The Alcohol-Free Bar Necessities
Written by Kathryn Stone
A well-stocked bar cart or at-home bar can add a source of sophistication, style and glamour to a room. If you like hosting drinks nights, parties or simply having friends over having a good at-home bar set up is essential. And just because you don’t or only rarely drink alcohol doesn’t mean you have to miss out.
With the alcohol-free sector growing rapidly, and a huge range of alcohol-free drinks now available, you can create a diverse and well-stocked non-alcoholic bar at home. And we are here to help you discover all the bar necessities of a booze-free bar.
What Are The Bar Necessities For an Alcohol-free Home Bar
Alcohol Free Beer and Wine
Every good bar set-up has a selection of alcohol-free beer and wine. Alcohol-free wine can sometimes taste very sweet and sugary, so we recommend choosing one of the delicious wines from Noughty.
Alcohol-Free Spirits
To make a good alcohol-free cocktail you will need some non-alcoholic spirits. For a well-stocked at-home bar it is great to have a range of different types of alcohol-free spirits.
It is useful to have a non-alcoholic variant of at least these five versatile spirits: vodka, gin, rum, whiskey and tequila.
For a versatile and delicious alcohol-free gin, you can use London Light “First Light”. This is an excellent dry alcohol-free gin that can be used in many mocktail recipes.
For a non-alcoholic dark rum, you could use Crossip’s Dandy Smoke spirit. Or for a lighter alternative try the Tropical White Cane Alcohol-Free Spirit from MYTH Drinks.
Fleure’s Smoked Agave spirit makes for a great non-alcoholic tequila alternative.
Lyre's American Malt is a great alternative for whiskey and bourbon and is a great staple for any zero-alcohol at-home bar cart.
Strykk alcohol-free vodka is the final core alcohol-free spirit needed on an alcohol-free bar cart.
With these five core alcohol-free spirits, you can make a huge range of different and exciting alcohol-free cocktails.
For even more options I would add a bottle of GEMBER, which gives any mocktail a great bite and ginger flavour, as well as a bottle of Lyres Coffee Originale for tasty coffee-flavoured alcohol.
Alcohol-Free Bitters
One of the best ways to bring layers of flavour to an alcohol-free cocktail, and to bring an alcoholic taste to your mocktail, is to add bitters.
Fully zero-alcohol bitters are available and can be purchased for those who require zero alcohol. However, generally, bitters are used in such low amounts, simply a dash for a drink, that they add a negligible amount of alcohol to your drink. This is why they are often labelled as non-alcoholic.
Syrups
To add a depth of flavour, add sweetness to your drinks, or just bring a new flavour into your drink, having a selection of syrups in your bar cart can add range to the drinks you make.
There are so many flavours of syrup available and you can make syrup out of practically anything from wood to berries. There are, however, four simple syrups that I would add to any zero-alcohol bar:
A simple syrup (made with 1:1 water and sugar)
Citrus syrup
Mint syrup
Elderflower syrup
Craft sodas and Mixers
Whilst you can stock your bar with basic mixers such as Coca-cola and Sprite there now exists a huge market of craft-made, more adult, less sugary mixers and craft sodas. For example, you could try Seabuck tonic drinks made in many flavours or the Artisan lemon tonic.
Sparkling Water
Many alcohol-free cocktails are topped with sparkling water, so this is a staple in any bar. If you want to add some extra flavour to your mocktail try using flavoured sparkling water such as Dash’s mango-infused sparkling water.
Garnishes
Garnishes will make your non-alcoholic cocktail look just that bit more sophisticated. If you are planning a party then you can stock your at-home bar with fresh garnishes such as mint, lemon and orange slices, sprigs of herbs and fresh edible flowers.
For longer-term use try using dehydrated fruit. This keeps for a very long time, looks great and can be put into the drink for extra flavour. You can dehydrate any fruit, but citrus fruit slices, pineapple slices and ribbons of rhubarb look particularly good.
Bar Tools
For a complete, at-home non-alcoholic bar you obviously need some basic bar tools.
This includes:
Glassware
Cocktail shaker
Spoon for stirring cocktails
Knife and peeler for garnishes
Ice
Tea towels
Snacks
To make the at-home, non-alcoholic bar experience complete make sure to add some snacks to your bar set-up. These could be crisps, Pretzel thins or nuts. Just something to munch on whilst you enjoy your delicious alcohol-free beverages at your very own home bar.
Stock your Alcohol-Free Bar Cart With JOMO
Want to get a head start in stocking your non-alcoholic bar? The JOMO box is the perfect way to discover a whole range of alcohol-free drinks. Each box is thoughtfully put together and contains:
One full-sized alcohol-free spirit
Mixers and garnishes to try with the spirit
A range of ready-to-drink alcohol-free drinks
Mindfully chosen snacks
A glossy, 20-page magazine with alcohol-free cocktail suggestions and everything you need to know about the drinks you have received.
Just because you don’t have alcohol doesn’t mean you have to miss out on enjoying delicious and creative cocktails.