4 Answers

• Reputation: 1383 Q&A: 33 0 4 757 114 0 Classifieds: 0 0 what's this? Follow Following 0 Dan Williams

  6 0 There are no "cheap" places to buy hard liquor in Washington State. All liquor sales are regulated by the state of washington and prices are consistent in every store. Here are some basics every bar should contain: Gin (I like Beefeater or Tanqueray for everyday, Hendricks for something special) Vodka (Stolichnaya for everyday, Grey Goose for something fancy) Bourbon (Maker's Mark, Jim Beam (less expensive but drinkable), Bulleit, Knob Creek, are all good options) Blended Scotch Whiskey (Johnny Walker Black or Chivas Regal would do) Single-Malt Scotch Whiskey (I would go with Glenlivet here as a good, basic single-malt) Rum (go with a Bacardi and maybe a spiced rum like Sailor Jerry's) Conitreau or other orange liquor like Triple-Sec Red Wine White Wine Sparkling Wine You should also stock these basic mixers: Tonic Water Club Soda Rose's Lime Juice Coca-Cola Ginger Ale Variety of juices (orange, grapefruit, cranberry) Also make sure to have plenty of garinishes on hand: Olives Cocktail Onions Lemons Limes Marschino Cherries Essential bar tools: Bar Spoon Cocktail Shaker zester cutting board and pairing knife ice bucket Have fun! Dan Williams answered in Food & Drink about 1 year ago | Report 6 comments by Sacrelicious, Dan Williams, and so-so… 0 0 If this person is buying a lot of booze at once, do you think it might be worthwhile to do a big shopping trip at one of the duty-free stores in Blaine? I don't know how much money she'd save. Sacrelicious commented about 1 year ago | Report 0 0 I am pretty sure you have to enter Canada to be able to buy the liquor at duty-free prices. If she is looking to buy in volume it's not a bad idea, but she would have to be willing to risk coming back into the states with more booze than is allowed. It's usually pretty easy to cross the border with more than the alloted amounts of duty-free swag but you still risk a fine and confiscation if you don't declare the amounts and then get caught in a random search. Dan Williams commented about 1 year ago | Report 0 0 Pretty sure I've bought booze cheaper than the state liquor stores on the res. outside of Anacortes. so-so commented about 1 year ago | Report 0 0 I thought the state had cracked down on indian reservation liquor stores. For instance the one on the Tulalip reservation is not state run. That would be an option if the state hasn't shut them all down. Dan Williams commented about 1 year ago | Report 0 0 If they did shut them down, it was very, very recently. so-so commented about 1 year ago | Report 0 0 My only quibble with your list would be the Rose's lime juice. I hate that stuff, it's more corn syrup than lime. I recently found an unsweetened Key lime juice in the store, which I truly love (I'm mostly a gin & tonic or vodka & tonic drinker these days, so the quality of my lime juice matters to me). Otherwise, awesome list. I'd skip most liqueurs except Drambuie, but that's because I don't like to mix alcohol with sugar - instant hangover. But I do like my Drambuie. Geni commented about 1 year ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

  Share this answer with a friend:

• Reputation: 6000 Q&A: 113 0 11 4226 721 3 Classifieds: 0 0 what's this? Follow Following 6 Fnarf

  3 0 Dan's pretty much covered it, but he left one thing out: a good mixology book. There are two kinds of booze -- stuff you mix and stuff you drink straight. Scotch, for instance, is not successfully mixed with hardly anything, while drinking vodka neat is a terrible waste of taste buds. Some can go either way; white rum is a mixer, while glorious dark anejo rums are best sipped neat (or on ice). If you're going to be serving your friends, you're going to have to be able to satisfy both people (though people with complicated needs will bring their own). This doesn't have to be encyclopedic; in fact, generally speaking the FEWER the recipes, the better, because the vast majority of mixed drinks are either vile or boring or both. But you should have a basic understanding of the mechanics of cocktails: alcohol + sweet + sour. Technique is often more important than ingredients. Something with a little history would be nice, too. But avoid those tomes that promise 8 million drinks or whatever. I like Dale DeGroff's "The Craft of the Cocktail". Another more recent book I really enjoyed was "How To Drink" by Victoria Moore, which has a rather English perspective and thus spends a lot of time talking about stuff you'll probably never see like elderberry tisanes or whatever, but she gives a good basic look at what makes, say, a Gin and Tonic work. But then, I enjoy reading about booze almost as much as I do drinking the stuff. What I would do is start with a single spirit, such as rum, or gin, or bourbon, and run through the basic repertoire with it, paying attention not just to THIS recipe, but what makes it similar to, and different from, other recipes (including those for other spirits; a manhattan and a martini are virtually the same thing at heart). This also has the advantage of letting you fill your bar with mixers at a more reasonable pace, rather than going out and buying an cartload of expensive stuff you may not ever use, like Midori or Goldschlager. Also, if you don't have practice in making drinks, the stuff you slam together out of a drinks book is probably going to be pretty bad. You should be able to make a good margarita, daquiri, manhattan, and martini (gin + dry vermouth only, please) before you start getting any more exotic. One thing I'll add: get a good zester. The best kind has a sharp protruding ring on the side, which allows you to cut out perfect lemon or lime spirals of any length (hell, make it ten feet if you want) with almost no effort, in addition to the regular zester claws. Don't get the kind with the flat stamped-out flange kind. Get one like this: http://www.amazon.com/Victorinox-Zester-Stripper-Polypropylene-Handle/dp/B0015ZWBKG/ref=sr_1_79?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1281382070&sr=1-79 Fnarf answered in Food & Drink about 1 year ago | Report 3 comments by Dan Williams, Geni, and Fnarf… 0 0 Good advice! How did I forget the mixology book? Dan Williams commented about 1 year ago | Report 0 0 Zester! That's what I need! I recently, after more decades than I care to admit, moved all my liquor from the overhead cupboard which I COULD NOT REACH MYSELF into a proper liquor cabinet, and have started setting it up with tools and such. A zester is definitely next on my list, as I add fresh lime to nearly everything spirituous I drink. (I finally realized I'd been keeping the liquor in that cupboard all these years, because...well, that's where liquor was always kept when I was growing up, in the top cupboard. Out of reach of the children. I don't have children. I put my own liquor out of my own fucking reach for *mumble-mumble-grumble* years!) Geni commented about 1 year ago | Report 0 0 That's hilarious! I love especially when people put their wine up high, or over the fridge, where it slowly cooks. Just make sure your zester's got that round loop I mentioned. You'll find yourself wanting to cut ten-foot spirals for everything, it's so much fun. The best tool for making zest itself might be one of those microplane jobbies, though -- so effortless. Fnarf commented about 1 year ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

  Share this answer with a friend:

• Reputation: 64 Q&A: 2 0 0 25 1 0 Classifieds: 0 0 what's this? Follow Following 0 NealH

  1 0 Regarding your second question, a good way to build your bar is cocktail by cocktail. Pick the cocktail(s) you want to make at a particular time and go out and buy the ingredients for those cocktails. Then next week, or next month, or whenever, pick another cocktail(s) and go out and buy those ingredients. If you try lots of different cocktails, with different base spirits and other flavorings (liquers, vermouth, etc.) you'll have a pretty full home bar before you know it (and without a one time huge liquor bill) and you'll also have a good sense for what you like and what you don't like. Some cocktail suggestions for building out the bar (use good recipes and drink making principles--maybe look up Dale Degroff's books or Robert Hess's website (drinkboy)): Gin - Martini, Gimlet, Gin Gin Mule, Negroni, Corpse Reviver #2 Whiskey - Manhattan, Sazerac, Vieux Carre, De La Louisiane Tequila - Margarita, Diablo Rum - Daiquiri + vast array of Tiki drinks Brandy - Sidecar, Vieux Carre Vodka - Good for making your own liquers Also, make your own simple syrup and grenadine. Simple syrup could not be simpler (1:1 water:sugar ratio) and homemade grenadine is far superior to anything that's readily available commercially. NealH answered in Food & Drink about 1 year ago | Report 1 comment by Fnarf… 0 0 Ah, once you've had a good Negroni you don't really ever need anything else! Fnarf commented about 1 year ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

  Share this answer with a friend:

• Reputation: 52 Q&A: 2 0 0 12 0 0 Classifieds: 0 0 what's this? Follow Following 0 Robert Hess

  1 0 Dan has it right. With our (currently) state owe liquor system, there isn't anything as one store that is cheaper than another. People commonly think that when they start up their home bar they need to stock it up with enough different types of booze that they can make a wide variety of drinks. There are a few problems with this approach however. First off, it is EXPENSIVE! When faced with a long list of booze to buy, and after seeing the prices of the "good stuff" the tendency is to go with the cheaper products, which will result in making cheap tasting drinks. The second problem, is that you probably don't know how to make enough drinks to actually utilize all of those things on your shopping list. If you happen to have some random wad-o-drinks book around, you might fumble through some pages looking for something that uses that Blue Curacao that somebody said you needed to have, and then slop the ingredients together and up with a rather dismal drink. Here's my recommendation, and how I got started (after a few "false starts" with the shopping list approach). 1. Decide upon a drink which you know you like (something common enough that you can order it at most bars). 2. Collect a few different recipes for it, hopefully from reputable sources. 3. Make up a shopping list of what you need for just that one drink. 4. Mix that drink, and that drink only, for a week or two. Try the different recipes you found. Play around with proportions a little until you figure out exactly how you like it. Write that recipe down! Now that you have this drink nailed, go back to #1 and start all over again with a different drink. Using this process, over the course of a couple months you'll gradually (and affordably) build up a very nice home bar, which only contains products you'll use AND you know a great drink to make with each product. Robert Hess answered in Food & Drink about 1 year ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

  Share this answer with a friend: