Create a Tasteful, fun Bar Cart for your guests!

It’s not hard to create a Tasteful   Mobil cart in your apartment or house.  Now is the time to recharge to full energy and check off all the boxes that you’ve wanted to do for some time now.  It’s the time of year to really get motivated to start new exhilarating projects and actually finish them.

After much entertaining and being entertained in 2012, I’ve noticed that nothing makes more of a statement at an intimate gathering than the hosts ‘bar’.  This is because it’s not just a place to make a cocktail or pour a glass of wine, but yet it’s a time when you are interacting with other guests and can ‘make a drink’ and even a friend at the bar.  How many times have you said,  “Want to make another drink”?  I’m sure plenty.   Your bar is your chance to show your guests your personal style and since it is the center focus of your party, wouldn’t you want it to be a masterpiece?

As we  have entered  into 2013 it is time.  Time to clean up your ‘bar’, get rid of the clutter and start with a clean slate filled with fabulous wines going into 2013. So wipe off the lingering champagne drops from your  previous party, get ride of those half full bottles and start fresh with a stylish yet tidy bar (get rid of clutter!).

 Here is some great   interior décor,  few ideas on prepping your bar for another  amazing year!

Essentials for creating a ‘Tasteful’ bar!

1. Always have Pellegrino glass bottles
2. 2 bottles of nice champs (Veuve Cliquot, Louis Roederer, Ruinart, Moet etc.)
3. Add fake or real limes in a nice dish
4. A pop of color can add a nice touch to your bar. Try adding a colorful flower in a vase
5. Incorporate some sort of interesting glassware
6. Throw a few fab crystal wine stoppers on for decoration or slices of geode coasters in a fun color to go with flowers
7. Come up with a theme and make sure everything complements each other. We  love working with metallics, such as gold with a bright pop of color of fuchsia or cobalt blue
8. Keep out Clutter!!

 

Volia! What do you think?

 

Pre-Game Rituals?

Ever have a couple drinks before hitting the bars? We think it makes sense (only for some – don’t forget to be responsible) for a couple reasons. It saves you money because you can order less drinks at the bar. It also gives you a good excuse to have people over and get friends together. Even though you’ll be out with all of your buddies soon enough… its fun to see people without the crazy crowds and before you need to play wingman for your best friend.

So we want to know, do you have any pregame rituals? What do you usually pre-game with?

UPGRADE YOUR HOME BAR

UPGRADE YOUR HOME BAR

 

This will mean not looking down our nose at the basics. A solid FIVE-BOTTLE BAR  – gin, vodka, rum, tequila, and bourbon!!!

 

At home happy hour starts with some mixers and tools such as cocktail shaker and jiggers you  can anchor one hell of a cocktail party, and is perfectly serviceable. But once you’ve mastered Mixology 101, it’s only reasonable to long for the next level: Classic cocktails with bitters and liqueurs, great garnishes, and exotic ingredients.

When you’re looking to upgrade your home bar, consider these 10 additional tools and spirits, each of which will help your cocktails reach new heights in quality and creativity.

 

Cocktail

Negroni

• 1 oz Campari Bitter
• 1 oz Sweet Vermouth
• 1 oz Gin

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass 3/4 filled with cracked ice. Add a splash of soda water if desired. Garnish with a half slice of orange.

 

1.) Juice squeezer

By now you know the mantra: All fresh juice, all the time. It just makes drinks taste better. One $10, hand-held juice squeezer will last you forever and do more for your cocktails than bottled lemon or lime juice could ever do (and will get more juice out of your fruit than you will squeezing by hand alone).

2.) Fruit peeler

A great way to add simple garnishes. Use the fruit peeler to trim a lemon twist — it doesn’t have to be in a fancy curl to make the drink look polished. When adding a twist to a drink, make sure to squeeze the piece over the drink with the peel facing the surface of the cocktail; this ensures that you get a hit of the aromatic essential oil hiding in the skin.

3.) Better ice

Stop using the trays that came with the freezer, and start thinking about what the drink itself might call for when it comes to ice.

4.) Pourers

While you’re upgrading your spirit selection, you can also upgrade the bottles themselves. Spouts help keep the stream nice and even, and keep you from uncapping and re-capping bottles during a party. They also just help the bar look tidier and more professional.

5.) Cognac

Good Cognac can be served on its own, after a meal, and it allows you to venture into the French 75. 

6.) Fruit-based liqueurs

Start with Cointreau, which is crucial for margaritas, and then upgrade further with a bottle of Luxardo Maraschino.

7.) Herb and botanical-based liqueurs

Three classic bottles will get your bar to the next level: Campari — the legendary red Italian bitter you’ll need for Negronis; Chartreuse, a hypnotically green, sweet-and-spicy cordial favored by Gatsby (so who are we to disagree?); and St-Germain, a deeply lovely, elderflower-based liqueur. The St-Germain, in particular, will give your bar a facelift, as the bottle is just gorgeous. Plus, you need it for this:

St-Germain Cocktail

2 parts Brut Champagne
1.5 parts St-Germain
2 parts Club soda

Add everything to a Collins glass and give it a stir. Garnish with a lemon twist.

8.) Sweet liqueurs

Start with the cremes — creme de cacao, creme de menthe, and creme e cassis — and you’ll be forever equipped for Grasshoppers and Stingers.

9.) Absinthe

You’ve always wanted to have a bottle of Absinthe on hand, so now’s the time to join the brotherhood of the Green Muse. Once you procure a bottle, host a Death in the Afternoon sort of brunch: Just add 1 1/2 oz of Absinthe to 4 oz of Brut Champagne.

10.) Bitters

First things first: Angostura.  Then venture out into orange bitters — which go well with anybody’s favorite martini recipe  – and a bottle of Peychaud’s. 

Raspberry Mojito

We peruse the magazines every once in a while and this time came across a stellar cocktail recipe. If you’ve outgrown the regular mojito that made it’s comeback a few years ago, I implore you to try this raspberry version.  Still refreshing and satisfying on a hot summer day, this creation has a bit more flavor and interest than it’s original counterpart.

• 2 1/2 oz. Cruzan single barrel rum
• 1/2 fresh lime (quartered)
• 1/2 ounce agave syrup *we also like plain old simple syrup
• 4-5 fresh raspberries
• 6-8 mint leaves
• 2-3 splashes chilled brut champagne
• Just a dash of Chambord

Combine lime wedges, agave syrup, raspberries and mint leaves in a 12 ounce double rocks glass. Muddle contents and add ice. Add Cruzan, Chambord and splash in champagne. Garnish with lime wedge and speared fresh raspberries. Now find that elusive shady spot outside, kick back, and relax!

(Recipe adapted from Wine Enthusiast August 2009, Specialty of Janos Wilder, J Bar, Tucson AZ)

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The perfect Bellini

Ladies (and gentlemen) I implore you, put down your Vodka Cran’s -for good- and pick up a Bellini. Equally conspicuous in hue, but far less cliche, this Summery delight is sparkly, satisfying, and unique.  We’ve sifted through a mountain of recipes and this is by far the best:

Ingredients:

• 3/4 ”Champagne” (we recommend Foss Marai Extra Dry Prosecco)
• 1/4 fresh peach juice
• dash of creme de peach

Instructions:

Get your Champagne flute and start with 1/4 fresh peach juice. It’s really important not to go overboard with the juice or else it will create a unpleasant consistency in the mouth.  Next is the Champagne, or the more economical choice of Prosecco. For an extra little burst add a dash of your favorite peach liquor. Best served chilled.

CAUTION: these things are like pringles, once you pop you can’t stop.

{brought to you by mollymellow}

Bean to Bar, not your average chocolate

The glory days of commercial kings like Hershey’s and Nestle are gone. There’s a new kid in town and it’s a specially crafted artisan style chocolate made by a small batch of producers known as “bean to bar.”

These bean to bar producers control every step of the chocolate making process ensuring the best quality and very best taste.  Where milk chocolate and other mass produced dark chocolates may have extra sugar or artificial ingredients added to create ‘taste,’ the bean to bar chocolatiers enhance the flavor of their product simply by letting the natural flavor notes shine through.

The process begins with sourcing the finest cacao beans (and usually of single plantation origin) which are then carefully roasted, winnowed, ground, refined, conched, tempered, and molded.  Granted, they tend to be a bit more expensive than your average candy bar. But once you’ve tried these pieces of heaven you’ll see it’s worth it, not to mention the higher cacao % which means it’s ‘healthy’ chocolate (hello antioxidants!)

At this time there are around 20 true bean to bar makers, so next time you have a chocolate craving go for one of the producers listed below and rest easy knowing you are supporting a bean to bar chocolatier. 

US: Askinosie, Amaro, Guiltand, Theo, Taza and Rogue*

French: Bonnat, Pralus, or Michel Cluizel

Italian: Domoi, Amedei, Venchi

Spanish: Chocovic

Venezuelan: EC Rey

*the Rogue 70% Chocolate bar is a new addition to our store. These delectable bars have flavor notes like citrus, rum raisin, and toast for the Sambirano bar (a personal favorite); coffee, blood orange, and nuts for the Rio Caribe (equally delicious); and licorice, burnt orange, and cherry for the Hispaniola (and all three bars have the same ingredients: cocoa beans, cane sugar, cocoa butter, and tahitian vanilla).