Essentials checklist for a well-stocked liquor cabinet

HAVING or keeping your liquor cabinet or pantry well-stocked with the right items allows you to be ready to entertain at a moment’s notice.

The trick is to stock the liquor cabinet with items that make delicious cocktails without “breaking the bank”.

The first question you should ask yourself is: “What do I like, whom do I hang around with and what is his or her preferred choice of alcohol?”

So, what do you need in a well-stocked liquor cabinet — a handy checklist and knowing whom you want to attend an event at your place can help you get organised and stocked.

The second and most important question is: Where to stock up?

You actually have many choices to consider when stocking up your home bar. You can go the traditional full bar route and mimic a professional establishment. But this will include the essential liquors and mixers needed for the most popular bar drinks, offering the most versatility in the cocktails you can make.

The foundation for the majority of cocktails, is a well-stocked-up “bar” should include at least one bottle of the usual or preferred liquors.

Stocking a good selection of these will ensure you can mix up almost any cocktail on a whim.

If you feel like a whiskey cocktail, brandy, gin, rum, tequila, or vodka the sound definitely will leave you singing like a canary, all you need to do is be prepared to grab the shaker and mix up a drink.

However, you don’t need to include everything, and your home bar should be customised to what you actually drink.

Let me stray off a bit . . . There used to live a gentleman in the city, always humble but wealthy. He enjoyed everybody’s company. He had a well-stocked bar at his house, a bar that could even compete with up-and-coming liquor distributors or bars.

He held several parties at his place and even would sponsor our office parties here and there. I shan’t mention his name but for the few that may know him, he enjoyed downing a glass or two of wine topped with a bottle of Jack Daniels Whiskey.

Anyway, back to basics, if you prefer whiskey over vodka, focus your attention on diversifying your whiskey selection.

The same goes for liqueurs and non-alcoholic mixers. After all, there’s no need to stock something you are not going to use.

Think about what you like to drink and make your bar fit your individual style, taste, and budget. I always inform you of the danger ahead (the type of alcohol in my stocks).

You can always add more as you discover new cocktail recipes or find new distilled spirits to try.

I enjoy hosting shindigs, aside from the fact that I have certain rules that when by my humble spaces I expect you to behave in an orderly fashion even under the influence of whatever concoction we would have ingested.

Anyway, where to stock up should be one of your most vital questions and the answer is take a drive or walk around the city’s liquor watering holes.

My most preferred are Liquor Supplies, which have branches all over the city and the Vine Yard.

Here you may find all types of liquor, even the most exotic and in my books, I will definitely give these joints an 8 out of 10 in my ratings.

The prices aren’t off the market and they are fully stocked with essential liquors to suit any and everybody’s taste, even if it is not their preferred choice.

Before I start babbling on and on, I shall leave it here . . .

Till next week, have a blissful and tipsy weekend.

If you have an establishment and think your drink has what it takes to be profiled, WhatsApp me on 0772337433. REMEMBER alcohol is not for sale to persons under the age of 18 and let’s not forget to drink responsibly.