Ever wondered how cocktails came to be that delightful mix of flavors we love today? Their history i...
Books Have the Lowdown on Bottoms-Up
The classic cocktail is back, and it has tales to tell.
Often, those tales include the storytellers themselves. Alcoholic concoctions are legendary in the literary life: "You're a rummy, but no more than most good writers are," Ernest Hemingway is said to have told F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Readers who want to imbibe the heady lore, or learn to mix the drinks favoured by their favourites, will find plenty of inspiration in books about the art of the cocktail, whether they want to inhale a hot, steaming punch like Dickens, party like a 1930s flapper, or sip a gimlet, like detective Philip Marlowe in Raymond Chandler's 1953 "The Long Goodbye."
Marlowe's gimlet, along with William Faulkner's mint julep, Carson McCullers' hot-tea concoction that was a precursor to the Long Island Ice Tea, and Fitzgerald's Jazz-Age gin rickey, provide a few of the tales in "Hemingway & Bailey's Bartending Guide" by Mark Bailey. Illustrator Edward Hemingway is Ernest's grandson.
To get back directly to the source of Hemingway's favorite, the daiquiri, readers can savor a reprint of the 1935 "Bar La Florida Cocktails." Bar La Florida in Cuba, also called the Floridita, was where Papa drank the "Papa Doble" with friends including Spencer Tracy and Gary Cooper, Tennessee Williams, Ava Gardner and the Duke of Windsor. The Papa Hemingway Special was a daiquiri made with grapefruit juice.
Another retro reprint, Henry Craddock's "The Savoy Cocktail Book," was published in 1930. Craddock, the famous barman at the storied London hotel's American Bar, left America because of prohibition, and is said to have invented the dry martini.
The recipes range from the topical (The Charlie Lindbergh Cocktail, the Coronation Cocktail, the nonalcoholic Clayton's Temperance Cocktail) to the classics such as the Manhattan and the Sazarac, to the unusual, such as the Corn Popper.
For a true taste of Art Deco splendor, try Craddock's invention the White Lady, with lemon juice, Cointreau and dry gin.
While some might date the popularity of the cocktail to the Jazz Age, it goes back quite a bit further. A New York newspaper had a discussion of "What is a cocktail?" in 1806. The first recipe guide might have been 1862's "How to Mix Drinks; or, The Bon Vivant's Companion," which included that favorite of Dickens' stories, the punch bowl.
In "Punch: The Delights (and Dangers) of the Flowing Bowl," liquor historian David Wondrich celebrates the drink drunk by sailors in the 1600s, enjoyed as an old-fashioned tradition by Victorians like Dickens, and, according to Wondrich, making a comeback today as a cocktail alternative. Cheers.
Pardon the interruption
Did you know that you can become a member for free, taking your cocktail making skills up to level 11. You can save your My Bar ingredients, make tasting notes, have personalised Tried and Want to try lists and more.
Filed with tags
More to explore
A very fancy cocktail with an extremely glamorous namesake, the Mary Pickford cocktail was created d...
Gin was officially invented in the 1600’s, although Italians had been flavoring some of their simple...
Tag cloud
Explore more with our randomised tag cloud.
-
Sweet and Spicy
-
Literary Connections
-
Non-alcoholic
-
Simple Cocktails
-
The Savoy Cocktail Book
-
Quick Drinking
-
Harry Potter
-
Sunny Appearance
-
Irish Cream
-
Visually Striking
-
Pineapple
-
Lesser-Known Cocktails
-
Sports-Themed
-
Cola
-
Vibrant Colors
-
Martinis
-
Rich History
-
Regional Specialty
-
Complex Flavors
-
Canadian Whiskey
Bartender's top tip
Related posts
How to Create the Perfect Mai Tai at Home: A Step-by-Step Guide
There's nothing like a well-made Mai Tai to whisk you away to a tropical paradise, no matter where you are. With its delicious blend of rum, citrus, and a hint of almond, the Mai Tai has become a favo... read more
Mastering the Art of Banana Liqueur: From Peel to Pour in 2024
According to recent industry reports, banana liqueur sales have surged by 15% in the past year. As I sipped my homemade banana daiquiri last weekend, I couldn't help but marvel at how far we've come i... read more
Muddling - The Why, What, and How?
A number of classic and delightful cocktails, such as the mojito, the Old-Fashioned, the Caipirinha, and the mint julep, require a step known as ‘muddling’ in order to extract the maximum flavor from... read more
Subscribe to our Newsletter
Get tips straight into your inbox.
Upgrade your mixology
Become a member for free taking your cocktail making skills up to level 11. Or become a premium member to rise to cocktail greatness.
- Save your bar forever
- Access to our Cocktail Creator, allowing you to create your own wonderful concoctions.
- Create personalised cocktail menus for all your events, bars or parties
- Save cocktails to personalised 'Tried' and 'Want to try' lists
- Create and record tasting notes on cocktails
- Create lists of cocktails to share with friends and family
- A personalised MyBar URL, allowing you to share everything you can make with friends
- And much more ... (what to buy next, measurement choices, search personalisation...)
Have you tried our Wordpress Plugin?
Download our plugin and embed cocktail recipes directly onto your own site or blog.
Choose from our whole recipe database, or choose a specific cocktail made with a certain ingredient, and let us place a beautiful recipe on your own site.
Find out more