About Barware

The first type of kegerator is a purpose-built appliance specially designed to store, chill and dispense beer. This type of kegerator is very similar in appearance to a standard refrigerator and is often found in the wet bar area of a home. The refrigerator style kegerator is able to hold a keg of beer and has the necessary hardware to dispense the beer on tap. Some kegerators may have the beer tap on the top of the appliance while others have the tap in the door or on the side. Proper barware is important to your home.

Another common type of cooler kegerator is a refrigerator that has been modified to function as a kegerator. These are popular do-it-yourself projects for the beer enthusiast. There are special conversions kits on the market that provide the necessary hardware and instructions to modify a refrigerator. It should be noted that creating a kegerator from a refrigerator does require time, patience and some expertise and may require the use of tools such as electric drills, pliers, hand saws, and screwdrivers to perform the work.

A third type of cooler kegerator is a picnic style cooler that has been modified to serve as a portable kegerator. For beer drinkers interested in the convenience of bringing ice-cold draft beer wherever they go, the picnic cooler kegerator can be an effective way to do so. As with the refrigerator style kegerator, there are conversion kits with the hardware and instructions necessary to make a kegerator from a picnic cooler.

A cooler kegerator may refer to several appliances whose main purpose is to store beer at a cold temperature and then allow the dispensing of the cold beer from an attached tap. While warm beer is a tradition in certain areas of the world, the majority of beer drinkers prefer beer that is served cold. In addition, many beer drinkers also believe that draft beer, served from a tap, tastes better than beer that has been canned or bottled. A cooler kegerator allows consumers the ability to enjoy ice-cold draft beer on tap in the convenience of their homes. This appliance is a welcome addition to your home bar. And makes it convinient for pouring into your glassware.

When entertaining at home, it is important to have a checklist of what to do. This way everything will be in order. Here’s a sample checklist to keep you organized before a party:

1. Prepare the menu. Carefully select each dish you plan to cook and have plans for appetizers. Know before hand if any of your guests follows a specific diet.
2. Purchase the necessary grocery items 2 to 3 days before. Make another list for everything you’ll need. For fish, meat, and poultry, it is best to buy them on the day of the party. If this is not possible, then purchase them the day before.
3. Prepare some dishes earlier. If it is possible to make the broth needed for a dish earlier or cook the pasta ahead, then do so. This will save you a lot of time.
4. Arrange the table. Choose a lovely linen tablecloth, prepare a beautiful centerpiece and select high-end stemware.

Not everybody has a natural taste for wine. Just as a fine wine must age to reach peak quality, a wine palate must do the same in order to fully appreciate complex flavors. Training your wine palate allows wine drinkers to recognize the different flavors in the wines they consume.

To start out research all the flavors common to wines. Chocolate, blackberry, black pepper, strawberry and apricot are some flavors common to wine. Get familiar with these flavors by tasting each of the foods. Also make sure to smell the foods and get comfortable with their aromas. This process should be repeated a few times in order for your palate to process the tastes and smells.

Sample a variety of wines from different regions and countries, and always be sure to get a new wine glass each time you test a new varietal. Try talking to yourself or a friend aloud as you taste the wines. Verbalizing your thoughts and impressions will allow you to better remember each flavor.

After you feel your wine palate has been thoroughly developed host a wine party. Give each guest a different bottle of wine and tell them to bring their favorite corkscrews from home. This will allow your guests to feel they are a valuable part of the process.

There’s nothing better than a glass pitcher of iced tea in the summer months, and it’s so simple to make that there’s no reason not to keep a pitcher in the refrigerator at all times. You can make iced tea with all varieties of tea, though some seem to taste better cold. For example, raspberry, lemon, and peach teas are summer favorites amongst iced teas. While it’s possible to use green, black, and mint tea for iced tea, these varieties tend not to capture the same flavor when iced. You’ll need to adjust the amount of teabags used depending on the size of the picture. For two liters, 5-6 tea bags are appropriate, for one liter, 2-3 tea bags will work well. You might also want to add sugar, but be sure to stir the sugar in and continue to taste the tea; there’s nothing worse than a tea that is ruined because it is too sweet.

Keep adding crushed ice to the tea for the best taste, and remember not to add too much ice otherwise it will dilute the flavor of the tea.

The image on the top and the numbers below are for a formal dinner place setting.

1. Napkin  
2. Fish Fork
3. Dinner or Main Course Fork
4. Salad Fork
5. Soup Bowl & Plate
6. Dinner Plate
7. Dinner Knife
8. Fish Knife
9. Soup Spoon
10. Bread & Butter Plate
11. Butter Knife
12. Dessert Spoon and Cake - Dessert Fork
13. Sterling Water Goblet
14. Red Wine Glass
15. White Wine Glass

Mulled wine, variations of which are popular around the world, is wine, usually red, combined with spices and typically served warm. Historically, wine often went bad. By adding spices and honey, it could be made drinkable again. Nowadays, it is a traditional drink during winter, especially around Christmas. Typically served in a glass barware mug.

It is usually prepared from red wine, heated and spiced with cinnamon sticks, vanilla pods, cloves, citrus, cardamom, ginger, bitter orange, and suger.

To prepare mulled wine, spices and/or spice extract are mixed into the wine, which is then heated to (140°-158° Fahrenheit). The temperature should not be allowed to rise above (173.12° Fahrenheit) in order to avoid evaporation of the alcohol. When preparing home-made mulled wine using spices, the hot mixture is allowed to infuse for at least an hour, often longer, and then reheated before serving.

This is just a sampling of simple drinking toasts from around the world. Some are impossible to find in language dictionaries as they are colloquial phrases, slang or in dialect. I apologize in advance for spelling mistakes: I’m no linguist. Meanings have been included when I could find them. Fill in the blanks if you can. Some are just a general ‘cheers’. If you were making a bet on possible translation, you wouldn’t lose money by suggesting that every one of these toasts is wishing the recipient continued health and general well being. My spell check is about to go wild! So raise your highball glass to one of these listed below.

za vashe zdorovye (Russian)
slainte duine a ol (Irish) to your health
genatzt (Armenian)
a sua saude (Portuguese) good health
a votre sante (French) to your health
banzai (long life) (Japanese)or
kanpai (dry glass!) (Japanese)
bud mo (Ukranian)
cin cin (chin chin) (cheers) (Italian) or
alla salute (in good health) (Italian)
proost (Dutch) cheers
vivat (Polish) revival, survival
tervist (Estonian) general greeting
skal (Danish) cheers
here’s looking at you (kid, optional) (American/Bogart)
kia ora (Maori) all purpose greeting
egeszsegedre (Hungarian) to your health
Iechyd da (Welsh) good health
I sveikas (Lithuanian) your health
kippis (Finnish) cheers
le’chaim (Jewish) to life
na zdravi (Czech) to your health
noroc (Romanian)
prosit (German) here’s to you (and your health of course)
wen lie (Chinese)
salud (Spanish)
bahkt tu kel (Romany/Gypsy) good luck and health be on you
Here it is folks – oogy wawa (Zulu)
(wawa means ‘fell’, oogy wasn’t listed, any ideas?)

We should all feel well cheered and healthy after all that!

- Raise Your Beer Mug To The World Or How To Say Cheers! In Zulu -
The Moguls did it. So did the Vikings. “A mouth of a perfectly happy man is filled with beer.” After coining that phrase, you don’t think this anonymous Egyptian from 2200 BC kept it to himself. I can see him raise his drinking vessel to his Nile-side neighbors while repeating the words.

Every country in the world has some sort of traditional drinking toast, often dozens. Usually one or two words, common toasts are not in the same league with toasts to the bride (which can drone on for hours), or to the retiree who’s been with us for 30 years but would rather get to his food while it’s hot. All of these really should be briefer, especially if a meal is being served. The everyday, no black tie, corner pub toasts exist in every culture and the vast majority simply mean ‘I wish you good health’. Not surprisingly it is the English who have strayed from the norm. ‘Cheers’, ‘Down the Hatch’, ‘Bottoms up’ and many more. I always assumed the latter referred to the bottom of the glass, however the Hawaiians have taken this literally. ‘Okole Maluna’ means ‘buttocks up’. I am including a list of multi-national toasts to impress your friends and use as a sign of respect when in the company of people from different cultures.

Here’s a bit of etiquette to go with your cosmopolitan language skills. It is customary to toast the first round, and let the host go first. There is some controversy over the clinking of glasses. It is said that the tradition started as a sly way to test the authenticity of the host’s crystal. Whether the Vikings clinked pewter goblets or not, it is considered more civilized to ‘touch glasses’ rather than bash together in a resounding crash. And while you’re about it, serve on the left and remove from the right!

When I was little, my entire conception of alcohol was garnered from what I observed on TV and in the movies. I became accustomed to seeing distinguished gentleman pouring each other a drink from decorative whiskey decanters and watching them sip their potent potables on the rocks. This seemed enjoyable to them, so I assumed that alcohol must have a sweet and appealing flavor.

Due to my disillusioned concept of alcohol, I naively thought that I could take my first drink on the rocks and that it would taste great. Needless to say, I was humiliated when I ordered a whiskey on the rocks for my first drink and was forced to spit out my first sip. Since then learning the truth about the acrid taste of most alcohol, I proceed with more caution.