Seven Spirits To Put On Your List When You Stock Your New Home Bar

If you've just decided to have a home bar installed, you'll need to head to a spirits store to do some stocking up. There are a few essential spirits that you should always have in stock if you want to keep your home bar complete.

The following are seven standard spirits to have available in your home bar. You'll need these hard liquors to make the most popular and well-known cocktails when you're entertaining guests in your home. 

Tequila

Having a basic white tequila in stock is essential if you want to make drinks such as margaritas. The best white tequila for making margaritas is widely considered to be tequila made from 100 percent blue agave.

Blue agave tequilas offer a good amount of flavor while also going down more smoothly than some tequilas that are a mixture of blue agave and fermented sugar cane. 

Vodka

Vodka is another standard clear liquor that any decent home bar needs to have in stock. Nowadays, vodka is most often made from potatoes. It is typically distilled so that it is free from all impurities.

If you splurge a little on higher-quality vodkas, the cocktails you mix will cause less of a burning feeling when they go down. Consult the staff at your local liquor store if you're not sure which vodka variety is best for your needs.

Vodka is an essential ingredient in drinks such as white Russians, Long Island iced teas, cosmos, and Bloody Marys.

Gin

You'll need to have gin in stock if you want to be able to mix up a gin and tonic, cucumber cooler, or martini. Choose a dry gin without any sweeteners or flavorings added if you want to make the highest quality cocktails in your home bar. 

Dark rum

A complete bar should include two types of rum: dark rum and white rum. Dark rum is a type of spirit that is distilled from molasses. Dark rum is typically aged a little longer than white rum and may not go through the filtration process that white rum goes through after distilling. A good dark rum should be the color of amber. 

White rum

White rum is the liquor of choice for mixing up some of the best cocktails for enjoying the summer and the beach. You'll need white rum to make piña coladas, strawberry daiquiris, and Mai Tais. 

Whisky

Whisky is an important spirit for making Irish coffee, hot toddies, Sazeracs, and old fashioneds. Aging is important for achieving a quality whisky, so choose an older whisky if you want optimum quality. 

Cointreau

Cointreau is an orange-flavored spirit that is a type of triple-sec. It is important to include Cointreau if you want to make a traditional cosmo or margarita. 

Visit a liquor store to stock up on these spirits.