We had a house warming party a few weeks back. Finally, a chance to show off the space we’d been building out for the past month. Invite all the guests, her friends and mine, maybe some overlap. Make sure we invite enough people but not too many, we only have 800 sqft to work with.

I wanted to do a home bar. We’re starting at 2pm and no one’s really gonna show up until 3pm, so I’m doing a menu of alcoholic or non-alcoholic, decaf or caffeinated, and sparkling water for those healthier than thou.

Our Menu for the Day

AeroPress Yuzu Tonic

A spin on the classic espresso tonic. With my limited gear, I brewed an AeroPress espresso with 18g of coffee to 90g of water on an espresso grind using the inversion method. Vigorously stir the “espresso” with a table spoon of Yuzu Tea Jam. Then fill a glass with ice and sparkling water before topping with the espresso mixture, maybe you’ll get some beautiful liquid stratification.

Perhaps the most labor-intensive drink, requiring about five steps, but I could autopilot through it by the end of the party while keeping a conversation going.

V60 Pour Over (Beans from Sey)

Just a classic V60 pour over with delicious beans. No one ordered this, which makes sense, because who’s drinking full cups of hot coffee on a hot day when tomorrow is a Monday and we all need good sleep to beat the Sunday scaries.

Blood Orange Mimosa

Trader Joe’s Blood Orange Soda mixed with either a red, white, or bubbly wine. Some people got to choose their wine. If I forgot to ask, I’d default to bubbly.

Rum High Ball

One Shot of rum topped with ice and sparkling water, a classic drink.

We ran out of rum about an hour in but Nate brought half a bottle of gin and that lasted us till the end.

As people trickled in, I’d point out the menu and tell them to come ask me for a drink. I’d write their name on the cup, a nice way to remember a new name, then get about making their drink. A few years back, I remember having a waiter at White Horse in Salt Lake City who could memorize our entire table of eight’s drink and food orders, so I gave my memory a bit of a workout, baby weights, only four menu items to remember.

But we quickly added a new off menu drink when Steven came up and asked me for a “frozen margarita”. We had a few lemons in the fridge so I whipped up what I could: some lemon juice, a spoonful of Yuzu Tea Jam, mixed with Rum and topped with ice and sparkling water. Pretty quickly after I made his drink, I realized what an excellent addition this could be. Maybe without the lemon, too much effort to cut and squeeze but a stock Yuzu Highball was a delicious addition. Unofficially official, I’d mention it offhand to anyone getting a drink after him.

I did realize after the fact that we didn’t provide water and I hope no one got too thirsty. Next time, I’ll leave out une carafe d’eau for self-service. I also hope guests didn’t feel overbearing asking for multiple drinks. It’s just more fun for me.

Some people were old friends, some people were new friends, but everyone had to come up to the bar so I got to chat a bit with everyone. It also kept me busy; I’m not always the most social person, so it was an excuse to be social and an excuse to be engaged.