Note: This tiptorial refers to juicebars as used on Residential Lots, not Community Lots.

Not all juicebars behave identically.

I've noticed that some juicebars do not allow access to drinks (ie, more than one), after they are mixed, from the bartending side of the bar, but instead require access from the opposite side. This is important if the player has placed the bar against a wall, or some other obstruction that would prevent Sims from reaching the other side of the bar. This is only relevant when more than one drink is made.
(As an aside, this is probably a Maxis screwup, like so many others.)

Of the 17 bars in the game, four require Sims to be able to access the opposite side of the bar in order to consume pre-mixed drinks - that is, the side opposite from where the Sims stand when mixing the drinks. Because of this, these bars should not be placed against a wall or some other object(s) that would prevent Sims from reaching the opposite side of the bar. Instead, one of the other bars that allows access to drinks from the bartending side should be used.

The four bars that behave in this manner are:
Bachman Busbar
Retro Lounge "High Liquidity" Juice Bar
Black Lacquer Bar Counter
Double Wood Bar by Romantic Notions

Bachman Busbar $600


Retro Lounge "High Liquidity" Juice Bar $800


Black Lacquer Bar Counter $1,000


Double Wood Bar by Romantic Notions $2,250


The other 13 bars do not require Sims to access the opposite side in order to consume pre-mixed drinks, although they can (ie, they can access drinks from either side). Any one of these could be used in situations where they are placed against a wall or other obstruction. They are:
"Crank Out The Beverage" Bar by You Got Muscle
Party Hardy Open Bar
The Oasis
So Neutrino by Astro-Tops Design
"The Grease Stands Alone" Island Bar
"Ultra Serious Fan Island Bar" by Al Ike Spordz
Beach Party Bar
Where's My Mini Umbrella Bar
"Neonbar" by Neontrix
S.P.E.L.L.
Surfaco Bar by Kitchensations
The Impossible Mission Island Bar
Way Fluid Island Bar

I determined all this by testing each bar with a couple of Sims I use for testing:

I'm not sure which EP/SP each one belongs to. I just installed the cheat into the little program I use that runs cheats that will tell me this, so I'll probably add that info to my OP later.

Interesting find. It never occurred to me to place them in that manner, it looks weird to me. But if I had, I'd have expected it to be the other way around, that a majority of bars require you to be at the opposite side from bartender, since that's how you'd normally go for a drink (at least in my mind).

Your assumption makes sense, although I have to say that in all situations where I've put a bar in a house, I had it against a wall. Of course, this won't necessarily always be the case. It obviously depends on the specific use. On a community Lot, it is more likely to be in a typical nightclub configuration, with the bartender on one side and the customers on the other. On a residential Lot, otoh, it's probably more likely to be against a wall.

Also, I clarified my OP to state that the 13 bars allow access from either side, not just the bartending side, just in case that wasn't clear.

Interesting. I never thought about putting them against a wall. But then I find the idea of having a bar in one's house very strange, so I tend to restrict them to party rooms.

Well, in the original Sims game, as I remember, there was a 1-square bar that people frequently put into their houses. I wish there were 1-square bars in TS2, but since there aren't (not interested in CC), I'm forced to use these. I suspect the reason they got rid of the 1-square bars is because they are pretty much impossible to interpret as being non-alcoholic.

How is a 1-tile bar impossible to interpret as non-alcoholic, and 2-tiles aren't?

I don't have a pic of the original Sims 1-square bar, but in real life these things were used exclusively in homes, and I've never interpreted them as holding anything but liquor. They typically were/are not refrigerated, so the only beverages they can really store are the alcoholic variety that don't require refrigeration. Also, many of them were round in shape and for this reason alone made interesting Sims objects, since most objects Sims interact with are more...angular.
The 17 TS2 2-square ones, otoh, can just as easily be interpreted as a fruit drink stand.

In any case, people can interpret these things any way they want. I was merely pointing out that, if given the choice, I'd rather have a 1-square bar in a private house than these 2-square ones. But Maxis didn't give me that choice.

but there is a 1 tile wine rack thing, it also satisfies the buy a bar want, the drinks are called nectar i think, and it's basically the one from the first game with a different look. i think it might have came with freetime

edit: well beat to replying, the wonders of not refreshing pages. and to add the 1 tile bar is in the party section subsection of buy mode

Isn't this the thing that looks like a kid's lemonade stand?
Hardly something to put in a living room, unfortunately.



I also appreciate that Maxis refrained from directly depicting alcohol consumption. I'm certainly not an abolitionist, but I don't care for drinking in excess.

Here are some pics that show beverage bars in four of my uploaded Lots:
Apartment house common area
House
House
House
The first and last pictures show how nicely a beverage bar fits into a 2-square alcove, with two wine racks above it.

I always leave space in front of the bar and behind it. You can't make drinks and serve them otherwise.

I personally ignore the juice description. You don't go out to the club to drink juice lol.

Your Sims certainly can make drinks (plural) and consume them, but I've never heard of serving them.

I mean on community lots where there is a bartender behind the bar.

I rarely use bars at home (despite my pleasure sims all whining for one). They're just too big. A one tile bar would be brilliant.

but there is a wine rack form Freetime that will fulfill the buy a bar want, and it's one tile, drinks can be served from it or a sim can have a single glass like a normal bar, the difference is that the drinks have different names and it's (maybe) cheaper then the rest, so one does exist Charity

I'm sure someone halfway familiar with meshing could convert the two tile bars into one tile using the wooden nectar bar as a base object.

Didn't know the wine rack did that. Useful, thanks.

I did some searching and someone previously asked for one tile bars in WCIF. Only one of the answers was actually a bar though. The other one was a cabinet someone had put drink deco on top of.

http://www.thesimsresource.com/down...mesh/id/494574/

The animations are a bit off as it still takes up two tiles; it just looks smaller.

Well if a bartender stands behind the bar..it is obviously not against a wall...which does not mean it can't be and still be functional. Of course, not on community lots where a bartender will spawn automatically if you put a bar. Putting against a wall would be for house lot.
I have to try this. Thanks Rob.
*runs back to meshing*

Could anyone tell me which bars spawn an NPC bartender when placed on an unowned community lot, and which do not?

There is a bar (a Black Lacquer Bar Counter) in Veronaville Market (base game), but no bartender appears when I send my Sims there; the bar there is effectively self-service. As far as I know there are two kinds of bartender, though I think they both dress the same:
(1) Base game bartenders can be hired to serve drinks for your parties and functions on residential lots.
(2) The bartenders who man the bars on community lots; I believe they came with Nightlife.

In my experience there are 3 bartenders of type (1) with each of the Maxis base game 'hoods, but bartenders of type (2) are only spawned when needed. I only got my third type (2) bartender when I built a nightclub with 3 bars. There is something on the (Wikia) wiki about this. So I wonder if there are also two types of bar to go with the two types of bartender.

You are right, it's called the "Fruit Nectar Bar"! So much better for smaller homes. The height was also suitable for the "OMSP for Counter Usable".
This can be useful in a very small apartment.

Oh I knew about that. I thought you meant an actual wine rack. That explains why I couldn't find it in the catalogue lol.

I think it's great, but it needs to become recolored, it is too stylish. Should look more like "Ikea-cheap".

I'm with Charity. It may say juice, but when have any of you seen a bar of that appearance that serves juice (without added alcoholic substance)? If they didn't want to include alcohol, then why include a bar at all. But, it's a sandbox, and I suppose it's an okay compromise. I interpret juice as alcohol, others interpret it as juice.

Also, with this one-tile bar you mention, are you referring to the wooden thing that looks like a box with some kind of thing on it, that lets you serve specific kinds of nectar? If so, I am amused, because that's one of the few that I actually interpret as serving juice.