12 Bottle Bar

By Lesley Jacobs Solmonson

1 shot of Genever
1 Beer back (see below)

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The Mister and I spent a good deal of the weekend trying to choose the perfect color combination for our new Moleskine-esque iPad cover. After much debate – blue and orange, green and brown, which color elastic strap, camera hole or not? – it became evidently clear that we live in an age of simply too many choices. And, given too many choices, we tend to over-complicate things. Sometimes, simpler is indeed much better – whether it’s covering your overly expensive Netflix player or just ordering a drink.

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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

0.25 cup firmly packed Brown Sugar
4 oz Water
Quarter Lemon, sliced
1 Pinch (1/16 tsp) each Ground Cloves, Ground Cinnamon, and Ground Ginger
2 oz Remy Martin Cognac
4 oz Real Ale (ESB recommended)

Dissolve the brown sugar in the water
Add sliced lemon to mixture.  Let stand 15 minutes
Add brandy, ale, and spices, stirring to combine
Chill well
Garnish with a lemon slice and a sprinkle of freshly grated nutmeg
Ice can be added if you don’t oppose ice in beer

Multiply by 4 for a full recipe.

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Oxford University is known for many things, among them its tremendous education, exquisite architecture, lovely location, and esteemed graduates.  In terms of cocktail history, Oxford is synonymous with a little book known as “Oxford Night Caps – A Collection of Receipts for the Making of Various Beverages Used in the University” from the early 1800s.  For today’s beer-themed Mixology Monday, we’ve adapted the traditional “Night Caps” recipe for Brown Betty and scaled it down from punch bowl to single serving size.  We think it’s an ideal summer drink, not only because it tastes damn fine but also because it’s a one-two “punch” that’ll impress both the beer-lover and the cocktail snob alike.

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