The Resource for the Home Bar & Bartender
About the Grand One Lounge
GrandOneLounge.com was created by Mike Belobradic — a spirits, wine and beer virtuoso — to celebrate everything to do with the home bar and the hosts who create and run them. This site was named after and inspired by Mike’s own home bar, the Grand One Lounge.
Home bartending is a craft unto itself. Whether a home bar is a humble bar cart or a full-fledged bar top that would rival any commercial bar, this site celebrates everything to do with the home bar and bartending. Home bartenders are not professionals with a fully stocked bar, every type of serving glass and every conceivable ingredient at their fingertips. So they do things a little differently. This site celebrates how to make your home bar your own style.
Plain Language Wine Reviews, Spirits Reviews, Beer Reviews and More
From tips to create and run your home bar, to plain language reviews on spirits, wine, beer, canned cocktails and more, the Grand One Lounge is the go-to resource for the home bar.
There are plenty of websites with wine and spirits reviews that focus on the nuances of tasting notes, the palate and so on. That’s all great, but the focus of reviews here is to avoid most of the jargon and instead provide plain language wine and spirits reviews.
Want to know if a wine or spirit tastes good and is worth a try?
That is the objective of all reviews at the Grand One Lounge. While Mike is formally trained in wine and spirits and holds WSET designations in both, the wine and spirits reviews on this site are written for anyone who just wants to know if a certain drink is good (in Mike’s opinion, along with his tasting panels) and worth buying. The site only publishes content for products that are G1L recommended; it does not post negative reviews. In short, if you see a beverage review on the Grand One Lounge blog, it is a recommended product.
For certain products that rise to an even higher level during taste tests, there is the Grand One Lounge Seal of Approval, which are the top recommended beverages.
Learn more about the Grand One Lounge home bar.
About Mike Belobradic,
Founder of the Grand One Lounge
Ever since I was old enough to drink, I have been fascinated by the craft and mystique that goes into distilling spirits and the process behind making wines of all kinds. The slight nuances in production make such a difference in products that are otherwise produced in very much the same way.
The Grand One Lounge is both a celebration of everything to do with craft beverages and a warm and welcoming home bar destination for guests, both in-person and virtual through GrandOneLounge.com
Mike Belobradic and how the Grand One Lounge was born
Introduction to Cocktail Culture.
There’s something about the cocktail culture the brings people together in a unique way. That’s why a home bar is a great addition. It’s not all about adult beverages, but rather getting people together with glass in hand to share stories and enjoy time together.
Humble Beginnings.
From those humble beginnings, I was always curious to learn more about the various styles of wine and spirit production. Living in France for awhile at one point exposed me to a wide range of products and only deepened my interest in the craft.
The Grand One Lounge.
There’s no better place to enjoy your favorite beverage than in your own home bar. Creating the Grand One Lounge as an important part of our home was a labor of love. It’s theming, decor and design are inviting to all and we love welcoming guests.
Practice Makes Perfect.
After many years of experimentation with cocktail creation and wine tastings from around the globe (yes, I put in the tough hours), I began to build a large shelf of essential (and non) wine and spirits of all kinds. Beer is, of course, another important piece.
The Home Bar: Bringing it all Together.
At a certain point it became clear that formalizing everything in a dedicated home bar setting was the perfect culmination of it all. This site is dedicated to celebrating everything to do with home bars and sharing my knowledge and experience with others.