If you are looking for an amazing garden room bar in your home, the first and most critical decision to make is which type of establishment you want to take inspiration from.
Many garden rooms are inspired by classic public houses, bringing the local pub even more local, whilst others prefer to get inspiration from fancier, more modern cocktail bars, albeit with fewer bars to fall through.
One of the most interesting trends for bars in recent years, however, and one which is almost too fitting to bring into a modern home, is the alluring and mysterious speakeasy, home of defiance, great jazz music and even greater cocktails.
If you want that kind of liberating, playfully secret hub of drinks, underground music and loose tongues, here are some top tips for turning your garden room into a speakeasy.
Understand Its Roots
Underground taverns and bars have existed for as long as alcohol has, an invention that predates civilisation, but the speakeasy as we recognise it today evolved throughout the late 19th century and quickly reached its most recognisable form in 1920.
Whilst “speak-softly shops” take various forms from secret compartments in billiard halls and the basements of apartments, they would ironically rise in sophistication at the exact point where they needed to keep the lowest profile.
The Volstead Act made alcohol illegal in the United States, which only served in practice to drive drinking underground, hand a hugely lucrative market to the world of organised crime and led to the rise of bootlegging.
A lot of American cultural conventions, from the rise of jazz and blues music that would shape the music of the 20th century to shifts in drinking tastes to even the rise of hot rods and stock car racing, as bootleggers modified their cars to be a lot faster in order to outrun the police.
Even when alcohol was made legal again in 1931, the rebellious underground remained, and speakeasies have since become almost as legendary a symbol of the 1920s as the flapper and Charlie Chaplin.
Cocktails Come First
How do we capture that free spirit? The first step is choosing the spirits themselves.
Because prohibition banned all alcoholic beverages and the risks of bootlegging alcohol and moonshine were so significant, most speakeasies would trade in spirits, and because some sources of alcohol were much worse than others, the cocktail was king.
However, it was not the classic likes of the Old Fashioned or the Tom Collins that were typically traded (not without paying top dollar and knowing exactly what you wanted), but much sweeter and more elaborate cocktails that used a range of flavours to mask, rather than enhance, the taste of a particular spirit.
Sweet drinks could also be finished quickly in case of a raid, although that is obviously not likely to be an issue in your garden.
Speakeasies tend not to have a lot of whisky, instead opting for gin, rum and other spirits that require very little ageing. This means that a rum and coke, a Screwdriver or a Sidecar are far more likely than a beer or a whisky on the rocks.
Rich, Dark Tones Add Mystery
Typically, when making a room of any kind, particularly when space is at a premium, you want to brighten it up as much as possible to create the feeling of space. With a speakeasy, you want to do the opposite.
The goal is an intimate atmosphere that allows for the kinds of conversations you can only have within the secure company of friends.
Warm tones, overhead lamps with vintage light bulbs, string lights and art deco lampshade all help to create a distinct atmosphere perfect for anybody who is anybody.
In terms of colour tone, burgundy, navy, dark charcoal, and other particularly deep shades are perfect for making your speakeasy feel like a place where you can spill secrets.
Go Art Deco
Whilst you do not necessarily need to stick to The Great Gatsby as inspiration for your speakeasy, it goes without saying that the striking, bold geometries of Art Deco dominated the 1920s and, by extension, the speakeasy.
There are a lot of different directions to explore when it comes to adapting Art Deco style to your speakeasy, and its secretive nature, combined with the patchwork quilt approach to 1920s styles, means your style can range from a relatively subtle, subdued use of geometric patterns and bronze metalwork to sublime cathedrals of commerce.
The only true limit is your imagination.
Do Not Forget Entertainment
The big reason why the speakeasy has endured in popular culture is not necessarily due to the drinks but because of everything else.
If you cannot fit a mini-stage for live music, make sure to have a gramophone or speaker system on hand, ideally with an array of jazz and blues staples.