As entertaining as Eric's columns for the Wall Street Journal!!

books:


	• How's Your Drink?: Cocktails, Culture, and the Art of Drinking Well Eric Felten Agate Surrey, 2007 - 200 pages average customer review:based on 10 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A fascinating look at the history of the cocktail

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.

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A Fascinating Tour of the Cocktail

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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Good literary introduction to cocktails

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

Like the other 2 good cocktails books I've read (The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks by Embury and American Bar by Schumann), the book is about more than cocktails. All 3 are not afraid to be opinionated and very well designed.

As entertaining as Eric's columns for the Wall Street Journal!!

Great little book! Informative and entertaining. The historical and literary anecdotes will appeal to the history buffs, that like to imbibe.

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Not as good as his columns

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.

reviews: page 1, 2

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.

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