?
KA: The fact that alcohol cannot go bad is a myth! It loses its flavour and liveliness if it has been opened and exposed to heat and cold for too long. Also, the belief that whisky ages longer in a bottle. It does not. As soon as the whisky is bottled, it stops ageing.
And red wine not being served cooled is a personal pet peeve. We've been told that red wine should be served at room temperature, but no one means Indian room temperature! So always cool your red wines before you serve them.
Karina’s Quick Checklist
Favourite brand for home bars and bar carts?
SpeedX.
Your most-used bar tool?
A saber. I use it to open champagne bottles.
An absolute no-no when it comes to spirits?
Don’t store your spirits horizontally, store them vertically. Keep your bottles standing up, especially if they are 42% and above alcohol. And don’t expose them to too much light.
An underrated spirit or liqueur you think people should explore?
Definitely mahua right now, which is an Indian indigenous spirit that’s making a comeback. It’s possibly the only spirit in the world made entirely from flowers!
Any unpopular or controversial opinion?
Focusing too much on food and spirit pairings, especially stuffy pairings. Keep it easy and casual…the world of flavours is vast and you will find something that works!
All images by Mohit Raj Kapoor
Karina Aggarwal, Beverage educator and consultant.
Crafting the perfect martini.
A framed collection of interesting bottle caps Karina has acquired over the years.
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