Originally Posted by
gfunkdave
One bottle each of:
-good whiskey (bourbon or scotch or both)
-good vodka
-good gin
-good rum (one white, one brown)
-good tequila (anejo or reposado, unless you mainly intend to make margaritas)
-Campari or another amaro
-good dry vermouth
-good sweet vermouth
-cocktail shaker and strainer
-bar spoon
-Rose's lime juice
-good grenadine (not Rose's)
-Mixers
-ice cube tray to make actual cubes of ice, not the sad half moon crescents your freezer makes
From a liquor standpoint, this is probably too much, unless one really likes all these things. I have a couple of decent articles on setting up a home bar that I'll try to find online. Two were from the Washington Post (one for winter, one for summer) and one was more recently in GQ.
Basically you should start with the things YOU like, unless you really entertain a lot. And another tip I did not know is that since vermouth is wine, it goes bad. Keep it in your fridge for 3 months and then replenish with a fresh bottle. Now, if you are using it all the time, you won't have an issue. I'm not a martini guy, so I would have the same bottle sitting on my shelf forever.
Edited to add: so here is the GQ article, I think. I couldn't find my hard copy, but this all rings a bell, so I think it's correct.
http://www.gq.com/story/home-bar-guide
Here's the original WaPo article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...112700638.html
Here's the summer bar update from WaPo:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv...007/chart.html
At the end of the day, it's your bar, so have fun with it. The articles are just guidelines. The one recommendation I really like is to have fun with the glassware. Don't feel like you have to get a "matched set". If you see a glass you like, buy it.