If you are looking at setting up a bar, either as a hobby or professionally, you really need to have a good understanding of bar equipment, what is needed for a good bar, and what their individual functions are. If you are a bartender of any sort, you will know that the way you present yourself is very important. You need to be in uniform and well groomed. 

What you may not know is that to be successful in your job, there are three essential items that you must take with you for every job. The tools of the trade if you will. The first is a bottle opener. You can't expect there to be one at every bar you work at, and you are going to look pretty silly if you are unable to open a bottle for a customer because of lack of equipment. You can get flat bottle openers, also known as "bottle blade", these will fit snugly inside your pocket without weighing you down. The second essential thing you need is a cigarette lighter. Nowadays smoking has been banned in a lot of bars, but there is the occasional job where smoking is still allowed, and having a lighter on hand will make you look a lot more professional to your patrons. There may also be occasions where you will need to light a flaming drink or candles on the bar, so a lighter is a very important piece of bar equipment to have. Finally, you should always have a pen on hand to write down orders, or for when your customer needs to write something down. Ideally you should try and carry more than one pen, as you are bound to lose one during the night.

There are a huge number of pieces of equipment that go into making an overall bar functional. One of the most important pieces of bar equipment, and probably the most used one, is a nip pourer. This is basically a spout that attaches to the end of your bottle, and is used to regulate the flow of the liquid coming out of the bottle as you pour drinks. Another important piece of equipment is the measuring device. Quite often they will come with two measurements, usually a half ounce and a full ounce, or you may have two separate ones for each measurement. These are usually called "jiggers" in the trade, and the best ones are usually stainless steel, however you can get plastic jiggers as well. For mixing drinks, every bar will have a shaker. This looks similar to a milk shake cup, and is usually used in conjunction with a mixing glass that fits snugly on top of the shaker. An attachment that can be placed on top of the shaker when pouring the drink is a strainer. This will hold back the ice as you pour. There are other strainers as well, with a finer mesh for straining out even more solids from your drinks. Sometimes the two strainers will be used together, one to catch the ice and the other to filter out any other bits.

Other Essential Bar Equipment

Another piece of bar equipment you may not have heard of before is the muddling stick. This is a stick about six inches long, with a flat end, and is used to mash solids, sort of like mortar and pestle. It used for things like fruits, to mash the liquids out of them. Other items that you will find in your general bar are wine openers(with a corkscrew attachment), mixing spoons, fruit channellers (to create garnishes with fruit), cutting boards and knives.

Larger items you will find in a bar are ice scoops, build trays, garnish trays to organise your fruit, salt rimmers for your Margarita's and juice containers. For the customer, you must always make sure that you have an ample supply of straws and napkins on hand. There are many other pieces of bar equipment, but the ones listed here are considered the essentials that every good bar should have, and every decent bartender should be comfortable with.