HOW TO STYLE A KILLER BAR CART

If you’re like me and enjoy the occasional margarita (or two), then you’re going to need a well-stocked bar cart. Bar carts are one of my favorite things to style in the home. I’m going to share my tips on how to create a beautiful, yet functional bar cart you and your guests can enjoy.

(1) Liquor and liqueur. This should go without saying. We like to keep our bar car stocked with a variety of alcohols (i.e. vodka, tequila, gin, white rum, whisky, scotch, and bourbon). We also have coffee liqueur, sake, both sweet and dry vermouth, Aperol, and triple sec for cocktail making. I forgot to mention that we have beer and wine as well, just not on the bar cart. This way we have enough options to please just about every guest. Buy what you like though! It’s completely personal preference.

My favorite summer cocktail is a classic margarita with Casamigos Blanco tequila, triple sec, and Trader Joe’s classic margarita mixer. Obviously a salted rim is a must (Target sells margarita salt for under $3). My favorite budget friendly tequila is Corralejo Blanco tequila. It’s only $20 at my local liquor store (about half the price of Casamigos). It’s delicious. Do yourself a favor and never buy Jose Cuervo again.

Another perfect summer drink option is an aperol spritz with Aperol Aperitivo Liqueur and your choice of prosecco.

Moral of the story? Actually stock your bar cart if you’re going to have one. Don’t be one of those people with two bottles of Barefoot out on display. This probably makes me look like an alcoholic lol. I swear I’m not, mom 😉 It’s just nice to have options.

(2) Cocktail ingredients and garnishes. So you have the alcohol, now you need the additives that will make your cocktail actually taste good. We have our bar cart stocked with Angostura aromatic bitters, cocktail cherries, artisan soda, a couple of flavored syrups (I’m a huge fan of lavender syrup in my gin cocktails), and margarita salt. We occasionally have homemade simple syrup on our cart as well. A decorative bowl filled with limes would be a nice touch too.

(3) Glassware. Gorgeous cocktail glasses are the easiest way to elevate the look of your bar cart. I wrote a blog post entirely dedicated to pretty glassware for your bar cart. Check it out for shoppable links. Sadly, I don’t have links for most of the glasses pictured as most were gifted, years old, or bought second-hand. However, I did find exact links to my highball glasses (pictured in the back left of the bottom shelf). I also found nearly identical Moscow mule mugs on Amazon – set of 4 under $30. If you want to know my secret for finding affordable glassware, check out this blog post.

(4) Cocktail shaker set. Now that you have all your cocktail ingredients, you need a shaker set to mix your delicious concoctions. We bought our 12-piece set off Amazon for under $30, and it comes with everything you might need. There’s a badass black stainless steel option as well. We like to store our strainer, tongs, muddler, and mixing spoon in a glass beer stein (linked similar Amazon option).

(5) Decorative ice bucket. If you’re looking for a functional way to dress up your bar cart, a pretty ice bucket is a good solution. I scored mine this past weekend at the Midland Arts and Antiques Market in downtown Indy. It’s vintage so I don’t have a link. I tried to find something similar, but I couldn’t find anything nearly as cool. I got lucky, sorry guys 😉 I did find a pretty gold stainless steel ice bucket at Target for under $20. If you’re local to Indy, make it a MUST to check out Midland downtown! They have two floors of gorgeous vintage decor and furniture (lots of cool ice buckets too).

(6) Art and decorative objects. Alright so you have your booze + mixers + glassware + cocktail shaker set + ice bucket, now you need decor as the finishing touch. We went with a classic framed beer poster, a framed postcard of Van Gogh’s Head of a Skeleton with a Burning Cigarette painting from his museum in Amsterdam, a white ceramic skull, Trader Joe’s baby’s breath in a crystal bud vase, and the Cocktail Codex book. You can buy ‘The Very Very Many Varieties of Beer’ poster and Van Gogh framed print on Amazon. I bought the skull from the Target dollar section for $5 a few years ago, but I did find a cool translucent decorative skull on Amazon. The crystal bud vase was a family heirloom, but I found a pretty set of 3 bud vases on Amazon as well. World Market has a cute bud vase set as well.

And there ya have it! Follow my formula and you’ll have a gorgeous bar cart ready to go for your next party. The wooden bar cart itself is vintage, but I plan on doing a post later this week with a curated list of my favorite bar carts. Stay tuned for that.