Marquis Bar Cart ($1,896) at The House Downtown. Zebra cocktail napkins ($30) at Becket Hitch. Dauville platter in gold with white trim ($27) at Trohv. Punch bowl courtesy of Brendan Dorr. Coasters ($24) at Becket Hitch. Gold leaf dish ($20) at Becket Hitch. St. Germain ($29.99) and large Freixenet brut champagne ($12.99) at The Wine Source. Presidio ice bucket ($99) at Williams-Sonoma. Short mixed cut goblets ($79/set) at Williams-Sonoma. Champagne flutes ($12/each) at Williams-Sonoma. Split Freixenet champagne ($3.99/each) at The Wine Source. Chevron straws ($7.50) at Trohv. White cake stand ($39.95) at Williams-Sonoma. Sarah’s Stands Sweet & Low Black Tie Affair 10-inch cake stand ($65) at sarahsstands.com. Gold urchin ($36) at Curiosity. Shot on location at Church & Co. Flowers courtesy of Local Color Flowers. Cupcakes courtesy of La Cakerie.

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An Autumn Nocturne

• 1 750 ml bottle Pierre Ferrand
  Cognac
• 1 cup Averna amaro
• 1 cup St. George Pear Brandy
• 1 oz. Angostura bitters
• 2 cups simple syrup
• 2 cups fresh lemon juice
• 9 cups cold-brew Earl Grey tea
• Dehydrated orange wheels
• Star anise pods

For best results, prep Earl Grey tea four hours beforehand. Combine all ingredients (except garnishes) in a punch bowl. Add a few scoops of chipped ice to chill and dilute. Add large block ice mold to keep cool. Garnish with orange wheels and anise. Serve. Recipe from veteran bartender and Dutch Courage owner Brendan Dorr.

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In the Details: Using toothpicks, dress up your champagne flutes with a simple fruit garnish.

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Striped Straws: Attach patterned straws to mini bottles of champagne with gold thread for a festive look.

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Ribbon Rundown: Curl a piece of ribbon and tape it to the end of your garnish stick to add a fun flair to your punch cups.

Repurposed piece: I like this bookshelf as a bar because the shelves are roomy and give me plenty of space to showcase my favorite bottles. It’s the first thing I see when I enter the room, so I like to fill it with a few treasured objects, as well as any bottles I’m excited about for the season. 

First sip: I’ve been bartending for some time now. I caught the bug when I made a trip down to New Orleans and had my first Sazerac. 

Open bar: While I need to cram the bulk of my bottles in traditional hutches in the dining room, I like the accessibility of having these shelves with a few choice bottles in the living room, and the setup doesn’t separate me from my company. 

Super call: On special occasions, we’ll sip from one of the rare bottles that I picked up from Kentucky, like the Willett 25-year-old rye. And thanks to a lucky find at The Wine Source, I recently added the 15-year-old George T. Stagg [bourbon] to my collection. 

Top shelf: I have a bunch of antique glassware, books, and tools. They don’t all fit on this bar. Only my best stuff goes here. Vintage bar tools from Napier are some of my prize possessions. I use the small barrel for aging Negronis, one of my favorite cocktails. I also make a lot of my own bitters, infusions, and syrups. You can see a bunch of my recipes on my website postprohibition.com. 

Back stock: I have two hutches in the dining room and a wine cellar in the basement to store my excess liquor, ingredients for bitters, glassware, bar tools, and projects in the works. People walk in and say, “Wow, you have a lot of booze!”