Bar Supplies: Furniture, Glassware, Reusing Liquor Bottles 

Quick Links

• Glassware
• Furniture
• Liquor Bottle Reuse
• Bottle Mailers

Choosing Glassware for the Bar

• Wide glassware such as large cocktail coupes takes up more room in dish racks and thus use more water per rack; consider the narrower glassware. 
• At venues that require plastic glassware such as at patio bars and poolside, consider buying washable plastic glassware rather than disposable glassware. 
• At London's Tayer + Elementary, "Our glassware is quite expensive, so we never throw out chipped glasses; rather, we sand them down and then continue to use them despite their uniqueness." according to this article.
• Instead of Moscow Mule mugs, Luuk Gerittsen uses chickpea cans info
• Tips on using vintage glassware from San Francisco's Hi-Lo Club. 
• Hi-Lo also buys church candles that come in glasses that can be used for water or table wine glasses, as they use many candles to light the bar. 

Unique Glassware Examples

• "Drinking vessels he’s making out of cloth woven from finely shredded pineapple leaves that come from industrial plantations. They are soaked in melted beeswax to become waterproof and then formed into a cup shape." [source]
• Turn coconut shells into cups, as seen at Potato Head Beach Club, Bali.

Furniture

• More durable furniture will last longer 
• Repair furniture rather than replace. Reupholster furniture rather than replace. 

Reuses for Liquor Bottles

• Cut the tops off liquor bottles into various open-top containers.
  • Turn glass liquor bottles into candle holders by cutting off the bottoms and sanding down the glass, as seen at ABV in San Francisco.
  • Nicholas Box suggests that magnum and other huge bottles could be cut down and used as planters. 
• Use bottles as water pitchers 
• For still and house-carbonated sparkling water, Acron in Vancouver uses flip-top bottles, some of which are repurposed bottles from Sea Cider.

Getting the Labels off Jars and Bottles for Reuse

• Nicholas Box has a few suggestions (scroll near to the bottom).

Bottle Mailers

• Flexi-Hex cardboard bottle mailers 

Plastic Wrap and Vacuum Bags

• Great Wrap - compostible/biodegradable plastic wrap
• As seen on the forthcoming Australian bar Re, compostable vacuum bags for sous vide and other vacuum sealing. With some googling, I was able to find the producer of the bags, though they're currently out of stock. They do have a form to fill in to be notified when they're back though. Grounded Packaging