12 Bottle Bar

If you haven’t guessed already, the next several posts will be highlights from Ted Haigh’s “Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails” — the book that should be at the top of your classic cocktail library.  Obviously, we don’t want to give the whole book away, so we’ll be featuring a half dozen or so classics that fit nicely into the 12 Bottle Bar.

In the meantime, be sure to check out our review of “Vintage Spirits” as well as our “12 Rounds With…” Q&A with Haigh.

• “Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails” Review
• 12 Rounds With Ted Haigh (aka Dr. Cocktail)

Stay tuned for more tasty treats!

From Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails

1.5 oz Rittenhouse Rye
0.75 oz Dry Vermouth
0.75 oz Pineapple Juice

Shake with large ice and strain.
No garnish, on the advice of the Doctor.

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By Lesley Jacobs Solmonson

Ask Ted Haigh how he would like to be introduced and he would say, “as half the great wit of the century”.  Well, sir, we’ll let history be the judge of that.  For those of us who drink and drink regularly, we are pleased as Swedish Punsch to call him “Dr. Cocktail”. The title is apt since Haigh has been tinkering with cocktails since before he was old enough to drink them. He may be a graphic designer for film by day, but heck, that just pays the bills (still, you can check out his awesome folio at www.tedhaigh.com). A self-proclaimed cocktail archeologist, Haigh is the author of “Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails“, as well as the curator and designer of the Museum of the American Cocktail in New Orleans. He also writes a regular column for Imbibe Magazine.

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Shortly, we’ll be posting the very first installment of a new feature:  “12 Rounds with…” .   The premise is simple: we send the same 12 questions to various movers and shakers in the cocktail and spirits world.  The variety of answers we get back (and have gotten back, so far) will be astonishing.

Even if you’re not embedded in the world of cocktailia and some of the names don’t come readily to mind, don’t worry.  We’ll explain why each of these individuals has changed, or is changing, the face of mixology, and we think you’ll find their answers fascinating.

They may even change how you think about what you drink.

By Lesley Jacobs Solmonson

My husband David and I have always loved food and drink.  We would plan vacations based on the restaurant where we wanted to eat.  We once spent an evening with friends tasting fifteen bottles of Oregon Pinot Noir, just because we could (well, truth be told, I was writing about it, but what an excuse!)  This was about ten years ago when classic cocktails weren’t even on our – or most people’s – radar, especially in Los Angeles.   Then, Chef David Myers decided to reinvigorate his cocktail menu at Sona, one of L.A.’s most influential restaurants; David was so excited about these new drinks that he would literally bound out of the kitchen to mix us a Penicillin or a Bramble on the spot.

These drinks rocked our world, not only because of the bold flavors but because of the camaraderie they seemed to inspire.  We couldn’t stop talking about these concoctions – how they were made, how the true character of the spirit shone through, how they, in short, made us really, really happy about drinking.  We wanted more.  Then, we discovered Ted Haigh’s “Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails”.   This was the “more” we’d been looking for.  Haigh’s book encapsulated all that was great about cocktails – the flavors, the history, the creativity, and the sheer sexiness of the world in which they exist.
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