Home Bars and a shot of Humor   :D

Italian Villa Inspires Bars Tuscan Interior Design

This bar is right at home in the man cave of the Tuscan villa style Lynnstone Estate outside Jackson, Mississippi. With only four bedrooms, much of this 27,000 square foot dream house designed by architect Kevin Harris is actually set up for entertaining guests.

Along with this hunters themed at home bar, the estate also includes a caterer’s kitchen / butler’s pantry and multiple expansive outdoor areas set up for various activities which lend themselves to hosting parties as well. The overall Tuscan design is carried throughout the interior rooms and continues outside giving the atmosphere of an Italian wine country villa rather than the Southern plantations which surround it in the rolling hills nearby.

The bar is a free standing island offset from the middle of a wall with no back-bar. One end is square and the other is curved allowing for four barstools. Sound familiar? Aisle access to a cabinet is needed on the left side, otherwise a fifth stool could be positioned on the flat for an extra seat.

Craft Beer Facts

Craft beer is thriving and steadily gaining in popularity across the country. These mostly small, local breweries and brew pubs are producing a variety of beer types with exciting new flavors that normally aren’t available from the large mass producing brewers.

Although, the big breweries are starting to introduce innovative new brews in a similar vein. According to the Brewer’s Association, an American Craft Brewer is defined as follows.

Walken Family Reunion at Sweetwaters Steak House Bar & Grill

The cast of Saturday Night Live* walks into a bar and does Christopher Walken impressions as his relatives at their family reunion. The 2008 comedy sketch “Meet The Family” features several members of the SNL cast^† who portray the in-laws seeming to do impressions of him.

They’re not really impersonating Christopher Walken though. They just walk, talk and even look like him complete with pompadour hairdos because they all grew up together back home.

The skit starts out with Christopher portraying himself as the first one to show up at the Walken family reunion held at Sweetwaters Steak House. Standing in the middle of the barroom in a sea of red and white checkered tablecloths, the bartender brings him a drink (whiskey on the rocks?). Then the other relatives arrive at the bar to say hi and start reminiscing.

Craddick Compendium Chronicles Classic Cocktails Compilation

The Savoy Cocktail Book is a collection of hundreds of drink recipes documented and sometimes created by Harry Craddick, the head barman at the American Bar inside the Savoy Hotel in London during the 1920s and 1930s. First published in 1930, reprinted editions now include over 750 drinks including new cocktail recipes along with lots of anecdotes and humor.

Widely acknowledged as a mixology must read, the Savoy Cocktail book is arguably the most important volume on pre-prohibition era vintage drinks. If you decide to get serious with your home bar and go beyond dabbling around as a hobby, then this reference should definitely be in your bartending library.

A Tale Of Two Mane Jockey Club Cocktails

There are actually enough drink recipes in this tale of two Jockey Club cocktails to feature a different one in each of the United States Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing’s three events at the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes. Plus a few more down the stretch. However, its really just two mane formulas that are competing for the winning trophy at the end of this horse race.

History Horses Around With Manhattan, Turf and Jockey Club Drink Recipes

“Talking about compounders of drinks reminds me of the fact that never before has the taste for “mixed drinks” been so great as at present and new ideas, and new combinations are constantly being brought forward. It is but a short time ago that a mixture of whiskey, vermouth and bitters came into vogue. It went under various names: Manhattan cocktail, Turf Club cocktail, and Jockey Club cocktail. Bartenders at first were sorely puzzled what was wanted when it was demanded. But now they are fully cognizant of its various aliases and no difficulty is encountered.” ~ Olean, NeW York, Sunday Morning Herald, September 1882

This historical citation is widely quoted and seems to be the earliest reference to the Jockey Club cocktail. The earliest Jockey Club drink recipe which most closely resembles* one of today’s type A accepted ingredients list of bourbon, sweet vermouth and maraschino liqueur may be the Manhattan cocktail variation printed in the 1887 edition of Jerry Thomas Bartenders Guide. Note the differences below.

Margaritas Are Tequila Sidecars - Some Sidetracked Along The Way

A classic margarita cocktail substitutes tequila for the brandy and lime juice for the lemon in a vintage sidecar drink recipe. Both are timeless tipples.

April 15th is normally the dreaded day each year when you must have your income taxes filed and paid for. Orange you glad there’s an Income Tax cocktail you can celebrate meeting the deadline and relax until next year.

The Income Tax cocktail is a pre-prohibition era drink of questionable origin which adds bitters to a Bronx cocktail, but doesn’t go as far as the sinfully rich* Satan’s Whiskers, which also adds orange liqueur to the recipe. Speak of the devil, perhaps that drink is more appropriate for tax cheaters who the IRS will chase from hell and back to get their money.

Subtract both the orange juice and the bitters and the Income Tax becomes the perfect martini, in name only. No one really thinks that, but opinions vary.

Are Corner Home Bar Layouts The Best Design?

Depending on how you define an at home bar, along with your entertainment goals and most likely the floor-plan restrictions of your house, choosing a layout is usually the starting point and maybe the biggest decision you’ll face with your personal pub. Design styles, material choices, overall scale (many times driven by the number of seating positions desired), budget and a host of other features and amenities can all be adapted into that first form factor once decided.

A number of generic interior design options are generally available to most. However, if other aspects will allow, the corner home bar layout offers a number of advantages that the straight, standalone and other floor plan designs do not which should be considered when weighing your decision on what’s best.

Keep in mind that your contractor can install a freestanding main bar unit in front of built in carpentry work and form a corner layout arrangement on site by anchoring it to the floor. This option is desirable where a significant amount of specialized craftsmanship makes it not practical, cost effective or beyond the capabilities of a single vendor. Only a minimal amount of coordination would be required to match woods, stain color and molding patterns during the initial design phase if you take this route.

Top 7 Reasons Why Corner Layouts May Be The Best Home Bar Designs: