Why Your Home Bar Should Be Organized By Alcohol Type

You've polished the aesthetically pleasing glass bar cart with Windex. Or, maybe your "home bar" is a less-glamorous (but just as effective) shelf in the kitchen. Either way, the final and most important step in building a home bar is organizing your liquor bottles within the allotted space. As in any successful cocktail bar or neighborhood dive, those spirits should be grouped together by alcohol type. Any home bar worth its ice should be designed for utility — shortening the distance between imbibers and a good drink.

Grouping tequila beside other bottles of tequila makes it easier to find the tools you need when cocktail hour hits. Making margaritas? You'll know where to reach. This organization also makes it easier to monitor which spirits are running low and need to be restocked. If there's a random quarter-full bottle of Jägermeister stashed at the far back of your bar cart, chances are it'll collect dust before it gets seen or touched again. (Although, it'll probably still be fine to drink once you finally remember it. Jäger boasts an impressively long shelf life.)

This can be an especially devastating accidental fate for pricier liqueurs like Chartreuse. Similarly, grouping like spirits together can also help mixologists ensure that their mise en place is in order before they start shaking. Few things are as disheartening as wasting a rocks glass of Scotch because (surprise) you hadn't realized you're all out of Drambuie. No Rusty Nail today, after all.

In most dive bars, the speed well is stocked with one bottle each of the five staple liquors: vodka, gin, rum, whiskey, and tequila. Take a cue from this basic organizational structure, and position your most-used bottles at the front of your home bar for easy access. The less-frequently-reached-for bottles can fall behind. If your personal home bar is mostly stocked with one type of spirit (maybe you're a diehard mezcal fan, or a bourbon collector), then this step will be relatively straightforward.

However, if your home bar houses multiple bottles of multiple spirits, arrange them in a line following the speed well lineup: one bottle of each of the major spirits in the front row. Liqueurs and amari can be their own category, or two separate sections, depending on the size of your inventory. From there, your less-used bottles of each spirit can be arranged behind in following rows. Strainers, jiggers, and other bartending tools can be stored on a separate shelf, in a drawer, or on the lower rack of your bar cart.

This gin-with-gin, vodka-with-vodka arrangement can be especially helpful if you're an avid host. Dinner party guests invited to "fix themselves a drink" will appreciate a user-friendly home bar that's easy to navigate (especially after a second martini). Intuitive organization also reduces the likelihood of anyone accidentally knocking over bottles. For smooth mixing, here are 14 more mistakes to avoid when organizing your home bar.