Great advice for stocking your home bar can be found in the Case for Cocktails.

Start with the ingredients for your three favorite cocktails and build from there.

Bar Tender Taking Care in His Craft

I will never get sick of reading this. Ever. We’ve all been there. Enjoy.

1 star hangover (*)
No pain. No real feeling of illness. Your sleep last night was a mere disco nap which has given you a whole lot of misplaced energy. Be glad that you are able to function relatively well. However, you are still parched. You can drink 10 sodas and still feel this way. You are craving a steak sub and a side of gravy fries.

2 star hangover (**)
No pain, but something is definitely amiss. You may look okay but you have the mental capacity of a staple gun. The coffee you are chugging is only exacerbating your rumbling gut, which is raving a fruity pancake from IHOP. There is some definite havoc being wrecked upon your bowels.

3 star hangover (***)
Slight headache. Stomach feels crappy. You are definitely not productive. Anytime a girl walks by you gag because her perfume reminds you of the random gin shots you did with your alcoholic friends after the bouncer 86′d you at 1:45 a.m. Life would be better right now if you were in your bed with a dozen donuts and a meatball sub watching the E! fashion awards. You’ve had 4 cups of coffee, a gallon of water, 3 Iced Teas and a diet coke yet you haven’t peed once. You decide the Havana Omelet you are going to leave in the bathroom is better done on another floor, so you don’t have to walk by and smell it the rest of the day.

4 star hangover (****)
Life sucks. Your head is throbbing. You can’t speak too quickly or else you might puke. Your boss has already lambasted you for being late and has given you a lecture for reeking of booze. You wore nice clothes, but that can’t hide the fact that you missed an oh-so crucial spot shaving, (girls, it looks like you put your make-up on while riding the bumper cars.) Your eyes look like one big vein and your hair style makes you look like a reject perpetual spasm, and the first of about 5 shits you take during the day makes the eyes water of everyone who enters the bathroom.

5 star hangover,(*****) aka “Dante’s 4th Circle of Hell.”
You have a second heartbeat in your head which is actually annoying the employee who sits in the next cube. Vodka vapor is seeping out of every pore and making you dizzy. You still have toothpaste crust in the corners of your mouth from brushing your teeth in an attempt to get the remnants of the poop fairy out. Your body has lost the ability to generate saliva, so your tongue is suffocating you. Death seems pretty good right now. You definitely don’t remember who you were with, where you were, what you drank, and why there is a stranger still sleeping in your bed at your otherwise empty house. Any attempt to defecate results in a fire hose like discharge of alcohol scented fluid with a ‘floater’ thrown in.. The sole purpose of this ‘floater’ seems to be to splash the toilet water all over your ass.

6 star hangover (******) otherwise known as the “Infinite Nutsmacker”
You wake up on your bathroom floor. For about 2 seconds you look at the ceiling, wondering if the cool refreshing feeling on your cheek is the bathroom tile, or your vomit from 3 hours ago. It is amazing how your roommate was as drunk as you, but somehow managed to get up before you; shower and already leave for work. You try to lift your head. Not an option. Then you inadvertently turn your head too quickly and smell the funk of 13 packs of cigarettes in your hair. Suddenly you realize you were smoking, but not ultra lights…some jackass handed you Marlboro reds, and you smoked them like it was your second full time job. You look in the mirror only to see remnants of the stamp “Ready to Rock” clearly on your cheek…….the stamp on the back of your hand has appeared on your face by what is known as ‘Jagermeister magic.’ You have to be to work in t-minus 14 minutes and 32 seconds and the only thing you can think of wearing is your “hello kitty” pajamas and your slippers. Any attempt at emptying your bowels results in a gag inducing ass spray which you are positive has the ability to etch porcelain. The only thing that sounds worse than remaining on the foul stench throne is leaving before you’re finished; which could take 5 minutes or an hour and a half.

Information is power. Now we can make informed decisions on which liquor makes the best cocktail(s). This handy list is was created through taste-testing and judging panels to determine which liquors make the best drinks.

After my review, it appears that the best value are as follows: Tanqueray Rangpur Distilled Gin (Gin & Tonic – $19.99), Luksusowa Vodka (Bloody Mary and Martini – $13.99), El Jimador Blanco Tequila (Margarita – $19.99), Don Q Cristal Rum (Mojito – $13.99), Evan Williams Straight Bourbon Whiskey (Manhattan and Mint Julep – $11.99).

Time to stock your home bar.

Somewhere along my web surfing, I saw this picture below. As I looked at it, I realized, “I’ve been there”. A little research and I found out it’s called Enoteca Cava Turacciolo. It’s a small wine bar in Bellagio, Italy (off Lake Como). Great place and I’m documenting it here for my own reference (I’ve forgotten it once and not likely from a bad memory; I blame the wine). Anyway, two milestones here for me. I had my first olive I ever liked and got to use the meat slicer. Nice dude who owns the place, too!

I’d drink here all the time. A New York bar will be adjusting its drink prices based on supply and demand. Buy low!

It’s supply and demand. If everyone is drinking one thing, the price will go up in 25-cent increments. There will be a list of beers that will start out at $6. As people buy them, the prices will go as high as $8 or as low as $4, based on their demand.

I wonder if I can “invest” in the drinks. Or create some securitized drink menu? CDO = Collateralized Drink Obligation. The possibilities are endless.

Two DIY-able items here. First, the old cabinet door re-purposed as a serving tray. Second, the carafe wood stopper. The serving tray seems like an easy thing to do. The wood stopper may be a bit more difficult, but would be a nice touch to a wine carafe. Thinking I’ll be on the lookout for a piece of wood to carve and sand down.

I think I’d substitute bourbon for vodka, but I present to you Mr. Stinky Pants. And, it’s worth pointing out that pickle juice is the “must have bar ingredient” of 2010. In fact, I have some pickle pops in the freezer I’m going to be adding to a Bloody Mary in the very near future.

• 1 oz. Vodka Bourbon
• 1/2 oz. Pickle Juice
• Beer (chaser)