New Member ?'s & Stocking a proper bar

I probably went overboard...but i wanted to make some proper drinks and have a stockpile for awhile...

So here is what I just ordered to stock my bar...am i missing anything?

Fifth of:

Lemon Hart 151
Lemon Hart 80
Senior Orange Curacao of Curacao
Appleton Estate v/x
Pernod
Taylor Falernum
Ron Del Barralio 3 star (for the PR rum in the Zombie 34 -- would like an opinion if this is the way to go)
Appleton Extra
Rhum Clemente VSOP

Mixers:

Small Hands Orgeat
Sonoma Syrup Cinnamon & Grenadine
Angostura Bitters
Aunt Lioki Passion Fruit Syrup

Needless to say I am going to have some fun weekends coming up :)

Also I am thinking about going to Trader Vic's this weekend to check out some drinks that i would like to make at home, is there anything that i should ask for / stay away from -- I want to stick with the original stuff not mixes, i would like to order stuff that is maybe more difficult to make at home or not worth making in a small batch

i.e. i have all the good stuff to make a mai tai, so i wont be ordering that, however a coffee grog after dinner sounds awesome to try -- stuff like that

STOP! You're making me thirsty!! :)

You've got the bases covered my friend!

Suck em' up!

Chris

I almost got the marchino liquior you have in the picture but i only saw a 56 zombie that it went in, and couldnt see spending the extra 27 for it

also 1/4 oz is .5 Table spoons right?

We use the Luxardo in Hemingway daiquiries. Quite good so the expense was justified.

And you are right on the money on the conversion.

1/4 ounce is a half tablespoon.

Cheers!

Chris

That's not overboard, when you get to ~20 different bottles of rum then you're starting to cross the line of overboard. :)

That's a very good start of a well stocked tiki bar. If you add a dark Jamaican, say Appleton Extra 12 year (which with the VSOP & Senior Curacao will make a sublime Mai Tai), and a light Puerto Rican or sub (Cruzan white) you should be able to make a fair number of different tiki drinks. (The most common rums are the 2 Puerto Ricans and the dark Jamaican.) I typically use the VX as a "gold" and the Extra as a "dark" but really you could use the VX for either, it's very good. But the Extra is very very good.

But at this point the best thing to do after you've had enough Zombies & VX MT's would be to use the Grogalizer to see what you're 1-2 ingredients from that you want to try and spread out that way.

Yep! Go get a handle of Cruzan white and you're set for awhile. Make your own grenadine. Angostura bitters. A metric tonne of limes and lemons. Ice crusher? Meyers's or Coruba (preferably) dark Jamaican.

...and an address where we can meet you. :)

sorry the appleton extra is the 12 year old rum which is the dark so im good there :)

making my own grenadine seemed like alot of work (between work gym gf not alot of time)...simple syrup no problem...is the homemade grenadine worth making compared to sonoma syrup? they use 30% real juice and are supposed to have real good quality...when pom's are in season i can see picking up some but does it make THAT much of a difference

I read enough to see the orgeat made a huge diff, so i went small hands...but Small Hands wont have grenadine for awhile...

is the ron 3 star puero rican rum worth the extra money compared to cruzan gold when i am going to be mixing it into drinks

that was my big question...seemed like about 10 bucks more but from what i could read it was alot better...i figured i would start off with the good stuff first...is that overkill when mixed up?

sorry the appleton extra is the 12 year old rum which is the dark so im good there :)

I thought your post said V/X which would be more of a gold, but they are both tasty and worth having in any tiki bar.

I read enough to see the orgeat made a huge diff, so i went small hands...but Small Hands wont have grenadine for awhile...

If you are lazy (like me) Trader Tiki orgeat is also excellent, but rolling your own is really good too.

is the ron 3 star puero rican rum worth the extra money compared to cruzan gold when i am going to be mixing it into drinks

I've never had the Ron (don't know of anyplace in MA that carries it and we can't mail order booze) so I wouldn't know but a bottle of Cruzan shouldn't cost more than $12 - $13 so the experiment of trying both wouldn't be that expensive.

that was my big question...seemed like about 10 bucks more but from what i could read it was alot better...i figured i would start off with the good stuff first...is that overkill when mixed up?

I prefer quality ingredients myself so I'm probably a bad person to ask. The only examples I can give are that I can taste a huge difference in Mai Tai's between the St. James Amber & Clement VSOP, and Myers vs. Coruba or Appleton Extra is not subtle. Coruba vs. Appleton Extra is a more subtle but they do have different flavors in most drinks.