Caskstrength’s Rule 7 is Full of Win. 1-6 aren’t shabby either….

I was reminded by some comments today of something I’d planned to do at the start of Tiki Month, but forgot about. It’s about drinking vessels of all types, not just Tiki mugs. I try (sometimes not very hard) to produce cool illustrations to go with many of my posts (sometimes not very successfully). Other bloggers do a hugely better job than I.
Further, as I surf other bloggers’ sites and look at their drink photos, I often find myself as much interested in the container as I am in the drink. And there are few things more frustrating than looking at a gorgeous cocktail glass and having no idea of what it is, who makes it, and where I could get for my own.

You get this sensation too, don’t you? See, I feel your pain.

So I am going to start including a brief description of glasses or Tiki mugs that I photograph. It’ll include a link to wherever I can find that carries it, so you can get your own if you like.
In the event I can find it on Amazon, I’ll always link there. This is because if you follow my link to Amazon and then buy, I get a small commission at no expense to you. Consider it hitting my tip jar. If I can’t find it on Amazon, I’ll give whatever advice I can.

Here’s what it’ll look like:

Booga Booga!
(Hot Lava Java Tiki Mug: available from Amazon.com )

As I get a chance, I’ll go back through old posts and add this info as I can, starting with the post people were asking about.

As a follow up to my post on choosing and buying glassware for your Basement Bar, I thought I’d do a reminder on one of the best ways to build a collection of vessels for drinking: Let your friendly neighborhood international liquor conglomerate buy it for you!
Yes, it is the holidays again, and they want you to buy their product and give it to your friends. As an added incentive, many of them are including a glass or two, or perhaps some other accessory with a regularly-priced bottle of the good stuff. I make it a policy to cruise the liquor stores this time of year with a special eye to a likely addition or two to my collection. This year is no exception, and I took some notes to share with you in case you are wondering if it’s worth the trip.
My favorite this year, for a variety of reasons is Bombay Sapphire’s Collector’s Edition set. First, I love the Gin, so I’d be buying the product anyway. This makes the glass pretty truly free. Second, I love the glass. I’m not sure how practical it will be, as the bowl is a little shallow. Bt it will look great on the shelf, and I’ll enjoy it with smaller drinks, especially when I’m experimenting. An added bonus is that Bombay doesn’t seem to feel it’s necessary to plaster a huge logo all over their glasses. How they manage to summon the intelligence to shove their marketing weenies in a closet long enough to get these un-logoed glasses out the door each year, I’ll never know. But I appreciate it, I remember it, and you should too. The only real gripe I have with Bombay’s gift to me this year is the packaging. It is pretty, but fails in a product you want people to give as a gift. It is oblong, making it hard to wrap, and it is flexible, making it harder to wrap. It is still the huge winner this year. Besides, Bombay Sapphire is what you need to make genuine Pegus!

The next two top recommendations I have are for Ciroc Vodka and Johnny Walker Black. Ciroc comes with a pair of attractive round Old Fashioned glasses with the Ciroc purple color infused in the bottom. The Johnny Walker Black (and Red, I think) come with two very nice, square-bottomed rocks glasses. While these glasses do have the name embossed on them, it is very discrete. I would have bought the Ciroc set, but I just don’t like the Vodka itself. Sorry. If you like Ciroc, this is a great time to lay in some reserves. And it’s always a great time to lay in some more from the Striding Man.
There are lots more out there. Bacardi has a rocks glass perched atop its basic 750 ml bottles. Jagr has two frosted shot glasses with its small bottle, and a pump with its monster size. Beefeater comes with two extremely utilitarian (I mean that complimentarily) cocktail glasses. Glenmorangie and Dewars also have two rocks glasses apiece, but not as nice as Johnny Walker’s.
Several other liquors opt to offer other useful items. Ketel One has a pretty decent looking Cobbler Shaker. Disarrano comes with a spiffy glass ice bucket. Cazadores Tequila has a pretty good citrus juicer.
Jack Daniels is the king of swag. You can buy gift sets with jiggers, Old Fashioned glasses, hip flasks, or even a rocking cradle to help your bottle sleep tight at night. The guys from Tennessee are unique among the promoters I saw in that they want you to buy the big bottle to get your gift. I guess that means they feel confident you already know the product and are comfortable buying it.
There are lots of others I haven’t mentioned, or haven’t seen. If you know of a particularly cool gift set out there, I’d love to hear about it. Meanwhile, drop by your liquor store and browse the boxes!

If you want to follow this specific series of posts on the Pegu Blog, you can subscribe to our Basement Bar feed here. Or you can just subscribe to the entire blog, with all its brilliant content, here!
Here’s a list of the other articles in this series that have been posted so far:

• Basement Bar Accessories #10: The NewAir Portable Ice Maker
• Basement Bar Accessories #6: DIY Kegerator
• Basement Bar Accessories: Herbal Assault Part 1
• Basement Bar Design #0: Introduction
• Basement Bar Design #1: Where, What, and Why.
• Basement Bar Design #2: Refrigerators
• Basement Bar Design #3: Ice Supply
• Basement Bar Design #4(a): Essential Glassware
• Basement Bar Design #4(b): Supplemental Glassware
• Basement Bar Design #4(c): Buying Glassware
• Basement Bar Design #5: Water and Washing Up
• Basement Bar Design #6: My Own Basement Bar
• Basement Bar Design #7: Bar Top and Countertop Surfaces
• Basement Bar Design #8(a): Artists
• Basement Bar Design #8(b) More Artists
• Basement Bar Design #8: Artwork
• Basement Bar Design #9: Tiki Bars
• Basement Bar Design Accessories #1: Lit Backbar Walls
• Basement Bar Design Accessories #2: Holiday Glassware Giveaways
• Basement Bar Design Accessories #3: Beer Dispensing from Heineken and Elsewhere
• Basement Bar Design Accessories #4: Branded Beer Taps
• Basement Bar Design Accessories #5: Pure American Ingenuity
• Basement Bar Design Accessories #7: The Man Wall
• Basement Bar Design Accessories #8: The Arkeg
• Basement Bar Design Accessories #9: Global Domination
• Basement Bar Design Accessories: Hidden Lairs
• Basement Bar Design Elsewhere in the Cocktailosphere
• Basement Bar Design Elsewhere in the Cocktailosphere #2
• Basement Bar Design Factoid #1: Sheds
• Basement Bar Design Factoid #2: Dangerous Party Invitees
• Basement Bar Design Factoid #3: Irish Pub in a (really big) Box
• Basement Bar Design Factoid #4: Mr. Blendtec, activate the defenses!
• Basement Bar Design Factoid #5: 1800 Tequila’s Mancave Contest
• Basement Bar Design News: The Wall Street Journal Notices That Home Bars Are “In”
• Basement Bar Design, Things to Consider #1: The Bargain
• Basement Bar Design: A Tour of the Parade of Homes
• Basement Bar Design: Star Trek Doors
• Basement Bar Overhaul: Dressing for Tiki Month
• Bulletin, Bulletin, Bulletin!
• Christmas Idea: Martini Shaker
• Fun With Time-Lapse
• I Saved at Least $10,000 Because of Cocktail Blogging…
• Jacob Grier Invites Us to Up Our Bartending Game.
• New Basement Bar Contest From Grant’s Whisky
• New Blog Function
• SideBlog: A Really Clever, Easy IKEA Home Bar
• SideBlog: Basement Bars Are Helm’s Deep For Men
• SideBlog: Blender Drink Aficionados Booking For Europe With Spare Luggage Space
• SideBlog: Making Tiki Stuff: Royal Tiki
• SideBlog: New York Post Notices February is a Good Time For Tiki Month
• SideBlog: Selling Tiki Stuff: Cheeky Tiki
• SideBlog: The Manliest Bottle Opener Ever
• SideBlog: Ultra Modern Tiki Torches
• The Bar Accessory The EVERY Cocktail Geek Must Obtain
• The Sixth Day of Christmas
• This Year’s Final Exam: A Full-Bore Tiki Party
• Tiki Timeout: Bar Building and BlogBarCrawl Update
• Trader Tiki’s Basement Bar in the News
• Unique Tiki Mugs
• Wow, They Even Have Black Friday Sales In the Cocktail World….

It is wise to bring some water, when one goes out to look for (drink).
Arab Proverb

If you wish to drown, do not torture yourself with shallow water.
Bulgarian Proverb

Est in aqua dulci non invidiosa voluptas.
Ovid

I think I alluded to this before, when talking about ice, but to have a really great Basement Bar (or Garage Bar, or Shed Bar), it has to be a wet bar. About the only absolute I will issue in this whole series is that you must have running water in your bar, or you might as well not bother.
Running water means both faucet and drain. The stuff that passes between them is really more important as hardware, than as software (as Alton Brown would say) to your bar. Water goes into a lot of cocktails (usually in crystalline form), but it really makes your Basement Bar functional by washing things.
Now, if your bar is a place to put your kegerator, and you just pull the tap into plastic cups, then fine—forget the sink. But quit reading this blog and get your info from Man Caves on DIY (not a bad show, mind you, but more for the brew crew than us cocktailians). (more…)

In 4(a) and 4(b), I discussed the kinds of glasses you will want to have for your Basement Bar. This last part will concentrate on actually buying glassware for your Basement Bar, but these guidelines will generally work for any glassware purchase for the home.

I’ll start with some general rules about glassware that apply to all types. Keep these in mind when buying, and you can’t go wrong.

• All glassware should feel heavy in your hand. Simple mass is an excellent indicator of glass quality. Heavy glass will be much less likely to break if you knock it over or against other hard objects. You will also find that it’s stability will make heavy glass much less likely to spill in the first place.
• The glass, particularly the part that houses the drink, should be clear. Colored glasses often look beautiful empty, but look kinda yucky when full. An etched design or splash of color can work and look cool, so long as you still have a largely unobstructed view of the liquid inside. Whether wine or cocktail, visual beauty is an important part of appreciating a drink. Make sure you and your guests can see what you are serving up.
• Look at and feel the lip. It should be thin. A lot of otherwise gorgeous art glass will fail this test. A crisp, thin edge will feel much better against your lips when drinking. Thin rims are also another good indicator of quality in commercial glassware.
• Flick the glass with your fingernail. It doesn’t need to ring like the Bells of St. Mary’s, but it shouldn’t thud either. This is another indicator of quality, but it also just improves the drinking experience.
• If one or two gets broken, it can’t be a tragedy. Either buy glassware that you won’t miss, can replace, or are unique to themselves. You may miss a unique glass if it is broken, but the other glasses on your shelves won’t constantly remind you that one is missing.

Much more below the fold: (more…)

Once you have acquired your four basic glasses for your Basement Bar, it is time to think about adding the sort of specialty glassware that will do one of two things for you. These glasses may allow you to be the correct and elegant host who effortlessly seems to have everything just so. Or they may be the gateway to ridiculous, over the top, cocktailian geekery. Your choice. And if you like, and are careful, these glasses will allow you to vary between these options, depending on your guests du jour.
Most of these glasses are genuinely optional. Only buy them if you personally drink and mix the beverages that dwell therein. But I’ll start with two that are so ubiquitous that they could have been included with the big four. Indeed, not having either may seem a bit strange to others. But I put them here because most people actually don’t need them.
Much more below the fold: (more…)

Parts Two and Three in this series dealt with fairly big ticket items. With Part 4(a) I’m going to talk about something that is perhaps even more critical, but costs a lot less—at least in detail.

What’s with the 4(a)?

Upon editing this piece, I decided to break it into a three parts. The first is about the glasses you need from the start when you set up your bar. The second will cover all the other cool glasses you can add later for various purposes. The third post will be about how to acquire the glasses you start with and those you add later.

You edit your work? Seriously?

…!
Actually, yes I do. But I don’t cut very vigorously, or you’d end up in the bin almost everytime…

…

When you first construct your Basement Bar, you will have to have some glassware in which to serve and drink the drinks that are the purpose of the exercise. You probably already have some of what you need upstairs, but you may not. Also, you may want to keep what you have in the kitchen, in the kitchen. For the purposes of this piece, we’ll assume you are starting from scratch. Any elements that you can cover from stock, go ahead and do so.
There is a bewildering array of glassware out there. What is more bewildering is the number of cocktail books who try to tell you that you need a minimum of four cordial glasses for your basic setup. Even the more restrained references will still tell you to have an egregious number of kinds of glasses.
To set up your Basement Bar, you will need four kinds of glasses. That’s all. Anything else can wait for pocketbook to recover and/or opportunity to present itself.
Much more below the fold: (more…)

A British industrial designer named Kacper Hamilton, of Hamilton Designs is introducing a set of seven red wine glasses entitled The Seven Deadly Glasses. Each glass is different and is intended to evoke one of the Seven Deadly Sins. Each is fun, not entirely practical, and beautiful. There was a time in my life, before kids, when I would have had to try to buy a set, even though I don’t drink much red wine.
You can see the whole set at the link, but here are my two favorites:

PRIDE!
I’m not sure that this one should really
be being held by a woman….

SLOTH!
Maggi dear! Do bring me a glass of Cabernet!

(H/T: Uncrate)