Visits to local bars and taverns, once customary, are still absent from our lives. Yet, while we continue to wait for their return — somehow, we make do.
Me, I’ve been spending lots of time in strangers’ homes and offices lately. As a beverage consultant, I’ve been invited into kitchens, living rooms, boardrooms: anywhere, in short, where there’s good company and a strong WiFi signal.
Virtual cocktails, as well as DIY cocktail-kit subscriptions are increasingly being utilized as stand-ins for that deeply missed bar experience. As a beverage consultant, who loves to educate and create this is where my passion lies these days.
The at-home bar experience, of course, is not a direct equivalency to going out to a bar. Those days, hopefully, will return. But until the hiatus is over, everybody is a bartender. At-home cocktail-making, shared with friends and guided by an expert hand, is filling the void. And it’s a lot of fun.
When my wife and I co-founded Bar IQ together six years ago, to help bar and restaurant programs get off the ground, we couldn’t have expected our model would shift so dramatically. Yet it has, and we’re having a blast working together on virtual classes and DIY cocktail kits.
We are demystifying the craft of drink-making through interactive cocktail classes.
It brings me joy to share my skills with others, and at the same time, it brings participants joy to be able to co-crate. In the absence of an actual bar, the classes provide libations and a social connection — two things we’ve all been longing for.
Of course, not everyone feels social all the time — or up for more screen time at the end of a work day. So, we’re making it easy to unplug with a monthly cocktail kit subscription. These ingredient kits evoke the mood and essence of each season — with a la carte kits for those timeless classics to be enjoyed throughout the year. Our last kit was whiskey-based, with classic recipes that expanded the heart and the sinuses — with a selection from our friends and Michter’s.
Whether the virtual cocktail or the DIY home cocktail kit —the art of home-bartending is undoubtedly spawning a more savvy consumer. I have no doubt that in kitchens across the land, a new generation of cocktail enthusiasts will continue to hone their craft, share recipes, and eagerly await the next delicious package on their front step.
