Drinking alcohol - a socio economic history of alcohol in the Ancient World, encompassing Prehistoric and Classical Era.
How to build a home bar on a budget?
MOREStep 1: Set a Budget
Determine how much you\'re willing to spend on your home bar. This will guide your choices and help you prioritize essentials.
Step 2: Assess Your Space
Identify a space for your home bar. It could be a dedicated room, a
corner in the kitchen, or even a bar cart. Maximize existing furniture
and storage.
Step 3: Choose Essential Spirits
Start
with versatile spirits like vodka, gin, rum, and whiskey. Look for
budget-friendly options, and consider store brands or sales.
Step 4: Budget-Friendly Mixers
Purchase basic mixers such as soda, tonic, and juice. Buy in bulk to save money, and consider store brands or generic options.
Step 5: Affordable Bar Tools
Invest in essential bar tools like a shaker, jigger, strainer, and
muddler. Look for budget-friendly sets or consider DIY alternatives.
Step 6: Multipurpose Glassware
Choose versatile glassware, such as rocks glasses that can be used for
various drinks. Check discount stores, thrift shops, or online sales for
affordable options.
Step 7: DIY Bar Decor
Personalize
your space with DIY decor. Create a chalkboard sign for your drink menu,
repurpose old wine bottles as candle holders, or frame cocktail recipes
as wall art.
Step 8: Shop Smart
Take advantage of
sales, discounts, and loyalty programs when purchasing alcohol and
supplies. Compare prices at different stores and consider online
options.
Step 9: Organize and Display
Keep your home
bar organized and visually appealing. Use shelves, trays, or a bar cart
to display your bottles and tools neatly.
Step 10: Gradual Expansion
Building a home bar is a gradual process. Start with the essentials,
and gradually expand your collection and tools over time as your budget
allows.
Step 11: Embrace DIY Solutions
Get creative
with DIY solutions for bar tools or decor. Upcycling and repurposing can
add a unique touch to your home bar without breaking the bank.
Step 12: Enjoy and Experiment
Once your home bar is set up, enjoy experimenting with cocktails and
hosting friends. The joy of a home bar is the ability to personalize and
tailor your drinks to your preferences.
Additional Tips for Building a Home Bar
Tip 1: Repurpose Furniture
Consider repurposing furniture you already have, such as a bookshelf or side table, to serve as your home bar. This is a budget-friendly and sustainable option.
Tip 2: DIY Bottle Labels
Create your own labels for bottles to add a personalized and professional touch. This is especially helpful if you buy liquor in larger, more cost-effective bottles.
Tip 3: Bartering for Bottles
Consider trading or bartering with friends for different spirits. This can be a fun way to diversify your collection without spending money.
Tip 4: Virtual Tastings
Host virtual tastings with friends where everyone samples a specific type of spirit or cocktail. It\'s a budget-friendly way to explore new flavors together.
Tip 5: Seasonal Decor Swaps
Update your home bar\'s decor seasonally with simple and cost-effective swaps like changing napkin colors, adding seasonal garnishes, or adjusting lighting.
Building a home bar on a
budget is a rewarding and creative endeavor. By being strategic and
making smart choices, you can create a stylish and enjoyable space
without overspending. Cheers!
Drinking Alcohol began way ahead of any written history
Drinking alcohol or rather consuming fermented fruits and beverages have been part of evolution, historians and anthropologists have noted earlier, and we have written about it in our earlier article Did the homo sapien settle down just to drink beer peacefully? Research indicates the possibility, in this article we take a peek into the pre-historic and classical era history of alcohol and the role it played in civilisations to come.
Although a credible time frame of when alcohol was first fermented could not be found, it can be safely said that it was the result of an accidental consumption. The beer jugs found in Neolithic excavation sites prove that human brewed alcohol dates back to almost 10000B.C.
In fact, historians believe that fermented alcohol may have preceded bread as staple.
Ancient China and its history of pútáojiu and huangjiu
In China, alcohol has been produced and consumed since prehistoric times. The jars found near China?s Yellow river basin, Jiahu, suggest that the existence of alcohol might date back to the period between 7000 and 9000 BC.
Earlier, it used to be a kind of rice beer produced from fermented rice, honey and fruits. Later, when Northern Yellow River Civilisation evolved ,a kind of fermented millet named huangjiu became staple.
Alcohol or to be precise beer was divine elixir for the ancient Chinese
Unlike the Levantine, Middle Eastern and European Civilisations, the Chinese Civilisation abandoned grape wine pretty early, they produced and widely consumed pútáojiu ( rice beer ) and huangjiu ( millet beer ).
In china alcohol was considered medicine prescribed by the heavens. The ancient Chinese considered huangjiu a divine drink and not for mere material pleasure. They consumed it in memorial services, offered it as a sacrifical elixir to the ancestors and gods, they consumed it before a war, in oaths , in victory and births, marriages, departures, deaths and literally, the ancient Chinese happily drank away on every occasion it seems, and why not? wine, after all, was a divine providence from the heavens!
The lucky ancient Chinese were requested to drink by an imperial edict back in 1116 BCE
From the excerpts of an 1116 B.C imperial edict, historians found that the Chinese people were told to consume alcohol in moderation as it was prescribed by Heaven. This order was clearly beneficial to the emperor's treasury.
Alcohol was considered to be the biggest source of income for the treasury. Marcopolo in his 14th century travelogue, had also mentioned that the Chinese people drank rice and grain wine daily and this was the biggest source of income for the kingdom's treasury.
Wine making played a pivotal role in Han economy, wine makers and taverns were the most commonly found businesses across Han Dynasty cities.
In this brick a wine maker and his assistant are seen in the centre, the wine maker is stirring a cauldron while the assistant fans the fire. The bottom of the brick shows a filtering stove with urns for the wine, to the left a wine seller stands with a cart full of wine jars.-
Photo of a pictorial brick excavated at Pengshan, Sichuan Province, depicting wine making circa 20-220 CE, courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
Distillation in the Han Dynasty
It is said that the Chinese may have independently developed the distillation process during the rule of Eastern Han Dynasty, in the early centuries of the Common Era.
The photo of a Lacquered Wooden Wine Cup from the Han Dynasty Circa CE 4 is evidence to that.
Of all the ancient Civilisations, alongside the Chinese Civilsation, the Egyptian Civilisation too, has left behind a vivid history of drinking as part of the culture of the Ancient Egyptian Civilisation. Continue Reading part three of our Drinking through time series.
Trending Recipes
Please Note All Recipes and Articles on this site are for entertainment and general information only. None of it is to be considered final or absolutely correct or medical in nature.
However, we have embarked on a journey of manually updating the relative strength of cocktails, their flavour profile and in the future aim at providing approximate calories per drink too.
Blue Tick Project:We aim at manually validating and verifying each cocktail in their current context and mark them as valid, where, a blue tick would mean that the recipe has been verified and is 100% accurate while an orange tick would mean the recipe has low confidence.
Where as a grey tick would mean that the recipe has not yet been manually validated or verified recently.
Note: The Cocktail photos used are graphical representations of the glass and colour of a drink, these are generated using information from the recipe and we personally strive at providing real photographs of cocktails and we hope we can replace all representational photos with real photos soon.
Contact Us using the Email Contact on the Sidebar if you think any Copyrighted photo has been unintentionally used on this site, and we'll take remedial action.
Some of the Photos are sourced from Royalty Free Photo Platforms like FreePik, Unsplash and Wikimedia Commons
About Us
Neel B and Mani, we are a team of two, from Calcutta, India. We are professional software engineers and passionate cocktail enthusiasts. We built this app because we saw a need for a more comprehensive and user-friendly way to find cocktails and bartending recipes. We hope you enjoy using our app as much as we enjoyed making it!We decided to use our technology skills to help others who were in the same position as us and wanted to experiment with making cocktails at home but didn\u2019t know where to start. We have been working together for more than two years and has managed to collect an extensive library of recipes as well as tips and tricks for making the perfect cocktail.
Neel B is an Electronics and Telecommunications Engineer and martial arts and fitness enthusiast. He is an avid reader, compulsive doodler, and painter. His love for cocktails arises from the art in it and the history that traces the ups and downs of modern civilisation over centuries.
Maniis an ERP and SaaS developer and architect by day and a cocktail enthusiast in her leisure. She holds a Masters in Computer Application and Programming. In addition to writing stories on the history of cocktails and alcohol, she has a special interest in cocktails in literature. She believes that the perfect cocktail can make any moment special.