Bar Equipment

These are some examples of equipment that you should have in a complete home bar. However, the function of many of these items can be duplicated with standard kitchen equipment.

	Bar Knife : For cutting or coring fruit, or for peeling rind.
	Can Opener: Pretty self explanatory; opening beer bottles, etc.
	Ice Bucket: For keeping ice close at hand and cold.
	Ice Tongs: For placing ice cubes into drinks -- a sanitary measure.
	Jigger: Convenient measuring tool, usually showing 1/8, 1/4, 1/2 and 1 oz. measures. Some are two-sided: 1 oz. on one side, 1 1/2 oz. on the other.
	Juicer: For squeezing fresh juice for drinks... always preferred to pre-made.
	Long Bar Spoon: Makes life easy when stirring drinks in large glasses or pitchers.
	Measuring Spoons: For when drink recipes call for dry ingredients or are measured in table or teaspoons.
	Wooden Muddler: This device is for crushing leaves (such as mint) against the bottom of a glass without scarring it. If you can't find one of these, use the back of a wooden spoon.
	Large Pitcher: For mixing large quantities of drinks. Pitchers of drinks usually contain 5-7 oz. of alcohol, so use proportional amounts from the smaller recipe, and lots of ice to prevent dilution.
	Shaker: If you really want to be classy, you can shake drinks (see Shaking in the techniques section).
	Covered Shaker: A somewhat cheaper alternative. The cover fits over the top of a glass for shaking.
	Strainer: When you want to shake with ice, but not have ice in the final drink. Pour from the shaker through this device.
	Waiter's Corkscrew: This is a handy little number for keeping in the pocket. Includes corkscrew, can opener, and knife.
	Winged Corkscrew: Somewhat easier to use than the waiter's corkscrew, but also bulkier.