This book is great for anyone who's ready to set up their own home bar. The Home Bar is well written to help anyone set up the perfect bar.

Liebevoll in Szene gesetzt, tolle Fotos, tolle Geschichten, alles sehr informativ. Plus prima Rezepte.
Sehr rund, sehr gelungen.

This is a gorgeous book! It would make an excellent housewarming gift as a coffee table book along with a few trinkets for the bar. I like that they gave suggestions for the home bar and talk about the evolution of the bar in hotels and restaurants as well. Great book.

A pretty good book if you are looking to set up a home bar. I'm not sure why there needed to be a section on Grand Hotels but I suppose it can provide some inspiration. This book is very comprehensive and gets into the details of accessories and different types of liquor to keep on hand as well as non-alcohol essentials. There are also some great classic recipes. The photos and descriptions are excellent. I definitely recommend for stetting up or maintaining a home bar

Wow was this book bougie as f""k. :P I mean I'm not sure what else I was expecting, since this is a book on how to create and decorate a home bar, but still it was annoying. 

I honestly don't have much to say about this book. It gives a very basic overview of different styles for home bars and bars in the past, which was interesting. I liked the vintage pictures a lot. But honestly this book doesn't cover as much helpful tips as I thought it would for being over 200 pages.  There were several spots in this book where it seemed like maybe the author was trying to be funny but mostly he came off sounding condescending and old.  

The best part of this book are the cocktail recipes at the end, which were all very helpful and I really liked the pictures that accompanied them. Still I would never buy this book because anything in this book can be researched by a quick google.  I ended up giving this book 3 stars on Goodreads.

This is a gorgeous book which can be bought as a gift for ones self or for a friend. It has everything you could ever want or need to know about creating a bar in your home, no matter how big or small the space. It has how to decorate the space, what various utensils and equipment and you need, also the different spirits and finally it contains recipes for many of the most iconic and classic cocktails.

Easily the most practical home bartending book I've found, and a vast improvement on the others currently gathering dust on my bookshelf. I went out and bought a print copy immediately to keep next to my own home bar, which might well be the greatest praise I can give.

Contrary to my social media posts, I've never been a big drinker. Which is saying something, seeing as I'm half Australian and half Slovenian bootlegger and come from a long line of professional drinkers. While there aren't many alcohols I drink at present, I'm starting to learn and enjoy more because so many of the things I love surround booze (plus: politics). I am a super nerd for wood, tools, metal, bottles, interesting lighting, and beautiful glassware. I also find cocktails themselves things of artistic beauty. Their many colors (hell, even the variety of colors in bourbon alone), interplay with ice and garnish, all of it. I have always adored everything about drinking but the drinking.

For those reasons, and because I need a project not to go mental(er), I have decided to try three things on the booze front this year: (1) learn more (2) experiment and (3) build/create a home bar. When I got an advance copy of The Home Bar, I knew it was a perfect place to start my efforts. From a full room bar to a bar cart or simple tray, The Home Bar provides tips on usage, stocking (booze and tools), display, seating, sinks, lighting, the works.

It started out all about the photography. The ebook was gorgeous, as I imagine the final hardcover product to be. This a book I would display and flip through right off the coffee table (or bar cart). There are fabulous pictures of bars, cabinetry, lighting, bottles, bar tools, glasses, and drinks. These are balanced with just the right amount of exposition, broken into logical sections to help you work your way through what type of bar you might want/need and how to stock it with the necessary equipment.

The book is written by Henry Jeffreys, grandson of Paul Ricard, inventor of the popular French aperitif, Pernod (or Pernod Ricard, basically an anise-flavored pre-dinner quaff intended to stimulate appetite). As such, Jeffreys certainly has the chops to discuss booze and bars. In fact, he begins the book with an interesting history of bars and how they were impacted by Prohibition and other historical and social times. I was impatient to get to the "good stuff," but I enjoyed it.

My attitudes about drinking and bars differ fairly drastically from the author's, so your mileage may vary. I come from a different kind of booze royalty than Jeffreys and was somewhat put off by his idea that home bars "are essentially about showing off" and "impressing" guests. Back bars should be a "booze wonderland." Which I had no problem with until he followed that idea with "so that your guests gasp." Snooze. In my mind, there's nothing worse than a host who is more interested in making me gasp about the number of bottles on his shelf than pouring me a god damn drink, having great conversation and a good laugh.

To be fair, I must contrast this with the many times Jeffreys talks about bars being "about comfort," the various ranges of bar materials he discusses, how budget items are okay, and even encouraged, and his belief about a bar being set up in the "spirit of convivialite" (the genuine pleasure of sharing moments).

But even in the midst of a welcoming thought (going for a pop art look with a shag rug) he throws in a crap one ("not in bright orange") that immediately made me want to go out and buy an orange-AF shag rug because that would be awesome. Also, "if you're serious about cocktails you should be making your own ice." I am, sir, right in my very own freezer using those cool plastic half-moon trays that come with the vegan mochi I buy at Trader Joe's. You will get the flavor of green tea ice cream in your bourbon and you will LIKE IT. I'm all for deep-diving on cocktail minutiae, but don't tell someone they can't be "serious" about mixing unless they do x, y or z.

Jeffreys made me a bit testy at times, but don't let that dissuade you. This book is full of fantastic stocking and design ideas, and the photos on their own are worth the price of admission.

CHEERS.

My partner and I recently finished a DIY project turning an outdated area in our cape into a media room with a spot for a home bar. Then, I really didn't know exactly what to do, so it wound up just having a few bottles, some glasses, and a shaker on the cabinet I had chosen. The Home Bar provided so many ideas to make this space 'special' and I have now made definite plans for how I want my home bar to look.
Contents include The Evolution of the Home Bar, Styles of Bar, Bar Essentials, The Well-Stocked Bar, and Aperitifs and Cocktails. There are many many gorgeous pictures of home bars as well as famous bars(Hotel Astor, the Campbell Apartment Cocktail Bar, the Harrison, the Old Town Bar, and so many more). The inside bars provided the inspiration for my home bar, but I love going on a winter vacation in a warm climate( I live in NY) and the featured outside bars have me longing for my February trip.
Everything is covered in detail from setting up, to shakers, measuring devices, mixing, prepping, serving and recipes( the Zombie and the Achiote Margarita were the first two drinks I made). Anyone with an interest in having or enhancing their home bar would certainly enjoy this book. Whether you want to spend a lot or a little on your bar, there is something for everyone in this book.

For anyone wanting to set up a home bar, this book is a great reference starting point. The pictures are absolutely beautiful and makes me want to set up my own. There are so many different ideas that just picking one is very hard.

Along with the pictures are stories about the places where many can be found and it just makes you want to visit them to get a look at the bars themselves, as well as sampling the delicious drinks talked about.

The types of bars in this book are from home bars, retro bars, professional bars, restaurant bars showcasing bot just the alcohol but storage for it as well. Shelving on display is just spectacular and the many cupboards and cocktail cabinets display 1950s styles ones and the ultra modern art deco ones. Many are just small cabinets that can fit in small apartments or there are full on, fully stocked bars that would rival any of the great cocktail bars.

Trolleys, bar carts and trays feature as well and would suit the smallest accommodation. There is just so much to read and look at that this book will not only be a reference for setting up your bar but a beautiful coffee table book as well. Everything you would want to know about setting up your bar is in this beautifully illustrate book from the seating, sinks, displays, home entertainment to fridges and freezers to keep everything at the perfect temperature, shakers, measuring devices mixing, prepping, serving and so much more.

And then we have the glasses, glassware and then we get into the nitty gritty of the drinks with the many recipes and accompaniments for them. Over 250 pages and all of them so informative. A must read for anyone interested in setting up a bar or for a great coffee table book. This is one I will be suggesting to friends and one I will look at many times. Well done Henry Jeffreys.

Thanks to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group - White Lion Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this book.