12 Bottle Bar

a 12BB original

4 oz Blue Moon Wheat Ale (or similar)
2 oz Sweet Vermouth
1 oz Harvest Spice Syrup

Combine all three ingredients, stir
Serve over crushed ice
Garnish with a bit of freshly grated nutmeg (optional)
Scale as required

For Harvest Spice Syrup:

2 cups Brown Sugar
1 cup Water
0.25 tsp Cinnamon
0.25 tsp Ground Ginger
0.25 tsp Ground Cloves

Over low heat, dissolve sugar and spices in water
Allow to cool

Featured Glassware:  Boston Highball by Villeroy & Boch

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We have to admit it, we’re not really Thanksgiving people. Of all the major holidays throughout the year, turkey day is low on our hit parade. The reasons are simple enough. We’ve never been able to rationalize the two days of prep to 20 minutes of dining to 4 hours of dishes ratio – unless you have a family of ten visiting and helping tend to the chores, which we don’t. On top of this, Thanksgiving comes with the promise of a guaranteed four-day weekend – not to mention the cheapest PTO expenditure to claim a whole week’s vacation – and we’re inclined to spent the time cashing in on off-season rates in pilgrim-free regions of the northern hemisphere. Read More…

Admittedly, I may have missed the episode, but I don’t believe that Leonard Nimoy ever went “In Search of… The Toasted Punch Biscuit”.  But he should have, because the toasted biscuit has been at the center of one of my greatest cocktail mysteries, and I for one, would have watched the show, copied it, and bought the deluxe edition DVD when it hit the street.  And, he would have saved me a good deal of research – not to mention several dozen eggs.  On the other hand, I’m glad that Nimoy never went down that road because he would have denied me the joy of hunting down a singularly elusive bit of drink history.

The first question I’m sure you have is “What is a toasted punch biscuit?”  As luck would have it, I shall tell you.  During the 16^th and 17^th centuries, things were changing on a global level, as merchant-focused companies from most of the sea-faring European powers set off in all directions.  They brought all manner of wonders back to the continent – furs, cocoa, spices, as well as new beverages like coffee, tea, and punch.  In his seminal book Punch, David Wondrich tells us that the first written reference to punch was made on September 28, 1632, in a letter from one Robert Addams to his colleague, Thomas Colley, both Englishmen stationed in India.  Over the next two hundred years, punch would become ingrained in the culture – specifically in English culture, and as the English had long enjoyed dunking toast in their ale drinks, it should come as little surprise that they soon started adding toast and toasted biscuits to their punch (as well as, to be fair, to their coffee and tea). Read More…

a 12 Bottle Bar original

1 Bottle Champagne
Rinds of 3 Lemons
6 oz (by volume) Brown Sugar
1/3 Pineapple
8 oz Pusser’s Rum
14+ oz Green Tea (Jasmine)

Peel lemons, taking as little of the pith as possible
Place peels in a bowl and cover with the brown sugar, setting aside for at least one hour
When sugar is ready, brew green tea (3 mins for most teas)
Pour 6 oz of the tea over the sugar mixture and stir to dissolve sugar completely
Remove lemon peels, set remaining tea aside to cool
Allow tea/sugar mixture to cool
Chop pineapple into rough ¾ in cubes, place in bowl, and cover with tea/sugar mixture
Allow this to sit several hours (at least two or three) or overnight, if possible
To assemble, add pineapple/tea mixture to a refrigerated punch bowl
Add rum, then chilled Champagne
Add additional cold green tea to taste (we used 1 cup)
Grate fresh nutmeg over the bowl

If possible, place the punch bowl on ice — do not add ice to the punch
Serve in coupes with a cube of pineapple from the punch

Yield: Approximately 48 oz
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From Punch by David Wondrich

2.5 Cups Demerara Sugar
1 Cup Boiling Water
18 oz Strained Lemon Juice
4 oz Strained Lime Juice
2 Bottles Remy Martin Cognac
18 oz Sherry or Madeira (see below for specifics)
1.5 Quart Cold Water

To a punch bowl, add sugar and boiling water
Stir to dissolve
Add lemon and lime juices
Stir more, if needed, to dissolve all sugar
Add spirits, stir again
Add cold water
Grate nutmeg over the top

Garnish with a Playmobil rowboat helmed by a boy

Yield: 18 Cups.  Multiply by 700 for true authenticity

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Traditional, Finnish

1 Bottle White Wine (Riesling)
1 Lemon
1 Small Piece of Ginger or 0.25 oz Powdered Ginger
1 Bay Laurel Leaf
10 Cloves
0.5 Cup Remy Martin VSOP
Sugar

Peel lemon, removing as little of the pith as possible
Add all ingredients (sugar to taste) to a sauce pan and bring to a simmer over low heat
Remove remaining pith from peeled lemon and section

Serve warm, garnished with a lemon section

Note: Once you have the flavor the like, get the solids out of the punch asap, especially the cloves.

Yield: 3.5 Cups

Read More…