By me, in today’s SF Chronicle:
New books dedicated to old drinks
Camper English
Many drink books published today are the “Behind the Music” of cocktails, telling the stories of the book authors and recipe histories rather than inventing a slew of new libations.
In the past few years we’ve seen titles including “Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails: From the Alamagoozulum Cocktail to the Zombie,” “Straight Up or On the Rocks: The Story of the American Cocktail,” “Sippin’ Safari: In Search of the Great “Lost” Tropical Drink Recipes… And the People Behind Them,” and “And a Bottle of Rum: A History of the New World in Ten Cocktails.” This fall, two more titles make that list.
“Imbibe!” by Esquire writer David Wondrich (Perigee Trade, $24) is an investigation into the first known cocktail recipe book, Jerry Thomas’ “How to Mix Drinks” from 1862.
The majority of the text is a deconstruction of about 100 recipes from or inspired by “How to Mix Drinks.” Wondrich translates the recipes into current measurement sizes, suggests substitutions and deletions of specific ingredients, and recommends specific brands to give the drinks authentic (or better tasting) flavor. But this is not just an updated recipe book: While each recipe may consist of only a few lines, Wondrich’s historical analysis of the drink’s origin, comparison with recipes from other texts, and suggested alterations and spin-offs can go on for several pages each. (And in a few places he refers to how much material he left out to save space.) Wondrich uncovered many new bits of information and has answered several lingering cocktail origin questions in the book. Cocktail connoisseurs and history buffs will find this book an essential addition to their reference libraries.
Eric Felten’s “How’s Your Drink? Cocktails, Culture, and the Art of Drinking Well” (Agate Surrey, $20; release date Nov. 28) is written in the breezy tone that defines his James Beard Award-winning column of the same name in the Wall Street Journal. The book consists of short essays on classic and modern cocktails with recipes at the end of each, grouped into chapters on ice drinks, holiday drinks, war drinks and the like. Though Felten also traces cocktail origins, he references fewer cocktail books and more literary sources like Broadway plays, novels and newspaper stories. It is a cultural study rather than a technical one, packed with great trivia and hilarious observations like calling gargantuan martinis “hazing, not hospitality.” The best description of the book, and the study of cocktail history in general, comes from the conclusion. “If there is anything to be serious about in the way of drinks it is this only: that one’s drink be delicious. If it can add to our pleasure by having a good story to tell, then all the better.”
Labels: books, camper_clips
Leave a Reply