We all miss having a big dinner out with our family and friends. Social distancing cramped our style, temporarily, but we learned how to make the most of being home. So did local restaurants, because they quickly figured out how to make it better for all of us. They brainstormed bar kits. Now we get to play bartender at home. Read on for a taste of what a few places are bundling up. If your favorite isn’t listed, be sure to check with them directly. Also, things are changing these days, so even for the places listed below, do yourself a favor and check the websites for updates and to ask about more offerings and details. Here’s to better days!
Barcelona Wine Bar
Barcelona Wine Bars offer three cocktail kits with infusions and juices of their most popular mixed drinks. Pick up for only $8 and add your own spirits. Each kit makes four drinks and comes with a recipe card for easy mixing at home. Each recipe uses a specialty vermouth/aperitivo, which are also available from Barcelona Wine Bar. The Gintonic Kit for One, at $12, comes with a 50mL of Hendrick’s gin, a bottle of fever tree tonic and an assortment of garnishes. Have fun making mimosas with the house-made mixers, too. At $4 why pick between Guava-Lemon-Lavender and Orange-Peach-Grapefruit? Get both. Pick up locally in Stamford or Fairfield.
Bartaco
Relax into a bit of beachy escapism with Bartaco’s Margarita Carafe Kit now available for takeout and delivery. It packages up everything you need to make six drinks, including pretty darn cute mini bottles of tequila, Triple Sec, fresh lime juice, agave and salt. Just add glasses—and feel free to throw a bit of sand under your bare feet. Friendly reminder that this place is known for its upscale street tacos, so maybe add that to the order? Just a suggestion. A good one. Pick up in Westport, Stamford and Fairfield.
Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, make it yours. Bruxelles Brasserie is setting a home scene with Gin Bowls to Go. Each comes with a bottle of European craft gin and premium tonics. Play it cool and ice your glass, pour and enjoy. The Cocktail Menu has other gin-based options named just for our times, including HAVE COURAGE (Bols Genever, a Dutch gin, and Q Grapefruit Tonic Water) and CALMING TEA (Drumshanbo Gunpowder Gin from Ireland and Fevertree Elderflower Tonic Water). They also offer food packages for families and for date night, as well as a la carte menu choices. Pick up in Norwalk.
What goes with your favorite dish (no matter what it is)? Wine. Hence the reason you’ll pop a cork to hear about the wine deal at Match: all wines to go are fifty percent off. And the wine list will keep your finger scrolling—that is, there are plenty of choice to choose from. Add ravioli, sand-seared salmon, or a pizza or maybe some mac & cheese to freeze at home for another day (we couldn’t wait, but that’s us). Try a cocktail mixer, like an Espresso Martini just for kicks. Pick up in South Norwalk.
Along with tummy-filling options like roasted organic chicken and spiced blue fin tuna, South End is offering DIY Beverage Packages. Good luck choosing, consider the Patio Sipper has El Jimador tequila, SE mixer, club soda and grapefruit to make such a pretty cocktail and the Bootlegger Pineapple Basil Highball is as fun to say as it is snappy to sip. Recently, they even raffled off the Mint Julep kit with copper mugs and all. Available via curbside pickup from 4 to 8 pm in New Canaan.