12 Bottle Bar

a 12 Bottle Bar original

1 12 oz Bottle Lager
1 oz Sirop de Citron
0.5 tsp Absinthe
Lemon Wedge

Add all ingredients (as cold as possible) to an iced tumbler
Stir gently to combine
Garnish with a lemon wedge

Featured Glassware:  Octavie Tumbler by Villeroy & Boch

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When life gives you lemons, as the old saying goes, you make lemonade.  Unless you live at Casa 12 Bottle Bar, in which case you make half a gallon of sirop de citron.  Straight off the lad’s birthday party and heading into the preparation for our man Lars’ 40^th (a cocktail-centric bash, of course), we had a need for a good deal of what has become one of our favorite syrups to keep on hand – but not so great a need that we didn’t sit there, staring into the yellow abyss, wondering what else we could conjure out of that tart goodness.  Given that the Super Bowl is just around the corner – and that sirop de citron takes three days to make – we figured we’d kick off the week by taking the official beverage of hard-working, broad-shouldered football fans everywhere – beer – and French it up a bit.  Good idea, right? Read More…

By Lesley Jacobs Solmonson

2.25 oz Brandy
0.75 oz Orange Liqueur (Cointreau specified)
1 Dash Angostura Bitters

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

Featured Glassware: New Cottage Amber by Villeroy & Boch

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Given that we have dubbed 2012 as The Year of the Doctor, it seems only fitting that we begin with a short preamble paying tribute to a scientist whose work has helped shape our concepts of Ye Olde Space-Time Continuum.  In considering the myriad of choices available to us – Einstein, Neils Bohr, Werner Heisenberg – we decided to travel a bit further back in time as it were, opting not for the scientists who “invented” time travel, but rather the man without whose theories none of these men could have created their own – the giant on whose shoulders the others stood, if you will.  The man of whom I speak is, of course, the inimitable Sir Isaac Newton.  Read More…

At the beginning of 2011, we picked a theme – The Year of the Sportsman – which we would highlight throughout the year.  Our themes are an informal thing, of course, and we use them only as a guide – something to feature here and there as the mood strikes and appropriate situations arise – and while we hardly scratched the surface on our sporting posts, we did cover American football, horse racing, gambling, baseball, motorsports, lawn tennis, and cricket.

After discussing where we wanted to go with the site in 2012, the most appropriate declaration was that this would be The Year of The Doctor.  Doctor Who?  Exactly.  We’ll be taking a cue from that time-warping Gallifreyian – but not just him alone.  We’ll also be exploring some of the alchemic aspects of the liquid arts.  Here are some of the things you can expect in the months to come: Read More…

Happy 2012!

We want to thank all of our readers and friends for making 2011 our best year yet.  Not only did we achieve our top day, week, and month during 2011, readership was up 290% over the previous year.    Needless-to-say, we’re pleased as punch.

As we did at the end of 2010, here’s a look back at what was popular during the past 12 months.  October and December continue to be our biggest months, so it’s no surprise that holiday drinks of one stripe or another dominate our top list.  What was surprising was the staying power of some of last year’s drinks.  Thanks to a legion of Harry Potter fans (or a long-lost tribe of Tudors), Buttered Beere holds the No. 1 spot for the second year in a row. Read More…