12 Bottle Bar

a 12BB original

3 parts Advocaat (Dutch/Belgian eggnog liqueur)
3 parts ESB ale (Extra Special/Strong Bitter)
1 part (or to taste) spiced brown sugar syrup (recipe below)

Add all ingredients to a glass of any shape or sort and stir to combine. Some may like a cube or two of ice. Grate a bit of fresh nutmeg over the top

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It was roughly around this past Halloween that we answered our nation’s call. By “our nation”, we mean PBS.org, and by “answered”, we mean responded to their email requesting an original drink for a collection of holiday recipes. Obviously, it was an honor to be among those chosen by PBS, but coming up with a new Christmas-themed concoction was a bit of a challenge. Not only did the drink need to be simultaneously new and fresh while still conjuring up Christmas traditions, it also needed an appropriate moniker — something that could rationally be applied yet esoteric enough not to have been previously taken.

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Despite whatever negative connotations the term “exploitation cinema” might bring to mind, it is a concept which, at its heart, is really much more benign than you might think. Basically, an exploitation film is one which focuses on an element simply for the sake of luring in the audience – sex, blood, a specific ethnicity, or even Megan Fox and giant transforming robots. And, in the parlance of Hollywood, exploitation was a way for the major studios to distinguish the “low brow” fare of the little guys from their own “important” movies. More to the point, exploitation cinema was, and remains, a way for people without marketing budgets to compete in a lopsided marketplace. Take, for example, “The Human Centipede” – for which, I’m sure, you’ve never seen a poster or a television commercial but about which you’ve certainly heard and formed an opinion.

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By Lesley Jacobs Solmonson

2 oz Brandy
1.5 oz Orange Liqueur
0.75 oz Fresh Lemon Juice

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass
Or, pour directly into a rocks glass over ice

Featured Glassware:  Scotch Whisky Tumbler No. 1 by Villeroy & Boch

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Fat Tuesday –better known as Mardi Gras – is upon us and, with it, celebrations spanning the globe from Belgium to Brazil to the Big Easy.  Each Mardi Gras is unique in its way, but, given our current affection for all things 1912, it is the pre-Lenten revels of New Orleans that interest us today.

Originally a religious festival, Mardi Gras was brought to the Crescent City by French settlers who indulged in rich food and drink – as well as parades, masked balls, and late night carousing – before the fasting of Lent.  Most of the festivities were and still are centered on krewes and social clubs, among them the Baby Dolls who celebrate their 100^th anniversary this year.   Tracing their roots to New Orleans’ 6^th Ward, historically a cornerstone of Creole culture, the Dolls are one of the many “second line” groups in the brass band parades, which evolved out of traditional jazz funerals. 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…

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…