Gifts for the cocktail lover: 10 things for a better home bar
Better ice, honest tools and one bottle from Turin. Ten gifts that make their drinks taste like they came from a real bar.
A good home bar is mostly ice, a few honest tools and one or two interesting bottles. The cocktail lover in your life probably has the spirits sorted already. What they often lack are the tools that make a drink taste like it came from a real bar.
I have picked ten gifts, from a few kronor to a proper splurge, with rough prices. Pair any of them with my guide to ice. It is the cheapest way to better drinks, and most people never think about it.
Guide: ice for cocktails
The picks
Ten gifts for the home bar
- A long bar spoon (about 100 kr): Weighted and twisted, so stirring a Manhattan becomes a smooth, quiet spin. Cheap and very satisfying to hold.
- A Japanese-style jigger (about 150 kr): Tall and slim with small measures marked inside. Accurate pours are the whole secret of a balanced sour.
- A Lewis bag and mallet (about 200 kr): A canvas bag and a wooden mallet for crushed ice. A Bramble needs it, and smashing ice is a fine way to end the week.
- A Hawthorne strainer and fine sieve (about 250 kr for both): Double straining keeps ice shards and bits of fruit out of the glass. A small upgrade they will notice in every shaken drink.
- A bottle of Vermouth di Torino (about 150 to 300 kr): My region's gift to the bar. A good one changes a Negroni completely; remind them to keep it in the fridge once opened.
- A clear ice mould (about 300 to 500 kr): An insulated box that freezes from the top down, so the cloudy part collects at the bottom. One clear cube makes any drink feel like an occasion.
- A Japanese-style mixing glass (about 400 kr): Heavy cut glass with a pouring lip. It stays cold, and a stirred drink looks beautiful going round in it.
- Four small Nick and Nora glasses (about 400 to 600 kr for four): Most cocktail glasses sold today are far too big, so the drink warms before it is finished. These small stemmed ones fix that.
- A cocktail smoking kit: A small torch, wood chips and a lid that sits on the glass. Pure theatre for a party; teach them to use it gently.
- A bar cart (from about 2,000 kr): A lower shelf for bottles, a top for tools. It gives the hobby a home and clears the kitchen counter at last.
Guide: shaking stirring
Something homemade
Make a bottle of spiced Christmas syrup. Simmer equal weights of sugar and water with cinnamon, cloves, star anise and a few strips of orange peel for ten minutes, leave it to infuse until cool, then strain it into a clean swing-top bottle. It keeps about two weeks in the fridge, so make it the week before you give it.
Tie on a card suggesting my Christmas Spritz. A spoonful also goes beautifully in hot tea or over vanilla ice cream.
Guide: syrups infusions
Recipe: spiced festive spritz
Bella's tip: Build a little kit. Put the syrup, a bag of whole spices and a fresh lemon in a small wooden box with a bar spoon. It costs very little and looks like it came from a smart shop.
