When you start your own business, the freedom of being your boss and working towards your own goals is certainly exciting. Restaurants and bars remain very popular choices for new business owners and if you’ve decided that starting your bar was the way to meet your professional goals, you certainly are not alone. Opening a bar takes a lot of work before you ever serve a single drink. However, once you finish all the paperwork, find a good location, buy the décor, purchase equipment, and decide what your bar’s theme is going to be you can finally work on the menu.
The Best Drinks
When going over concerns such as your bar’s overall theme and look one thing not to overlook is the drink selection. A list of some of the most popular drinks, such as the Moscow mule will keep customers coming back. The types and variety of drinks you can buy at most bars can seem nearly endless and knowing what drinks to offer after you move past the staples such as foreign and domestic beers can be a challenge. However, by sticking to these fundamental drink types, you can start building an effective menu for your business.
1.Highballs
A simple and popular drink, the common highball makes use of lots of ice mixed with a spirit and a mixer. Vodka forms the base of many highballs, including the bloody Mary, vodka tonic, and screwdriver, just to name a few. Gin is a common highball spirit and is found in drinks such as the gin and tonic or a gin buck. Whisky highballs include the always popular jack and coke and the seven and seven with several others to choose from. Other popular highballs include rum and coke, tequila sunrise, and Long Island iced tea.
2.Lowballs
Similar to the highball, a lowball makes use of ice, spirits, and mixers but is instead served in rocks, old-fashioned, and other smaller glasses. Kahlua is mixed in several types of lowball drinks such as white Russians, black Russians, and mudslides. Amaretto finds its way into drinks such as the French connection and the godfather. Other popular drinks include the peppermint patty and the California surfer.
3.Shots and Shot Mixes
The classic shot can range from simple to more complex. A simple shot with a garnish or on the rocks are classics, but if you want to mix it up there are more complex options available to suit various tastes. Some mixes use spirits blended with fruit juices, while others are blends of various types of whiskeys. Some popular shot mixes include the three wise men, red snapper, the lemon drop, kamikaze, Jäger bombs, and the boilermaker.
4.Margaritas and Daiquiris
Two other popular drinks are margaritas and daiquiris. An advantage of both is they are relatively simple to make. A basic daiquiri is a mix of syrup, lime juice, and rum. A daiquiri, by comparison, is a blend of lime juice, tequila, and triple sec. Once mixed, the addition of various fruit juices and garnishments such as salt can be added for more complex flavors. The fundamentals of margaritas and daiquiris can be used to mix more involved drinks such as cocktails.
Final Thoughts
A bar can be a fulfilling and successful business. However, like any other business in the restaurant industry, hard work and careful planning is required to succeed. Make no mistake, lots of small businesses don’t succeed long-term, and those that do have done careful research on the products they sell and the customers they are trying to attract. A bar can be several things, but no matter your theme or approach, the drinks are of the utmost importance and should be given careful consideration.
