How to Stock a Home Bar Like a Pro (For Cheap) 
Now that you’re back to college*, and you’ve settled into your routine you’re probably thinking, “It’s time to Party!” Ah, the good old college days. While I wouldn’t go back there if you paid me a gazillion dollars, I do appreciate a well-stocked bar. If you’re going to stock up and plan a really nice home bar, you might as well do it economically, and save the extra cash for top-shelf liquors, bottled wine, & imported beers and at least try to make like an adult.
In this short series, we’re going to review mainly the equipment, glassware, barware and utensils needed for a wet bar in the home, and less so on the liquor cabinet aspect. We’ll also look at products in the IKEA range suitable for a home bar. In this first part, we’ll focus on
glassware.
Supplies for your wet bar will depend a lot on what types of liquor or alcohol you typically serve, but we’ll make a general list and you can adapt from there. The most basic bar needs nothing more than 6-8 each of stemmed glasses, short glasses and tall glasses, openers for wine and beer, and a few towels to sop up spills, but you can enhance your collection by adding specialized barware for your particular drinking needs. If you plan to serve mixed drinks, you may wish to pick up a mixmaster’s guide, like the well reviewed Mr. Boston: Official Bartender’s Guide
Home Bar Glassware
Basics:
Stemmed Wine Glasses: 6-8 each of white and red wine glasses, unless you host mostly wine parties in which case you’ll want 8-12 of each. For the basic home bar, however, we’re going with 6 each of white and red wine stemmed glasses. See Stemless Wine Glasses below for extra credit (+ save $12 to boot!). At IKEA, look for IKEA 365+ IVRIG White Wine Glasses, 9 oz. – 6 @ $2.99 each and IKEA 365+ IVRIG Red Wine Glasses, 16 oz. – 6 @ $2.99 each.
Total: $35.88
Short Cocktail Glasses: For cocktails, highballs, old-fashioneds, Collins drinks and drinks served neat, on the rocks, or with a splash, look for heavy bottomed glasses of a 6-8 oz capacity. If you run out of wine glasses, these can serve in a pinch. At IKEA, look for GODIS Mix Drink Glasses, 7 oz. – 1 6-pack @ $6.99
Total: $6.99
Tall Glasses: For beer, Long Island Iced Tea, Mojitos, bubbly things, or juicy drinks, the tall glass is essential. Look for 10-12 oz in a glass that’s heavy on the bottom, but thin on the sides. At IKEA, look for MJOD beer glass, 22 oz. – 1 6-pack @ $6.99
Total: $6.99
Total Glassware Basics: $49.86
Optional:
Brandy / Snifter Glasses: Brandy snifters’ shape helps to collect the fragrance of the alcohol, increasing the pleasurable aspects of the drink. The generous cup also allows you to warm the brandy with your hands which helps to release the aromas. At IKEA, look for OPTIMAL Brandy Glass for $1.99 each.
Martini or Cocktail Glasses: Nearly interchangable, the martini or cocktail glass is ideal for serving drinks like the martini (duh), and other non-iced drinks. The stem keeps your hand from warming the drink before you can consume it. It also looks pretty cool. At IKEA, look for the OPTIMAL Cocktail Glass for $1.99 each.
Pousse-Cafe Glasses: These narrow glasses reduce the surface tension of the liquids allowing you to layer ingredients more easily. Pousse Cafe drinks are typically made by pouring the layered ingredients carefully over the back of a spoon. Though at 10oz, IKEA’s glass bigger than the standard 4 oz. Pousse Cafe glass, look at the SNÄLL glass for $5.99 for a 6-pack for Pousse-Cafe drinks.
Champagne Flutes: Champagne flutes are constructed in such a way to trap the bubbles, thereby increasing the duration of the effervescence. At IKEA, look for either the SKIR champage flutes pictured below (4th from left) for $9.99/2-pack, or the SVALKA 6-pack for $4.99.
Beer Mugs: Beer mugs are an excellent way to serve a cold one. Rinse with cold water first to chill the glass, the pour slowly at a 45° angle to achieve the proper head. Beers, like wines, often benefit from being served in a specialized glass, but you can’t lose when serving American canned beer from a classy mug like this one. At IKEA, look for the MJÖD beer mug at $1.99 each.
Shot Glasses: Shot glasses are used to both measure and serve strong alcohols like whiskey and scotch. IKEA doesn’t have one on the market, but that’s ok, because I recommend collecting them on your travels. There are many fun, whimsical and downright hysterical shot glasses out there, so why limit yourself to one?
Extra Credit:
Snaps / Schnaps or Sherry Glasses: The drinking of snaps in Scandinavia is a ritual in and of itself. Known as schnaps in Germany and the rest of the world, a snaps is a small shot of a strong alcoholic beverage usually taken during the course of a meal. At IKEA, look for SVALKA snaps glasses at $4.99 for the six-pack, or go for the awesomest Snaps glasses – the IKEA PS SKOGSSTJÄRNA (pretty sure that’s easier to say after you’ve had a few) glasses at £5.99 for the set of 3 pictured left, below.
Stemless Wine Glasses: Stemless wine glasses are the latest in hot products, but they’re actually not so cool: because you hold the glass where the wine lives, you heat it up with the warmth of your hands. But, they are trendy so there’s that. If you choose to go this route, at IKEA you’ll save the cost of the stem. Get the IKEA 365+ IVRIG stemless glass (pictured above with the stemmed siblings) for only $1.99 each as opposed to the stemmed version at $2.99 or go fancy with the SKIR stemless wine glasses (pictured in the middle, below) at $9.99 for two.
Stemmed Liquor / Coffee Glasses: These glasses are great for drinks chilled with ice, such as iced coffee drinks or foo-foo fruity drinks made with crushed ice, or they can be used for beer. At IKEA, look for MJOD stemmed beer glasses at $7.99 for a 6 pack.
Of course, there are many other types of bar glasses and drinking vessels out there than we can cover here, but those are the basics. So far, our grand total for the 24 glasses in our basic barware collection is less than $50. Party on!
Next time, we’re going to look at barware and utensils plus textiles to complete your home bar, and then we’ll take a look at cabinets in the IKEA product range that would be suitable for a home bar cabinet. If you’ve got ideas for a unique home bar cabinet, pictures of your own home bar or questions, hit reply and join the discussion!
Read How to Stock a Home Bar Like a Pro (For Cheap): Part 2, Utensils, Barware and Textiles
NOTE: *IKEAFANS does not condone drunken underage partying. This article is directed at those ‘back to college’ after a hiatus … long after their 21st birthdays. Everyone knows college kids drink out of beerbongs and funny beer hats anyway. Please, if you’re going to drink, drink responsibly.
Tags: back to college, back to school, barware, home bar, home bar cabinets, home bar glassware, IKEA barware, IKEA glassware, wet bar
