12 Bottle Bar

By Lesley Jacobs Solmonson

2 oz Genever
1.5 oz Mango Puree
0.5 oz Fresh Lime Juice
2 tsp Agave Nectar
Tajin Seasoning

Rim a cocktail glass with lime and coat with Tajin
Add remaining ingredients to a mixing glass
Shake with ice and strain into the cocktail glass

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Nothing quite captures Cinco de Mayo like Mickey Mouse. Now, before you start to worry, this story ends in the Arizona badlands circa 1860, but it begins just outside the home of everyone’s favorite rodent — on the streets of Toontown, to be exact.

One of the questions that we get a lot around 12BB is “Why no tequila?”, and our reply is typically a short “Name a classic tequila drink outside of the Margarita. Tequila Sunrise? Ever ordered one?” And that usually ends the conversation. Given that we live in Los Angeles, shrugging off the tequila becomes a bit more difficult as May approaches. Don’t get us wrong, we love Margaritas (we’re Angelenos, after all), and we felt compelled to come up with an interesting variation on the tequila-based sour – embracing the 12BB roll call while still capturing a serious dose of Mexican-American tradition. As luck would have it, the toddler loves mango, and it was mango that we bought for him from a Toontown cart during his first visit to the Happiest Place on Earth this past January.

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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…

In 2009, at the Steve Allen Theater in Los Angeles, Stuart Gordon debuted the play Nevermore… An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe, written by longtime friend and collaborator Dennis Paoli and starring longtime friend and collaborator Jeffrey Combs. The play centers on a public performance given by Poe, during which he reads from his work, recounts his biography, and grumbles about the misfortunes life has dealt him. As the evening progresses, so does Poe’s drinking, and what began as an earnest night of recitals slowly becomes a somber study of one man’s demons. In many ways, Nevermore is the greatest possible summation of Stuart Gordon’s artistic career to date.

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2 oz Bols Genever
1 tsp Sugar (Demerara preferred)
3 Dashes Orange Bitters
2 Fresh Ripe Sweet Cherries, pitted
2 Quarter Sections Fresh Ripe Tangerines, with peel
Splash of Club Soda
Rinse of Kübler Absinthe (optional)

In a thick bottomed glass, muddle together sugar, bitters, and fruit
Strain into a chilled rocks glass
Add genever and top with splash of soda
Give a short, gentle stir to combine
Garnish with a cherry and tangerine “flag”
Optional – Rinse the second glass with absinthe
Optional – add cube(s) of ice

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If you ask me – no one did, but I’m going to tell you anyway – this is the perfect modern cocktail.  Not only does it adhere to a traditional recipe, it’s full of market-fresh fruit prepared directly in the glass, and the base spirit is old and funky.  It’s this last point – the use of Genever here – that marks this as my submission for this month’s Mixology Monday, which is focused on niche spirits.  If you’re Dutch or Belgian, surely genever is as common place as Jack Daniels at a Tennessee barbeque, but it’s probably the most odd of all our ducks – and it’s perfect for this month’s MxMo theme.

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2 oz Bols Genever
1 oz Fresh, Unsweetened Cherry Juice
2 Dashes Angostura Bitters

Add all ingredients to a mixing glass
Stir with ice and strain into a coupe
Garnish with a fresh cherry

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First things first.  I’m calling this drink “Chicago Style” because I pulled it from the Chicago Bartenders 1945 Bar Guide and not from the Savoy Cocktail Book, which offers a whole different libation – the more common version – with the same name.  Of course, then I went ahead and mucked around with the Chicago version, so maybe this one should actually be “Dutch Style”  or “Chicago Dutch” or – nah, it’s all getting too complicated.  I’ll leave it at “Chicago” and make my mea culpas below.

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