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How's Your Drink?: Cocktails, Culture, and the Art of Drinking Well

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Author: Eric Felten
Publisher: Agate Surrey
Category: Book

List Price: ~~$20.00~~
Buy New: $11.25
You Save: $8.75 (44%)

New (27) Used (10) from $11.25

Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

11 reviews
Sales Rank: 90926

Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 200
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7 x 5.1 x 0.9

ISBN: 1572840897
Dewey Decimal Number: 641.874
EAN: 9781572840898
ASIN: 1572840897

Publication Date: November 28, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description

Based on the popular feature in the Saturday Wall Street Journal, How's Your Drink illuminates the culture of the cocktail. Cocktails are back after decades of decline, but the literature and lore of the classics has been missing. John F. Kennedy played nuclear brinksmanship with a gin and tonic in his hand. Teddy Roosevelt took the witness stand to testify that six mint juleps over the course of his presidency did not make him a drunk. Ernest Hemingway and Raymond Chandler both did their part to promote the gimlet. Fighting men mixed drinks with whatever liquor could be scavenged between barrages, raising glasses to celebrate victory and to ease the pain of defeat. Eric Felten tells all of these stories and many more, and also offers exhaustively researched cocktail recipes. How’s Your Drink is an essential addition to the literature of spirits and a fantastic holiday gift for husbands and fathers.

Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

I'll Have Another August 4, 2008
Felten pens one of my favorite columns in the WSJ -- a column entitled "How's Your Drink". The book, taking its title from the column, carries through the theme of the columns which is to reintroduce the reader to the historical and culture heritage of cocktails.

Until recently a devout vodka drinker, I have, through Mr. Felten's writings, let go of my long held prejudice against gin and have instead come to favor it. At an earlier age my sisters and I were warned of the dangers of gin -- not alcohol, but gin specifically:"If you must drink anything don't drink gin... it will make you go blind!" Reading Mr. Felten's characterization of gin led me to risk going blind and give it a try.

Every chapter is filled with anecdotes and historical accounts of the origins of each drink mentioned in the book. For example, because of the Hollywood portrayal of James Bond, only those who have read Ian Fleming's novels or Mr. Feltens book would know that Bond drank anything other than a "vodka martini, shaken not stirred". In fact, Bond, like any true gentlemen, would select a drink appropriate for the occassion.

A book about cocktails wouldn't be complete without a few recipes. Each recipe is intend to best represent the cocktails presented. Felten does this, but also discusses some of the known variations, their origins and the relative merits or "challenges" of each. Two favorites I discovered in the book are the "Gin Rickey" and "The Bronx" cocktails.

Not all the recipes were to my liking, but that's to be expected. God bless the man who can make a palatable drink out of Campari -- The Americano Highball certainly doesn't fit the bill.

A cautionary note: I would encourage anyone reading this book to try making these recipes at home. Why? You may be challenged to find a bartender who can make most of the drinks mentioned in the book. It's not that the drinks are difficult to make or that the ingredients are difficult to obtain. Instead it reflects a willingness on the part of patrons to settle for the mundane and the eagerness of bars to keep those margins high. Don't believe me? Let me know when you find a bar that can make a Gin Rickey as good as the one you make without first asking you what's in it.

4 out of 5 stars

Good literary introduction to cocktails July 5, 2008
This is a very fast and pleasant read. The author passes his wisdom onto you through both his own experiences and also references to literary characters. The recipes themselves are part of the books' structure, but the author's back-stories are just as important.

Like the other good books about cocktails I've read (The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks by Embury and American Bar by Schumann), the book is interesting, opinionated and very well designed.

5 out of 5 stars

A fascinating look at the history of the cocktail February 3, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

I love this book. But then again, I am addicted to his WSJ column and it is for that reason alone that I still retain my subscription. For those of you who are regular readers of Mr Felten's WSJ column, rest assured there is a significant amount of new material in this book. Although it contains no new drink recipes, it appears to include everything that didn't make it past the WSJ editor. In other words, there are new stories and anecdotes for each cocktail supported by Mr Felten's extensive research. I have read the book several times and look forward to reading it several more. Well done Mr Felten.

3 out of 5 stars

Not as good as his columns January 18, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful

I am some what disappointed. May be I was hoping for some thing too much. There is no unity in book. Recipe for the drinks is not written in detail. But overall an enjoyable book on Friday evening.

4 out of 5 stars

A Fascinating Tour of the Cocktail January 7, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

Felten's /How's Your Drink?/ is a pleasurable, although at times mildly disjointed stroll through the world of cocktails and their history. Many of the transitions are well done, but a few are along the lines of, "Speaking of horses, did I tell you that I got a haircut the other day?" Though those few abrupt changes of topic serve to startle the reader, it is very easy to get fully engaged once again in the new topic at hand. The topics slide from presidents to fashionable clubs to the history of a brand of rum to the symbolism inherent in a literary character ordering a specific drink, providing a varied and highly interesting history of the drink recipes presented. Coming in at just under 200 pages, it's a quick and (mostly) well-written read.

The recipes provided are nice punctuation marks to the stories surrounding them. Perhaps the best recipes are the ones where Felten demonstrates that the drink should be made to the cocktailian's taste, such as with the old-fashioned when he proclaims, "Garnish with orange and cherry (or don't) and the other lemon peel." Beyond that, though, they offer nothing especially spectacular, and that's a good thing. Like the bitters cutting through a slightly sweet cocktail, the recipes provide a reasonable balance, answering the question just in time, as you read and wonder how to make the delicious concoction described.

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