New Year is approaching, calling to mind exquisite Old Hollywood gowns, black tie events and cocktails. We watched Out of Africa the other evening, with its gorgeous New Year’s celebration just after WWI. Robert Redford, Meryl Streep and Michael Kitchen. A tough act to beat for sheer elegance.
Speaking of cocktails, my husband Glenn is a Scotch enthusiast. A couple of years ago I gave him a bar cart for Christmas, and he has been happily stocking it ever since.
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- A silver Scotch Label
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- A ceramic Scotch label
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- A silver Port label
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- A ceramic Cognac label
He has collected decanters and liquor labels for years. In the UK, one doesn’t find Scotch labels. They read Whisky (in Scotland) or Whiskey (in Ireland). The Scots hold that there is only one type of whisky, Scotch Whisky, and it’s to be drunk neat, with perhaps a small splash of water. No ice.
Despite their rather firm and fast views on the proper consumption of the National Beverage, we discovered a Scotch cocktail whilst in Edinburgh, called Penicillin. Made with honey, lemon and a blended Scotch called Monkey Shoulder, it’s served over a giant ice cube, with just a whisper of a smokey, peaty Scotch like Ardbeg or Laphroaig floated on top. Delicious. The recipe is here.
From decanters and labels, it was a very small step to finding other accessories. I couldn’t resist these Art Deco plates from the 1930s by Crown Ducal. They feature six different ladies at the bar, captioned with various cocktails. Ironic that they were introduced during Prohibition, isn’t it?
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- Martini
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- Bacardi
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- Side Car
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- Old Fashion
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- Bronx
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- Manhattan
They were produced in both black and red. I’d love to acquire the red ones if I ever find them.
Happy New Year, everyone! May your 2017 be filled with good health, joy and prosperity.
I am sharing this post with Between Naps on the Porch.
My husband was meant for this post! He too collects decanters and labels (not to mention what you serve out of them!) Thanks for sharing
You are so welcome, Sandra! Thanks so much for visiting. I hope your husband enjoys his decanters, labels and content as much as mine does. Happy New Year.
You perfectly captured an era with your photos on this post. Truly Exceptional!
Hi Mary. So glad you liked this. There is something so engaging about the Gatsby-like era, isn’t there? Happy New Year.
Hi Helen, I have been drooling over your bar cart since I first saw your post and picture of it. I thought I had commented on it but when I came back today to look again it appears that I did not. I have two decanters that I bought the past year. They match a vintage glassware collection that I have started. When I saw yours, a mix of many styles, I decided that I would not limit myself to only ones that match but be open to any that were appealing. Today, I made what is probably my last visit to my favorite vintage shop. They are moving and had all of their inventory deeply discounted. They specialize in estates and I was able to find six decanters that appeared to have been collected over time and then donated together with the estate. I was so excited to find them and grabbed them up. I am a bit closer to being able to copy your husband’s very lovely bar cart. Thank you so much for your timely inspiration.
Oh, you have just made my evening! Sounds like you had a super fun day, although I’m sorry your favourite vintage store is closing – always a pang of regret when a place like that closes. We can’t get serious about any of this collection business. It’s all just for fun đŸ™‚ I’d love to see pictures of the decanters you bought. What a great find – six together! We’ve collected ours over many years. Some of those were wedding gifts – modern Stuart crystal. Some are vintage. Quite an eclectic mix. Thanks so much for posting. Have a wonderful evening.
Hi Helen, I decided to blog about it and am including the link since I cannot figure out how to copy a picture to your comment stream đŸ™‚
http://momshobbyfarm.blogspot.com/2017/01/fun-how-things-come-together.html
Hey Lorri,
I went over to your site and read the blog. I tried to comment, and hope I was successful. Great collection you picked up! I love the variety of shapes and sizes, which makes it more interesting (at least from my perspective). By the way, we bought our bar cart from Williams Sonoma (when they were having one of their huge sales). So glad to “meet” you and hope we stay in touch. Have a great evening. HK
Thank you, I checked and didn’t find a comment. I don’t get a lot of comments but I have not had anyone say they weren’t able to, I just have assumed that it was lack of traffic. It was fun to read your response here. Thanks for the tip on where you found your bar cart :). I will have to watch for a big sale. I too hope to stay in touch.
You have a lovely site, Helen. I read Lorri’s post and had to come over to check out your cart. Now I am lost in dish posts…I am a junkie. It’s going to be hard to leave… đŸ˜‰ Happy New Year.
I’m so glad you joined us, Kim. Yes, love of tableware is a slippery slope! I can spend hours there…
Dear Helen,
Stumbled on this while looking for something else and need to caution you (no need to post this comment) that you should never store liquid in crystal decanters – they leach lead. You can fill them prior to a party, but should then transfer the leftovers back to the original bottle. Please research if you don’t believe me. We have several crystal decanters and we only use them to decant, not to store. Glass decanters are OK to store in (but not as pretty).
I love your bar cart setup. We’ve had ours for about a year and I still haven’t settled on the right combination of bottles, glasses, and accoutrements. Does yours always look like that or do you change it for each event?
Hi Barb,
Thanks for the tip on the decanters. The liquor doesn’t tend to linger in our decanters. đŸ™‚ Glenn is an avid collector of Scotch, so the vast majority stays in the bottles in which it came so he can tell which is which; a lot of it stored elsewhere on shelves.
We do tend to change the setup seasonally and for different events. It’s fun!
Thanks for stopping in!
Best,
HK
Hello Helen-
May I ask where you purchased this Bar Cart? It is stunning!
Thank you!
Hi Skip,
I bought it at Williams Sonoma a few years ago. I just checked and they don’t seem to have it any longer, sadly.