Airstream Bar Organization: Why Is the Rum Gone?

This is the first in a series of posts about how we’ve chosen to organize our lives in our new home, a 30 ft Airstream Classic Limited we’ve named Charlie. So I thought I would start with some of the most important items we own… the alcohol! Just kidding! Though trying to figure out where to store tall and oddly shaped GLASS bottles is a concern when you’re house has wheels, not much storage space, and is prone to bump and move quite a bit. So this is what we came up with, and don’t worry we still have the rum!

Wine & Beer Storage

Steve and I got married in October of 2014. We had the wedding at my parents house in Arizona and had local AZ wine and beer for our guests. It was a small wedding but we wanted to make sure we had plenty of libations for our closest friends and family. We over bought, by A LOT. It took a year for Steve and friends to polish off the leftover beer. We still have wine, about 2 boxes worth specifically from the wedding. We also have another 2 boxes worth from assorted buying, tastings, gifts etc. So 4 boxes of wine are NOT going to fit into a 200 sqft Airstream. We decided to store 3 boxes at my parents house (they can confiscate a few bottles as a fee). The last box worth we found the perfect storage container in the floor of the closet. I have no idea what this space is actually supposed to be used for, perhaps tools? But for us it keeps our wine horizontal (so the corks don’t dry out) and in a climate controlled environment. We would normally place a couple sheets of padding between the two layers of wine so when moving with our home the wine is safe and snug in it’s little cubby. We also store extra bottles of beer in this cubby too, if we have too many to fit in our tiny fridge. We normally have 1-2 bottles of wine open and store those either in the fridge or in the bar area which I feature below.

The Airstream Bar

Now that we’ve covered the beer and wine storage it’s time to move onto the rum and other liquors. One of the big issues (or should I say tiny issue) in the Airstream is the height of the storage spaces. Very very few are tall enough to fit anything taller than a bottle of water. So figuring out where to store weirdly shaped bottles was a challenge. We decided to dedicate one of only 2 tall cabinets to our bar. We can actually fit a good number of bottles though the more oddly shaped the less we can keep. We decided to wrap the bottles in packing material normally used for shipping glassware. It’s not the most attractive solution but it does mean that we don’t have to worry about repacking the bar before moving along. The less we have to pack/unpack every time we move, the better.

This cabinet also had a handy drawer inside. We lined the drawer with no slip material and that is where we store all our bar accessories. You can see the only actual glass glasses we now own in the picture above. We have 4 small glass wine glasses from various tastings around AZ which we’re going to try keeping. If they break we’ll probably switch to a plastic or silicon version but for now we’re staying classy 😉 We also keep our cork substitutes, wine opener, beer opener and cocktail shaker in the drawer. It is really handy to have all of this in one location with a nice table on top. This is not only where we store our bar but it is also where we mix up drinks for ourselves and our guests. Meanwhile on a side note a little known fact about Arizona is that we have a pretty happening wine and craft brewery scene here. There are a few areas of the state with a bunch of tasty wineries including the Verde Valley, Sonoita, and Wilcox. We plan on boondocking in Sonoita quite a bit. In fact it might be the first place we go when we hit the road for good! The craft brewery scene is also pretty happening. Tucson has it’s fair share of delicious brews but so do Phoenix, Flagstaff and others. Plenty of lovely libations to be had, stored, and drank by us.

So that’s it! Eventually we will drink our way through the wine stored at my parent’s place and this will be our total collection. Plenty of room really and I like what we’ve come up with to minimize the hassle associated with keeping the bottles safe and sound. What do you think? Do you have any clever storage solutions to share? Is there a particular organization effort in our Airstream that you’d like me to feature next?