Last updated: July 30, 2026
We’ve stocked a bar at 1117 Railroad Avenue in Prentice for two years, and we’ve watched people build home bars wrong the entire time. They buy 14 bottles of liqueur they use twice. They drop $90 on a copper shaker that dents in a month. They forget ice. They forget mixers. They forget that a home bar exists to make drinks you actually want to drink, not to look like a Pinterest board. So here’s the checklist we’d hand a friend in Price County who wants to mix decent cocktails at their cabin without wasting money.
Quick Answer: A functional home bar needs five tools (Boston shaker, jigger, Hawthorne strainer, bar spoon, muddler), three spirits (rye or bourbon, gin, rum or tequila), two mixers (club soda, diet tonic), and one ice mold. Total cost for a Wisconsin-specific starter kit from Prentice Meat & Grocery runs about $75 to $90. The full setup with eight bottles, proper glassware, and a Lewis bag tops out around $300 to $400 over a year.
Why Most Home Bar Checklists Are Wrong
Every home bar checklist we’ve read online makes the same mistake. They list 40 items and call them all “essential.” Nothing is essential if you have 40 of them. A real checklist ranks by urgency. What do you need to make one drink tonight? That’s Tier 1. What do you need to make five drinks this weekend? That’s Tier 2. What do you need to build a bar that handles a Thanksgiving dinner party? That’s Tier 3.
We’re organizing this checklist by when you need things, not by category. Most home bars grow in exactly this order, and fighting that order wastes money. Nobody needs a Lewis bag on day one. Everybody needs a jigger on day one.
Tier 1: What You Need Tonight (Under $45)
This is the “I want to make an Old Fashioned right now” tier. Three items. One trip to Prentice Meat & Grocery. You can do this on your way home from work.
The Three Things You Buy First
1. One Bottle of Whiskey ($24 to $34)
Start with rye or bourbon. Not vodka. Vodka is the last spirit you need for a home bar because it does nothing on its own. Rye gives you Old Fashioneds, Manhattans, and whiskey sours. We pour Rittenhouse 100 at Ripsaw, and a bottle runs about $28 at the liquor store next to Prentice Meat & Grocery. If you want Wisconsin-made, J. Carver Straight Rye from Sauk City is $32 and worth every penny for the spice alone.
Why Whiskey First
Whiskey works in more cocktails than any other spirit. Old Fashioned. Manhattan. Whiskey Sour. Godfather. Bobby Burns. Seven drinks from one bottle with three or fewer additional ingredients. That’s why it’s Tier 1 and vodka isn’t.
2. One Boston Shaker ($18 to $25)
A 28-ounce tin and a 16-ounce glass. Not a cobbler shaker with the built-in strainer that breaks. Not a cocktail shaker set with nine pieces you’ll never use. One tin, one glass, one seal. We use Boston shakers at Ripsaw every single night because they’re faster, they seal tighter, and they don’t have parts that wear out. You can find them at any kitchen store or online for under $25.
3. One Jigger ($6 to $12)
A double jigger with 1 oz on one side and 0.5 oz on the other. This is the single most important tool in your bar. Every cocktail is a ratio, and if you can’t measure, you can’t replicate. The Japanese-style jiggers feel nicer in your hand, but a $6 stainless steel double jigger works identically. We lose about three jiggers a month at Ripsaw to the dish pit. They’re cheap. Buy one.
Tier 1 Drinks You Can Make
With whiskey, a shaker, and a jigger, you can make an Old Fashioned (whiskey, sugar, bitters, ice), a Whiskey Sour (whiskey, lemon juice, simple syrup), and a Godfather (whiskey, amaretto). You’ll need to grab bitters and simple syrup from the grocery aisle, but those are $6 each and last six months. That’s four cocktails from one bottle and one tool. This is how a home bar starts.
Tier 2: What You Need This Month ($100 to $130 Total)
Tier 2 is where you go from making one drink to making a cocktail menu. You add two more spirits, proper straining tools, and real glassware. This is the tier that makes your home bar feel like a bar instead of a kitchen counter experiment.
Two More Spirits ($50 to $70)
4. Gin ($28 to $34)
Gin is your second bottle because it covers an entirely different cocktail family from whiskey. Martinis, gin and tonics, Negronis, Tom Collins. We use J. Carver Barrel Reserve Gin from Sauk City at the bar, $34 a bottle, and it has enough botanical backbone to stand up to tonic without getting lost. If you want something cheaper, New Amsterdam runs $18 and works fine for gin and tonics where the mixer carries the drink anyway.
Gin and Tonic: The Default Tier 2 Drink
A gin and tonic is the easiest cocktail to make at home. Two ingredients, no shaking, no straining. Pour 1.5 oz gin over ice, top with tonic, add a lime wedge. Done. We’d recommend picking up Fever-Tree Naturally Light tonic at $4 a bottle because it has 15 calories instead of 124 and tastes better than regular tonic. You can read more about why mixer choice matters in our low-calorie spirit alternatives guide.
5. Rum or Tequila ($18 to $28)
Pick one based on what you drink. Rum gives you daiquiris, Mojitos, and Dark and Stormys. Tequila gives you Margaritas, Palomas, and shots. At Ripsaw, we pour El Jimador tequila at $24 a bottle for Palomas and Margaritas. For rum, we go with a local Wisconsin option whenever we can, but standard Bacardi at $18 is fine for a home bar Daiquiri. You don’t need both. Pick the one that matches your drinking habits.
Three More Tools ($25 to $35)
6. Hawthorne Strainer ($8 to $15)
This is the strainer with the spring. It sits on top of your shaker tin and catches ice chips and fruit pulp when you pour. Every shaken cocktail needs one. We go through two or three a year at the bar because the springs eventually loosen. At $10, that’s not a problem.
7. Bar Spoon ($5 to $10)
A long handled spoon with a twisted shaft. You use it to stir stirred cocktails (Old Fashioneds, Manhattans, Negronis) and to layer shots if you’re feeling ambitious. The twist isn’t decoration. It lets the spoon rotate smoothly in the glass without splashing. A weighted bar spoon costs about $8 and lasts forever.
8. Muddler ($6 to $12)
A wooden or stainless steel stick for crushing fruit, herbs, and sugar cubes. You need this for Old Fashioneds (muddling the sugar cube with bitters), Mojitos (muddling mint), and Caipirinhas. Get a wooden one. Stainless looks better but wood grips fruit better and doesn’t scratch your glass. We use a maple muddler at Ripsaw that a regular turned on a lathe in Park Falls. Cost him $4 in materials.
Glassware That Actually Matters ($15 to $25)
9. Rocks Glasses ($3 to $6 each, buy four)
Short, wide, heavy-bottomed. For Old Fashioneds, whiskey neat, and any spirit on the rocks. You need four because you’ll have guests. We got ours from a thrift store in Phillips for $2 each. They don’t match. Nobody cares.
10. Highball Glasses ($3 to $5 each, buy four)
Tall and narrow. For gin and tonics, rum and colas, and anything with a lot of mixer. Same rule. Four is enough. Thrift stores have these for cheap.
Tier 3: What You Need This Year ($300 to $400 Total)
Tier 3 is the full setup. This is where your home bar can handle a supper club night, a holiday party, or a Friday fish fry crowd. You’re adding liqueurs, a mixing glass, ice equipment, and the bottles that make specialized cocktails possible. Spread this across a year. There’s no reason to buy it all at once.
The Spirits You Add Over Time ($120 to $160)
11. Vodka ($18 to $22)
Yes, vodka comes last. We said it. Vodka is useful for one thing in a home bar: making drinks for people who don’t like the taste of alcohol. That’s a real need. We pour Clear River Vodka from Eau Claire at Ripsaw, $22 a bottle, 96 calories per shot. It’s our well vodka and it’s Wisconsin-made. But we’d never tell you to buy it first. Buy it when someone asks for a vodka soda at your house.
12. Sweet Vermouth ($12 to $18)
Vermouth is what turns a whiskey and bitters into a Manhattan. It’s fortified wine, not a spirit, and it goes bad after about a month once opened. Buy a small bottle. Keep it in the fridge. We use Carpano Antica at the bar, $18 for 375ml, and it’s worth it for the vanilla notes alone. For a home bar, a $12 bottle of Martini & Rossi works fine if you use it within a few weeks.
13. Angostura Bitters ($8 to $12)
The single most used bottle in any bar. Three dashes in an Old Fashioned. Two dashes in a Manhattan. One dash in a Whiskey Sour. A bottle of Angostura costs $10 and lasts about eight months at Ripsaw with heavy use. At home, it’ll last two years. There is no home bar without bitters.
14. A Wisconsin Liqueur ($25 to $30)
This is where you add local character. Dancing Goat Limoncello from Cambridge, WI, is 28% ABV and costs $30. It works as a digestif, in cocktails, or over ice cream. We use it in our lowest-calorie drink at Ripsaw, 88 calories per 1.5 oz pour. It’s also the bottle guests will ask about. Nobody else has Wisconsin limoncello on their home bar. For more Wisconsin spirit recommendations, see our Wisconsin distillery guide.
Tools That Make You Faster ($40 to $60)
15. Mixing Glass ($15 to $25)
A heavy-bottomed glass for stirred cocktails. You don’t shake an Old Fashioned. You stir it, slowly, with a bar spoon, and the mixing glass lets you see the dilution happen. The weight keeps it steady on the counter. We use a 16-ounce Yarai mixing glass at Ripsaw that cost $22 and has survived two years of Friday nights. Your home version will last decades.
16. Fine Mesh Strainer ($8 to $12)
For double-straining shaken cocktails. Pour through your Hawthorne strainer, then through this fine mesh, and you get a crystal-clear drink with no ice shards or fruit pulp. Essential for anything with citrus juice, where pulp floating in the glass looks amateur. We double-strain every shaken cocktail at Ripsaw. At home, you can skip it for vodka sodas and whiskey sours, but you need it for daiquiris and Margaritas.
17. Lewis Bag and Mallet ($20 to $30)
A canvas bag and a wooden mallet for crushing ice. Juleps, swizzles, and tiki drinks need crushed ice, and a blender makes a mess that’s too wet. You put ice in the bag, hit it with the mallet, and you get dry crushed ice that packs into a glass without watering down the drink immediately. We make Juleps at Ripsaw in summer when the mint in the garden is ready, and the Lewis bag is the only way to do it right.
Ice Equipment ($15 to $25)
18. Large Ice Mold ($8 to $15)
Silicone molds for 2-inch cubes or spheres. Big ice melts slower, which means less dilution in your glass. For an Old Fashioned, this matters more than which whiskey you use. A 2-inch cube in a rocks glass takes 25 minutes to melt enough to noticeably change the drink. A tray of small ice cubes does it in 5. We use Tovolo molds at the bar, $12 for a two-cube tray, and they last about a year before the silicone starts to split.
19. Ice Bucket or Insulated Container ($10 to $15)
You need somewhere to keep ice while you’re mixing. A basic insulated bucket from any store works. Don’t use a mixing bowl. Ice sweats on the outside, and your counter gets wet. We use a $12 stainless steel bucket at Ripsaw that holds about 4 pounds of ice. At home, you need less.
The Full Wisconsin Home Bar Inventory
Here’s everything on one list, organized by tier. Print it. Take it to the store. Cross things off as you buy them.
Tier 1: Tonight ($35 to $45)
- 1 bottle rye or bourbon ($24 to $34)
- 1 Boston shaker tin and glass ($18 to $25)
- 1 double jigger ($6 to $12)
- Angostura bitters ($8 to $12, optional for Tier 1 but needed immediately)
- Simple syrup ($6 or make it yourself with sugar and water)
Tier 2: This Month ($100 to $130 total)
- 1 bottle gin ($28 to $34)
- 1 bottle rum or tequila ($18 to $28)
- Hawthorne strainer ($8 to $15)
- Bar spoon ($5 to $10)
- Muddler ($6 to $12)
- 4 rocks glasses ($12 to $24)
- 4 highball glasses ($12 to $20)
- Diet tonic water ($4 for 4 bottles)
- Club soda ($3 for 6 bottles)
Tier 3: This Year ($300 to $400 total)
- 1 bottle vodka ($18 to $22)
- Sweet vermouth ($12 to $18)
- 1 Wisconsin liqueur ($25 to $30)
- Mixing glass ($15 to $25)
- Fine mesh strainer ($8 to $12)
- Lewis bag and mallet ($20 to $30)
- Large ice mold ($8 to $15)
- Ice bucket ($10 to $15)
What You Don’t Need (Even Though Every Checklist Says You Do)
Here’s where we disagree with every home bar checklist on the first page of Google. They all list items that are wastes of money for a home bar in Price County.
The Cobbler Shaker
Three-piece shakers with built-in strainers look nice in product photos. They’re terrible. The strainer mechanism clogs with fruit pulp. The seal wears out in three months. The top gets stuck when it’s cold. Every bartender who’s worked a Friday night will tell you the same thing. Buy a Boston shaker.
The 20-Piece Bar Tool Set
Amazon sells “complete bar tool sets” for $40 with 12 tools in a bamboo stand. You will use three of them. The other nine will sit in a drawer until you move. The ice tongs are too small. The pour spouts don’t fit your bottles. The cocktail napkin holder is not a bar tool. Buy individual tools that are actually good instead of a set of tools that are all mediocre.
More Than Three Spirits in the First Month
If you buy six bottles of liquor in your first week, four of them will sit unopened for a year. We’ve watched it happen at every cabin warming party in Prentice. Start with whiskey. Add gin. Add rum or tequila. Stop. Cook with those for a month. You’ll know what’s missing because you’ll try to make a drink and realize you don’t have the right bottle. That’s when you buy the next one.
Where to Shop in Price County for Home Bar Gear
You don’t need to order anything online. Prentice Meat & Grocery on Main Street stocks Clear River Vodka, basic whiskey brands, and standard mixers. The liquor section at Trig’s in Phillips has a wider selection, including J. Carver spirits and a decent gin wall. For glassware, the thrift store on Highway 13 in Phillips has rocks glasses for $2 each. We’ve bought half our bar glassware there over the past two years.
For Wisconsin-specific spirits like Dancing Goat Limoncello or Port Washington Brandy, you may need to drive to Wausau or order through Prentice Meat & Grocery’s special order desk. They got us a case of limoncello in three days. Ask for Sarah at the counter. She handles special orders and she’s fast.
If you want to see what a working bar looks like before you build yours, come to Ripsaw Saloon at 1117 Railroad Ave in Prentice. We’re open Monday and Thursday through Sunday from 2 PM to close, closed Tuesday and Wednesday. Sit at the bar, not a table, and watch what we use. You’ll notice we reach for the same five tools all night. That’s your Tier 1 list.
See also: our professional bar equipment guide for the full toolkit breakdown
See also: our signature Wisconsin Old Fashioned recipe
See also: things to do in Park Falls, WI (cross-site link to Price County Fun)
FAQ
What do you need for a basic home bar?
A basic home bar needs one bottle of whiskey, a Boston shaker, a jigger, Angostura bitters, and simple syrup. That’s about $45 total and lets you make Old Fashioneds, whiskey sours, and Manhattans (once you add sweet vermouth). Everything beyond that is expansion, not necessity.
How much does it cost to stock a home bar?
A functional home bar costs $75 to $90 for the starter tier (one spirit, shaker, jigger, bitters, glassware). A mid-tier bar with three spirits and full tool kit runs $100 to $130. A complete home bar with eight bottles, proper glassware, ice equipment, and Wisconsin liqueurs tops out around $300 to $400 spread over a year.
What is the first spirit you should buy for a home bar?
Whiskey. Specifically rye or bourbon. Whiskey works in more cocktails than any other spirit, from Old Fashioneds to Manhattans to whiskey sours. Vodka should be your last spirit purchase, not your first, because it contributes no flavor and only works when paired with mixers that carry the drink.
What bar tools do you actually use?
Five tools cover 95% of cocktails: a Boston shaker, a jigger, a Hawthorne strainer, a bar spoon, and a muddler. We use these five tools every night at Ripsaw Saloon. Everything else, from fine mesh strainers to Lewis bags, is specialized equipment you add when you start making specific cocktails that require them.
Where can I buy bar tools in Price County, Wisconsin?
Prentice Meat & Grocery on Main Street stocks basic spirits and mixers. Trig’s in Phillips has a wider liquor selection including Wisconsin craft spirits. For glassware, the thrift store on Highway 13 in Phillips sells rocks glasses and highballs for $2 to $3 each. For Wisconsin-specific spirits like Dancing Goat Limoncello, ask about special orders at Prentice Meat & Grocery.