Home cocktail enthusiasts Lesley Jacobs Solmonson and her husband, David Solmonson, were frequently frustrated attempting cocktail recipes with hard-to-find ingredients. While practical in a high volume cocktail bar, $60 bottles of obscure spirits and liqueurs really had no place at home.

“We thought, ‘this is ridiculous.’ And so we asked ourselves how could we teach home enthusiasts like ourselves how to make delicious drinks on a budget,” Lesley says.

That’s when she, the spirits writer for the LA Weekly and author of Gin: A Global History, and her husband David decided to start 12BottleBar.com. A website dedicated to a practical home bar of just 12 bottles from which hundreds of recipes could be made, the idea was also a brilliant idea for a book, catching the attention of Workman Publishing. The book is now officially out.

Though I’d spoken with Lesley about her new book over the phone a couple of months ago, she and David sweetly came to my signing at the Octavia Books’ popup at Tales of the Cocktail in the Hotel Monteleone so we could meet in person. I later met up with them again at the Plymouth Gin Bartenders’ Breakfast at New Orleans’ Audubon Aquarium of the Americas. What a fun couple!

Lesley Jacobs Solmonson

12 Bottle Bar throws in some surprise additions to a home bar that makes being a savvy drinker easy and fun without breaking the bank. Here’s what you ought to know about building a great home bar, and why you should pour a gin cocktail now:

KK: We all get into this business a different way, but one thing’s for sure. Once you’re in, you all in. What compelled you to become a wine and liquor enthusiast?

LJS: I worked as a screenwriter, and I found that I was gradually becoming more and more interested in the food and drink culture. Early on, I went to a food conference and was lucky enough to meet an editor looking for pitches. I wrote a pitch and, shortly after, I had a contract for Gin: A Global History.

The gin book was a small print run, but it was well-received and opened a lot of doors for me in the cocktail world. It was never about money. For me it was about the experience and getting my foot in my door.

KK: So you love gin. Got it. Why?

LJS: Back in college when I was finally old enough to drink, I remember calling my mom and asking her, “what should I order?” She told me that I couldn’t go wrong with a gin and tonic. She was right. That was the start of my love affair with gin. The aromatics got me from day one.

That’s usually what scares people away from gin, but for me, that’s the seduction. If too many botanicals scare you, try something like Hendrick’s, which is sort of a “gateway” gin. It’s got cucumber and chamomile up front, but is low on juniper notes. Or try gin in a sour (spirit, simple syrup, citrus) or mixed with another spirit like brandy. (See a gin and brandy remix in Between the Sheets below).

KK: What is so special about 12 Bottle Bar?

LJS: We never intended 12 Bottle Bar to be the definitive cocktail book for everyone. We wanted to create something that captured the combination of fun and thoughtfulness that we established on our site. We wanted to show people who enjoy cocktails, but for either monetary or situational reasons can’t go out to bars to enjoy craft cocktails all the time, that they can make amazing drinks at home.

If you are just starting out, you don’t actually need to buy all the bottles we recommend. We have chapters talking about building a one-, three-, and four- bottle home bars. But if you do commit and buy all twelve bottles, it will run you $200 on the low end and $350 on the high end. With that basic investment, you can make hundreds of cocktails at about $2 to $3 a pop. The focus on budget consciousness with specific brand recommendations (which give people a road map of sorts), plus the hundreds of classic and modern recipes with minimal ingredients is what sets us apart.

KK: It goes without saying that dry gin is one of the 12 bottles you recommend. But what are the others? What are some of the surprises we see in the book?

LJS: We chose seven spirits – cognac-style brandy, rye whiskey, amber rum, white rum, vodka, gin, and genever. The spirits are rounded out by orange liqueur, two bitters (aromatic and orange) and two vermouths (dry and sweet).

If we get flack for anything besides vodka, it will be genever. Genever is our curveball (During the 1800s, when someone ordered a “gin” cocktail, they would most likely be served genever). Some people call it “the original gin.” But it’s not gin. The two are markedly different beverages. Genever has a malt wine base to which botanicals are added.

Modern dry gin is much cleaner and brighter tasting, whereas genever is whiskey-like. In fact, we often use it in whiskey-based drinks, but we also love it as a tequila/mezcal substitute. It’s equally surprising in tiki drinks. It’s a real chameleon and may be the most underrated of our spirits.

We included vodka in the book not only because of its inherent popularity, but more because it can be used to make any number of liqueurs and infusions, which in turn increase your number of flavor profiles. We probably had the most fun with the vodka chapter because we had so many preconceived notions about it.

When it came to tequila, we were looking at spirits with strong historical significance. We love tequila, but, in our opinion, it simply wasn’t as flexible as something like genever in terms of making as many unique drinks as possible, nor did it have the historic gravitas that many of our other choices possess.

KK: What’s your go-to drink?

LJS: I love all spirits, but gin is my go-to and the greatest evocation of gin is in a dry martini. I like Plymouth navy-strength gin in a 5 to 1 ratio with Dolin dry vermouth, a few dashes of orange bitters, and a twist of lemon. It’s old school. Different drinks call for different situations, but a martini’s a drink you have to contemplate.

Lesley Jacobs Solmonson and David Solmonson

BETWEEN THE SHEETS

The drink comes from Charles H. Baker’s Gentleman’s Companion: Jigger, Beaker, and Glass and “offers a far classier version of a “come on” than one of the more modern drinks like a Sex on the Beach,” Lesley says.

3/4 ounce dry gin

3/4 ounce grape brandy or cognac

3/4 ounce orange liqueur, such as Mandarine Napoleon, Cointreau or Grand Marnier

3/4 ounce freshly squeezed, strained lemon juice

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass. Add crushed ice. Shake for 15 seconds until well-chilled. Strain into a coupe glass.

The post How to build a complete home bar for $200 from the co-author of ’12 Bottle Bar’ (& the staples that will surprise you) appeared first on Booze for Babes.