Raising the Bar

Nothing dampens the party spirit more than running out of drinks or glasses at the bar. To avoid an entertaining mishap, we turned to our friends Deborah Williamson and Bryan Calvert of Williamson Calvert for some expert advice. From their years of planning events and designing menus for A-listers including Donatella Versace, Kate Hudson, Hilary Swank and Patrick Demarchelier, they share their tips on how to have the perfectly stocked bar.

BASIC BAR FOR 50 GUESTS FOR 3 HOURS:
When setting up your bar, try to anticipate the needs of your guests. What do they like to drink? Martinis, red wine or champagne? For an original touch, serve a specialty cocktail. (See our recipe for the Pomegranate Zinger below)

STYLING THE BAR
Situate the bar on a table or desk in an accessible area of the room. The bar should be beautiful as well as functional. Use a large tray for the ice bucket and bottles. If you don’t have an ice bucket, use a silver or glass bowl. Line the bottles and glassware according to height and style. Don’t forget linen cocktail napkins, lemons, limes and nuts. Avoid plastic bottles at all costs. Instead use small glass bottles of tonic, soda water, ginger ale and Coke. Always use carafes or pitchers for fresh juices. Flowers and votive candles complete the look. Last, but not least, hire a knowledgeable bartender!

BAR SET-UP
For a classic bar, you should stock it with the following:

WINE
9 bottles of white wine (Sancerre or Macon Village)
9 bottles of red wine (Beaujolais Cru or Côtes du Rhône)
6 bottles of champagne or prosecco

SPIRITS
3 bottles of vodka (Grey Goose or Belvedere)
1 small bottle of dry vermouth (Martini & Rossi)
1 bottle of light rum (dark rum optional)
1 bottle of bourbon (Jack Daniels)
1 bottle of blended scotch (Johnnie Walker )
1 bottle of single malt scotch (Macallan 12)
1 bottle of gin (Bombay Sapphire or Hendricks)

BEER
1 case of bottled beer. Choose a mix of light beer and ales.

MIXERS
Tonic
Club Soda
Roses Lime Juice
White Cranberry Juice
Fresh Grapefruit Juice
Fresh Orange Juice
Coke
Diet Coke
Ginger Ale
Flat and sparkling water

GARNISHES
Lemon and lime wheels or wedges
Olives
Cocktail onions
Ice (6 bags of ice)

BARWARE
Ice bucket
Ice tongs or ice scoop
Cocktail shaker
Wine opener, bottle opener
Cocktail napkins

GLASSWARE
35 Rocks
75 White wine glasses
40 Flutes
20 Martini glasses

Clockwise from top left: Highball glasses from Williams Sonoma, footed bowl by Marc Jacobs for Waterford, olivewood bar set by Laguiole and mirrored ice bucket available at Moss.

Williamson Calvert (718-956-5633) is full service events and cuisine company specializing in custom menus, event production and styling for clients like Chanel, Vanity Fair, Allure and Paul Smith.