About this course
The most common mistake people make with a home bar is buying broad instead of deep. They pick up a dozen bottles that each make one drink, and most of them gather dust. A good bar is the opposite: a handful of versatile pieces that combine into dozens of drinks.
This course is the practical companion to Foundations. Where that course taught you why drinks work, this one tells you what to put on the shelf to make them. We go base by base, mixer by mixer, tool by tool, always favoring the choice that does the most work for the least money and space.
It is free and text-based. Read it in order to build your bar from scratch, or jump to the section you need. Everything links out to the deeper ingredient and tool guides on the rest of the site.
The lessons
- 1 The Alcohol-Free Bar, Explained What a home bar actually is, what is inside a non-alcoholic bottle, and the four jobs every bar has to cover.
- 2 Spirits & Aperitifs The base does the heavy lifting. A tour of the non-alcoholic spirits and aperitifs, and how to choose the one to start with.
- 3 Modifiers, Mixers & Bitters The supporting cast that shapes the base: syrups, citrus, sodas, and the bitters that season everything.
- 4 Tools & Glassware The few tools and glasses that actually matter, and the ones you can wait on.
- 5 Ice, and Putting It Together Why ice is an ingredient, and how the whole bar comes together into a real starter kit.