12 Bottle Bar

1 oz Krogstad Aquavit
0.75 oz Freshly Squeezed Lemon Juice
0.50 oz Simple Syrup (1:1)
0.50 tsp Brooklyn Hemispherical Sriracha Bitters
Dry Sparkling Wine

Add aquavit, juice, syrup, and bitters to a mixing glass
Shake with ice and strain into a champagne flute
Top with dry sparkling wine and garnish with a lemon twist

Featured Glassware:  Miss Desiree Flute by Villeroy & Boch

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This is our final Christmas drink for 2011, and before we do anything else, I want to thank everyone who was kind enough to provide a recipe for us.  Our goal this year was to step outside of the 12 Bottle Bar and see what some friends, both new and old, were drinking for the holidays.  As we’ve now been espousing our way of thinking for a little over two years now, we thought it would be fun to take a little break and to show you some exciting things – bitters, allspice dram, applejack – that are available outside of our stringent rule set but well worth your attention.  Even if you’re a 12BB die-hard, we hope that you picked up a few new ideas that you can work into your routine.  Read More…

By Lesley Jacobs Solmonson

1.5 oz Hennessy VSOP Privilège Cognac
1.5 oz Ruby Port
0.75 oz  Monin Gingerbread Syrup

Mix together at room temperature in a snifter

Featured Glassware:  Modern Grace Brandy by Villeroy & Boch

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When mixology becomes the official religion that it should be, Gaz Regan will surely be the patron saint of bartenders – long after his tenure as first pope, of course.  For, in his heart of hearts, Gaz is just that, a bartender who cares deeply for the trade and for other bartenders.  This perspective has led him to write a myriad of books, many of them geared directly to those behind the stick, including The Joy of Mixology and his newest bible, Gaz Regan’s Annual Manual for Bartenders 2011.  Add to that his Ardent Spirits website, which is specifically for mixmasters and includes the Worldwide Bartender Database of more than 2,000 bartenders around the globe.  Quite simply, the man is on a mission to celebrate his trade, and we are ever so pleased that he has chosen to celebrate with us. Read More…

By Lesley Jacobs Solmonson

1.5 oz Plymouth Sloe Gin
0.5 oz Freshly Squeezed Lemon Juice
1/2 fresh Plum, roughly chopped
0.25 oz Agave Syrup (see below)
1 to 2 splashes Club Soda

1 slice fresh plum dipped in sugar, for garnish

Add sloe gin, lemon juice, plum, and agave syrup to a mixing glass
Muddle plum to release juices and flavor
Shake with ice and strain into a collins glass filled with ice
Top with club soda and garnish with plum slice 

Featured Glassware:  Octavie Tumbler by Villeroy & Boch

* * *

Back in the mid-80’s, when Los Angeles was just a blip on the foodie radar, I was a college kid hungry to try something other than the “continental cuisine” (heavy sauces, lots of meat and very few salads) I grew up on going to restaurants with my parents.  One night, my best pal – an Angeleno from birth – took me to a new place she had heard about.  It was a nondescript spot – with its metal door and lack of windows, you might not even know it was there – on the incredibly hip Melrose Avenue, and it changed my view of what food could be.  Ironically, I have to admit that I don’t remember a single dish I ate, but in my defense, this was nearly 30 years ago.  What I do remember is the eye-opening experience of dining somewhere that truly celebrated flavors – flavors which I had never tasted before.  The restaurant was CITY, owned by Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Fenniger, long before they rose to the top of the L.A. food chain with their Border Grill restaurants. Read More…

2  oz  Bols Genever
0.5 oz  St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram
0.5 oz Domaine de Canton Ginger Liqueur

Add all ingredients to a mixing glass
Shake or stir ingredients with ice and strain into a cocktail glass

Featured Glassware:  Scotch Whisky Tumbler by Villeroy & Boch

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In putting together this year’s selection of drinks, we chose the term “Holiday” over “Christmas” for the simple reason that we were going to include two drinks which focused on celebrations outside of Christmas.  Yesterday, we kicked off Hanukkah with Daniel Handler’s Jewish Manhattan, and today we toast another holiday tradition – one that transcends religions – football.  For better or worse, Christmas Day isn’t going to see much in the way of football this year.  In 2011, Christmas Day falls on a Sunday.  The NCAA traditionally avoids Sunday in deference to the NFL and, this year, the NFL has moved most of its Sunday games to Saturday, Christmas Eve.  So, even though we’ll still get the Bears at Green Bay, there will be very little football on Christmas proper.  Read More…

By Lesley Jacobs Solmonson

2 oz Rye
0.25 oz Manischewitz Concord Grape Red Wine
Angostura Bitters

Instructions per Mr. Handler:

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice.
Pour in the rye and the Manischewitz, and add one dash of Angostura bitters for each living female relative over the age of seventy in your extended family.
Shake, then pour into a cocktail glass and garnish with a cherry you’ve plucked from a fruitcake someone gave you.
Sip frugally while arguing over something that does not matter in this world or the next, and allow the ice to melt in the shaker.
When it has melted completely, pour it into your cocktail glass and convince yourself that you are drinking a second cocktail for free.

Read More…