Forgotten Maryland Cocktails: A History of Drinking in the Free State

by Gregory Priebe, Nicole Priebe, Aaron Joseph (Foreword)

The Southside, Diamondback and the Preakness--Marylanders imbibe history in their native cocktails, from local favorites to little-known classics. Early residents favored fruit brandies and potent punches until the Civil War, when rye whiskey laid claim to local palates. During the golden age of the cocktail, grand hotels like Baltimore's Belvedere created smooth concoctions such as the Frozen Rye, but the dry days of Prohibition interrupted the good times. Using historic recipes with modern twists from renowned mixologists, Greg and Nicole Priebe mix up one part practical guide and three parts Maryland history and top it off with a tour of the current craft cocktail and distilling scenes.

Genres: Nonfiction, Food

192 pages, Paperback

First published May 18, 2015

Reviews

[Martin Doudoroff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some amusing lore for fans of Baltimore

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this for work and I still enjoyed the hell out of it.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book. Combination of history of drinking and drinks in Maryland and drink recipes. Definitely an enjoyable read for anyone interested in MD history (as it relates to cocktails) or any Old Line State drunkard. Definitely has inspired me to try out a few new cocktails at home and seek out some of these historical drinks at our local watering holes.

[Michael Springer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable and useful little volume features the history of Maryland's native cocktails, from local favorites to little-known classics. Handy recipes and attractive illustrations make this a great gift for any Marylander who takes their cocktails seriously.

[Bill Sleeman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Forgotten Maryland Cocktails proved to be a mixed bag (pun intended) – not really a very well organized or well-presented history and not a particularly insightful analysis of drinking or the history of the bar/club industry in Maryland. The authors do excel though when writing about the actual drinks and if they had done more of that and less of the history this would have been a different and a much better book. I suspect that this blogger / author couple are probably very talented ‘mixologist’ but are not very experienced (although clearly very interested in the topic) at making the history pieces fit together. In terms of Maryland ‘foodie history’ I was surprised that Frederick Stieff got only one passing mention. In all an uneven effort but the potential is there for more and I would gladly read a book of drink recipes prepared by them.

[Liz De Coster · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting as food and as history. Some of the historic recipes are a bit overwhelming - 25 quarts of milk punch? yikes! - but the book was full of accessible and telling anecdotes about drinking in Baltimore and Maryland history.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

This could be a solid 4-star book but I found the plethora of typos to just be too distracting. Also the title isn't really accurate - this is ultimately a book about Baltimore cocktail culture with some earlier history of the state thrown in for good measure.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

History and cocktails together! What could go wrong? Beyond a few typos and some factual mistakes, it's a delightful read. A few new #fancyboozing recipes added to my own cocktail list.