A while back, over cocktails, a friend of mine mentioned what neat idea it would be to have a Viking chest that looked, for all intents and purposes, like a normal 6 panel Viking chest, but would unfold and unlock to have a cocktail bar inside. I agreed, and we continued the conversation, not really giving it a second thought. A few months later, he again brought up the subject, and when my friend Kelly brings up something twice, he really means to do it. With a couple of precious slow hours at work, I came up with what I thought was a rather clever design. It sure looks like a normal viking chest, doesn’t it? More below the cut…

The original design started plainly. A while back, Master Dafydd webbed a page on basic chests which you can find here, and I went from there. To turn this into a cocktail chest, it’s clear that space is needed for liquor, for tools, and for citrus. However, it’s terribly inconvenient to mix a cocktail sitting on the ground – downright uncouth, if you ask me (something I wrote in my original notes!). However…what if part of the chest could unfold to form a seat? Ah, now we have something clever and worthy of a blog post.

I portioned about 2/5 of the chest to form the seat, but the seat is hollow so as to maintain the space inside the chest for storage. Additionally, the other top portion of the chest folds out to allow for two small boxes to be placed on them, for ready access to citrus and tools. Also note a lock on the far side to keep those unsavory individuals out of your cocktail chest (*cough* Brion of Bellatrix *cough*). Just kidding, Brion – love you, man!

Below shows a shot with the seat unhinged and the tool rests opened up. A cutting board is also available.

It is hard to see, but there is a 2×4 underneath the boxes of citrus and tools. The cutting board is moved aside, the small boxes are placed in their holders, and the 2×4 is taken and placed into the open handle of the side of the chest, fitting into a small rectangular receiver. Then, the seat is lowered, and a mixologist may then straddle the cocktail chest with gin, whisky, citrus, bitters, absinthe, and all manner of cocktail fixings available to him or her. You’ll note that I’ve replaced less frequently used ingredients like dry vermouth, Cocchi Americano, Campari, Cynar, and others in mason jars to save space and increase the number of cocktails possible.

The most expensive part of the chest, as you might imagine, is the iron hardware. I’m happy to hook you up with plans for such a viking chest – just get in touch, and I have CAD plans for a very nominal fee. =) I can also tell you where to source all of the hardware and nails, along with basic instructions on assembly.