There’s nothing more fun than spending quality time with your friends and family over a drink. But if you’re a true beer, wine, or liquor connoisseur, you likely want to build a space dedicated to socializing. Fortunately, you can easily make a bar in your kitchen, basement, or garden.
Taking Your Home Bar Further and Creating a Brewery Business
If you’re interested in turning your bartending or brewery skills into a business, consider selling craft beer. According to Fortune Business Insights, the craft beer market will nearly double in five to six years, reaching an unprecedented $210.78 billion in market share by early 2028.
A home bar can give you the opportunity to experiment with different drink mixes, flavors, and spices, while a small brewery kit will help you learn how to mill, lauter, ferment, and filter grain.
While learning how to brew can be fun and easy, building a business is often complicated. For example, you’ll need to know how to market your brewery and sell your products. You can use these Instagram tips for your brewery business, as building a social media presence is vital.
5 Home Bar Options That Look Great in Your Home or Garden
Maybe you’re more of an entertainer than a business person, and that’s okay. Instead of putting your energy into a brewery, start building a DIY home bar in the following locations.
1. Living Room Bar
If you frequently entertain in your living or family room, then this is the best spot to build your drink bar. You can try a non-permanent option, like a bar cart, or something more permanent, like a bookshelf you can secure and lock. You can even repurpose old furniture into a beer cabinet.
Podium-style bar tops can provide enough space for making drinks and entertaining. Leave enough room underneath the bar top if you want to easily access spirits, mixers, and glassware.
2. Basement Bar
Basements are perfect if you want to build a large, wrap-around bar or you have a small kitchen. At the same time, it will be harder to create a functioning wet bar with a sink and running water.
Still, basement bars are easier to customize because they’re sectioned off from the rest of the home. Plus, you can easily add a mini fridge or kegerator (for storing kegs you can connect to a tap) that just stores alcohol. Consider adding a television or sound system for a sports bar feel.
3. Garage Bar
If you don’t park your car or store lawn equipment in the garage, convert it into a bar. Depending on where you live or how insulated your garage is, you could use this bar any time of the year.
Garage bars are a good idea if you want to entertain your friends without them entering your home or if you plan to be loud. Unlike a basement bar, you won’t have to carry alcohol, kegs, or fridges down the stairs. Garage bars also tend to be more ventilated than basement bars.
4. Bar Shed
A pub shed is ideal if you can’t build a bar inside the home and if you want to use an outdoor space during the winter. Or, you can buy a gazebo with a net if you live in a warm climate. Either way, a pub gazebo or shed allows you to sit outside and drink without having to deal with bugs.
If your shed or gazebo is large, you can install a few seats inside. If you don’t have a lot of room, ask your guests to sit outside and receive their drinks from the interior bar top.
5. Outdoor Bar
Studies show that a patio or deck can increase restaurant revenue by 30%, which isn’t surprising. Most people love to drink outside, but installing a permanent outdoor bar is tricky.
For this reason, most outdoor bars start with a tea trolley, bucket holder, or a wheeled tray. You can keep your setup simple by using a cooler, or you can upgrade to an outdoor kegerator and waterproof wood furnishings. Either way, an outdoor bar can really look good by the poolside.
