The ultimate home bar essentials of 2023

Is Home the new Pub in 2023?

Since 2020, there has been a surge in shop-brought alcohol, with 55% of Brits spending less money on a night out and instead opting for a night in.

With growing economic concerns in 2023, more people are choosing to make cut backs and are choosing a stay-at-home occasion, drinking from their own home bars.

If home is becoming the new pub, then we’re ready to get involved!

Bringing you the ultimate home bar necessities.

A spirit of every kind

If you’re planning on setting up your own home bar, you’ll likely want a mix of spirits to offer to guests, providing you want to share your bar with friends and family, of course. So, let’s get started.

· Cognac

Interesting fact about cognac, only brandy produced from grapes grown in the region of Cognac and adhere to specific guidelines can display the name Cognac on its label.

Cognac can be served neat, on the rocks or in a cocktail. If you’re looking for the perfect cognac to join your personal bar, then check out our fantastic selection of cognacs.

Browse our selection of cognacs

Gin

Gin is a clear, distilled spirit and must contain Juniper berries to be classed as a gin.

An essential spirit for any brewing home bar, check out our gin-tastic selection of gins, including our award-winning Foragers Winberry Gin.

Check out our flavoursome selection of gins

Rum

Rum comes in various styles, from light, dark, rich and aged. Meaning there is always a rum for everyone. Lighter rums are typically used as mixers in cocktails, whilst darker rums are normally for sipping.

Discover the right rum for you and check out our current selection of rums.

View our rum-tastic selection of rums

Vodka

Clear in colour and with a neutral flavour, vodka can be made from a variety of crops. Perfect neat, or as a cocktail mixer, and can even be used as an antiseptic. Though we prefer to drink our vodka.

View our range of Vodkas

Whisky

A dark distilled spirit that is made from a variety of grains, it is distilled throughout the world. There are various styles of whisky and some countries have regulations that stipulate how the whisky is produced.

Here at Whisky Merchant, we have a world full of whisky options!

View our Other World Whisky

View our Scotch Whisky

View our Vintage Scotch

Now that we’ve found our spirits, no bar is complete without that statement piece that gets everyone talking.

This could be anything from unique bar furnishings, to collectable glasses or decanters.

Decanter

For years, whisky decanters were seen as a status symbol, today it’s easier to find a decanter that fits your personal style. Whilst they certainly stand out, they have their practical uses too.

A whisky decanter allows oxygen to interact with the whisky, making it easier for those nuanced aromas to really kick in.

If you’re looking for your new practical statement piece, then view our current selection of decanters.

Discover your decanter

Glassware

No bar is complete without your stylish glasses and tumblers to match! Plus, how else are you going to serve drinks? Whether you’re searching for a matching set, or individual glasses that just shout sophistication, we have it all!

Take a look at our glassware

The pub away from the pub

If you’re taking the plunge and building your own ‘home pub’, let us know! Contact us on social media and share a photo of your home pub.

Or sign up to our newsletter, so you never miss out on our current offers.

Whether you’re drinking from a pub, restaurant or at home, all we have to say is… cheers!

Chocolate Bitters From Snowdonia Distillery

Snowdonia Distillery has released new chocolate bitters under their Marsette Liqueurs label. This label has the Monsoon Coffee Liqueur and the Peruvian Chocolate Essence, both incredibly moreish with a rich experience. These new bitters were released to complement their liqueurs and help elevate your cocktail experience. As with their Chocolate liqueur, the bitters use the same Single Estate cacao from Peru. The chocolate from Tesoro Amázonica is of incredible quality and produced by fantastic folks who believe in creating a delicious product, as well as taking care of the community involved.

The quality of the chocolate really does come through in these products. If you’re in the market for some quality bitters for your home bar or at work, I’d suggest giving these Marsette bitters a go! We have been having a blast with a bit of trial and error in creating different cocktails with these. Snowdonia Distillery is a great craft distillery that puts out an array of award-winning products.

Available in a pipette or a spray option. Bottled at 7.1% abv. Shop Now.

New Releases from Snowdonia Distillery

One of favourite distilleries has just released not 1, not 2, but 3 new bottlings! The folks over at Snowdonia Distillery in North Wales have just given us 2 new variations of their El Rumbo Rums and 1 new addition to their Marsette Liqueurs. The distillery, who of course is responsible for Foragers Gin, put an incredible amount of time and heart into each of its spirits. They have taken multiple awards across the whole lineup, most recently a Silver for the Y Bēt Chocolate Vodka. The small team there really does an incredible job at bringing you the best that Wales has to offer.

In addition to the incredible gins they put out, the distillery team likes to venture into the more fun and unique side of spirits. As shown in their El Rumbo lineup by bringing in aged Cuban rum, then letting the rum rest in freshly emptied cognac casks. Now creating an Anejo and Coconut versions of their El Rumbo!

Now their Marsette Liqueurs are absolutely brilliant for the dessert cocktails we’ve been making around here. The Monsoon Coffee liqueur is incredibly moreish and makes a stunning espresso martini! So with the addition of the new Chocolate Essence liqueur it is going to make for some fun in house experimentation!

So, lets introduce the 3 new arrivals:

Ron El Rumbo Premium Cuban Anejo Oro Rum – 40%

El Rumbo Premium Cuban Anejo Rum is an expression that benefits from our Solera aging process at Snowdonia. Aged for three years in Cuba to then be transferred into our fresh cognac casks at Snowdonia.

An aroma of classic desserts – sticky toffee pudding and vanilla fudge, this premium spirit is perfect to enjoy with a squeeze of lime and a Cuban cigar.

Nose: Toffee apple, vanilla fudge, hints of cocoa, cognac aromas.

Palate: Soft, mouth coating, a cognac warmth with lingering apple and pear finish.

Ron El Rumbo Cuban Coconut Rum – 36%

El Rumbo Cuban Coconut Rum is an expression of natural flavours from the tropics.

Fresh Madagascar Coconut and Cuban Sugar cane combines aromas of fresh coconut milk, pineapple, and a refreshing sweetness.

This superior mixer can be enjoyed as a classic mojito or float it to enhance the flavour of a daiquiri.

Nose: Coconut husk, Madagascan vanilla, candied pears, coconut milk and sugar cane.

Palate: An ice cream texture with hints of walnuts and almonds. A palette coating, coconut milk finish.

Marsette Peruvian Chocolate Essence – 30%

Marsette Peruvian Chocolate Essence is an enhanced spirit perfect for sipping over ice or enjoyed in cocktails.

The Single Estate Peruvian Chocolate allows for a light experience of 100% cacao with its nutty nature.

Nose: Dark chocolate, a clean break of fresh cocoa, slight hint of banana and freshly roasted walnuts aromas.

Palate: Soft sweetness of vanilla and cream, powerful dark chocolate and a long, viscous, warm finish.

So head over to pick up a new release or 2, so you have some incredible spirits for your summer cocktails!

Until next time.

-Andrew

2 New Releases from Snowdonia Distillery

New incredibly delicious releases from the folks behind the award winning Forager’s Gin! 2 unique spirits created to excite our taste buds.

1 gin and 1 liqueur!

These two are staying on the same path as all the other releases from the Welsh distillery. Quality craft spirits from a small team, using the best ingredients, to deliver their customers something special. From start to finish, the team there puts their heart and passion into every step of the process. I love when you find small distilleries like that!

The new additions are:

Forager’s Winberry Gin

“Foragers Winberry Gin encompasses the flavours foraged along our Welsh coast and throughout its cascading hills.

A complex blend which presents a profile of fresh citrus, robust berries and warming floral notes.

The Winberry is the most unique of berries, only being ready for one very short harvest a year. This then results in a very rare botanical to find.

It is stunningly sweet, small in size but generous in flavour with a long tart finish. A vibrant colour, candied like sweetness to an award winning spirit.

Celebrate this marriage of flavours with muddled blackberries, fresh mint leaves and tonic water.”

Marsette Monsoon Coffee Liqueur

“Marsette presents an artesian liqueur from the heart of the Indian Monsoon Rains – Handcrafted, copper distilled, small batch production.

We take the Monsoon Malabar bean to produce a coffee liqueur like no other. The bean swells in the humidity of the Monsoon Rains, allowing us to play with robust aromatic flavours, perfect for the mixologist.

The cold brew rests with a blend of Welsh Spirit and Madagascan Vanilla essence, creating a subtle hint of Tiramisu and a long, mouth coating finish of whipped cream and blue agave. “

Sometimes You Want Something Different.

This weekend I didn’t go for a rum, a whisky, or a gin! Went for some coffee liqueur! And it was delicious! Granted liqueurs are not for everyone, but if you can enjoy them and you like coffee, this is for you! Mr. Black Cold Brew Liqueur!

I am a huge coffee fan, so trying this was a no brainer for me. Handmade just north of Sydney, Australia in a coffee roastery and distillery. Sounds like a great combination to me! From everything I’ve seen from them, they are true coffee lovers that want to bring you a real product, and not just something gimmicky. It really does come through in the bottle! They source out top quality beans from the best growing regions in the world, the step it up a notch and hand it off to a premier Australian distiller to do his thing. They have succeeded in bringing the coffee drinking world and spirits world together beautifully…and not just in the “Irish coffee” kinda way.

As they say, this is unapologetically coffee! It’s not just slight coffee flavour, this is for those that like coffee through an I.V.! Top Arabica coffee is blended together with high quality Australian wheat vodka, which brings you a wonderfully bold liqueur. Not very sweet at all, but has some nice dark chocolate and caramel notes playing well with the fresh cold brew.

This is well worth a try for anyone that loves their coffee and is up for something different! Making coffee that much more “adult”!

Grab a bottle here and send the some love on social media.