Episode 132: 12 Bottle Bar

Find out how to become the best home bartender you can possibly be on a brand new episode of The Speakeasy as Damon Boelte chats with David Solmonson and Lesley Jacobs Solmonson, the husband-and-wife authors of
The 12 Bottle Bar: A Dozen Bottles. Hundreds of Cocktails. A New Way to Drink, and
publishers of the popular blog 12bottlebar.com. Mr. Solmonson has written for both film and television, while Ms. Solmonson, spirits and wine writer for L.A. Weekly, is also the author of Gin: A Global History and the forthcoming Liqueur: A Global History. 12 Bottle Bar was created with the simple goal of making classic cocktails accessible to the home bartender. Despite having a voluminous liquor cabinet, home bartenders David and Lesley Solmonson were continually frustrated by drink recipes that called for more and more esoteric ingredients. Their solution? Create a fixed list of main ingredients – the twelve bottles – and present hundreds of classic and original cocktails that could be made from them. Unlike other cocktail publications, which cater to the professional or seasoned amateur, 12 Bottle Bar is targeted specifically at the novice home bartender. The primary goals are to engage and excite the reader and generally raise the quality of drinking in the average American home. This program was brought to you by Michters.

“I saw a real divide in what was happening in the craft cocktail movement and the home bartendering scene.” [06:00]

—David Solmonson

“Taste is subjective that’s the whole point of cocktails – we always say drink what you like.” [15:00]

—Lesley Jacobs Solmonson