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How's Your Drink?: Cocktails, Culture, and the Art of Drinking Well
Based on the popular feature in the Saturday Wall Street Journal, How's Your Drink illuminates the culture of the cocktail. 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. Eric Felten tells all of these stories and many more, and also offers exhaustively researched cocktail recipes.
207 pages, Paperback
First published October 28, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
January 23, 2008
I was excited to read this book, and while it wasn't bad, I agree with the review below, I was expecting more. While talking to a bartender at a local watering hole, he pointed me to a book called "Imbibe" which I promptly ordered from Amazon and started reading yesterday. That book is already exceeding my expectations. If you'd like a seriously academic study of drinking in America, I'd suggest the other book. If you'd like a breezy and entertaining guide to making famous cocktails, buy "How's Your Drink?
April 5, 2008
This book is a birthday present from my brother. And what a great book it is. It combines two of my favorite subjects, history and cocktails, using a style I love, a wry humor with a few jabs here and there.
To anyone who'll listen, I'll tell them I have created two drinks in my time. The first is a Fuzzy Redneck. I briefly bar tended in the mid '80's and the Fuzzy Navel was all the rage. A Fuzzy Navel is a screwdriver with peach schnapps. It's a horrible thing, akin to an Appletini in today's clime. I took this drink as a cue to create the joke drink Fuzzy Redneck. A Fuzzy Redneck is a deconstructed drink, it is, a shot of Jack Daniels, a shot of peach schnapps, and a Bud back. Lest you're confused, the shots are not mixed but served in their own glass and lined up in order, Jack, schnapps, Bud.
The second drink I created is a real one and it celebrates the south instead of mocking it. Its called a Dixie Daiquiri. This drink is a fine drink. Its easy to make, you substitute a high quality bourbon for rum and instead of bananas or strawberries you use fresh peaches. Living in the south in the summer can be brutal but this drink is the tonic that soothes and comforts.
So there are my two drinks, but as I read "How's Your Drink?" I realized that created a third. Midway through the book the author discusses the Pink Lady. The drink uses applejack and in reading that it came back to me. When I was in residence hall at Virginia Commonwealth, I was 21 and could buy liquor, while my fellows were still only 18 or 19. I made a weekly pilgrimage to the ABC store to stock up. I would buy Wild Turkey 101, applejack, and ginger ale. Back at my room I entertained a few lovely women and poured them a highball. The recipe was one part bourbon, one part applejack topped with ginger ale. It was a great drink, that really pushed the party along. At the time I had no name for it other than highball. In retrospect, with my re-found memory of this drink I name it the Rhodes Hall after the residence hall in which it was served. I think if I were to make it today, I would use the best bourbon I could find. Wild Turkey is good but there are other bourbons that are much better. Its important to get real applejack. In the book the author cites Laird's made in New Jersey since the late 1700's. I've never tried Lairds. The name of the applejack I used escapes me but it was a Virginia-made product and was the real thing.
To anyone who'll listen, I'll tell them I have created two drinks in my time. The first is a Fuzzy Redneck. I briefly bar tended in the mid '80's and the Fuzzy Navel was all the rage. A Fuzzy Navel is a screwdriver with peach schnapps. It's a horrible thing, akin to an Appletini in today's clime. I took this drink as a cue to create the joke drink Fuzzy Redneck. A Fuzzy Redneck is a deconstructed drink, it is, a shot of Jack Daniels, a shot of peach schnapps, and a Bud back. Lest you're confused, the shots are not mixed but served in their own glass and lined up in order, Jack, schnapps, Bud.
The second drink I created is a real one and it celebrates the south instead of mocking it. Its called a Dixie Daiquiri. This drink is a fine drink. Its easy to make, you substitute a high quality bourbon for rum and instead of bananas or strawberries you use fresh peaches. Living in the south in the summer can be brutal but this drink is the tonic that soothes and comforts.
So there are my two drinks, but as I read "How's Your Drink?" I realized that created a third. Midway through the book the author discusses the Pink Lady. The drink uses applejack and in reading that it came back to me. When I was in residence hall at Virginia Commonwealth, I was 21 and could buy liquor, while my fellows were still only 18 or 19. I made a weekly pilgrimage to the ABC store to stock up. I would buy Wild Turkey 101, applejack, and ginger ale. Back at my room I entertained a few lovely women and poured them a highball. The recipe was one part bourbon, one part applejack topped with ginger ale. It was a great drink, that really pushed the party along. At the time I had no name for it other than highball. In retrospect, with my re-found memory of this drink I name it the Rhodes Hall after the residence hall in which it was served. I think if I were to make it today, I would use the best bourbon I could find. Wild Turkey is good but there are other bourbons that are much better. Its important to get real applejack. In the book the author cites Laird's made in New Jersey since the late 1700's. I've never tried Lairds. The name of the applejack I used escapes me but it was a Virginia-made product and was the real thing.
February 12, 2013
This short read by frequent WSJ Off-Duty contributor Eric Felten is a great blend of history, trivia, and cocktail primers for the well versed or just interested drinker. If you want to make a drink then any bartender's guide will do, but if you want to know why a drink is made the way it is and how it all came about, this book is better.
January 9, 2015
This is a fun, funny, and fast read that made me want to overhaul (or at least add to) my liquor cabinet. Great historical and anecdotal tidbits along with classic cocktail recipes. Love the writing which sometimes goes over the top, but feels tongue-in-cheek enough to not be pretentious.
August 12, 2016
Great! Everything you wanted to know about the Bronx and other cocktails, including what drinks literary characters mixed. Example: Babbit was a poor maker of cocktails.
August 6, 2022
A great read if you like to learn the back story of cocktails. I can’t wait to try some of them now.
May 23, 2009
This book is a delight! Felten is a true wit and accomplished collector of all the best anecdotes, myths, and literary tidbits about drink. While many books in this genre are meant (as often stated in introductions and forwards) to be read erratically, flipped through, referenced from time to time and possibly never truly completed, How's Your Drink? is a smooth journey from cover to cover. Even some of the classic histories are relived here as new, with a master's brevity. There's something about Felten's tone that persuades the reader, even as he reminds that much of the best cocktail lore has a spurious flavor, to determine his accounts as probably the most authentic. Or, at least, the most worth retelling over the next round of drinks. It's as if The Thin Man's Nick Charles, after being quoted here teaching bartenders the proper rhythm in which to shake particular drinks, sits down in a seat next to the reader and becomes the ideal drinking companion.
January 11, 2008
I had higher expectations for this one. At the very least I was hoping to walk away with a greater understanding of the history of certain cocktails and with the curiosity to try a few new ones. Nah, neither really happened. I ended up skipping quite a bit of this book because it didn't hold my interest. Now, if it included a taste-testing cocktail kit, that would have made it much better. :) In fact, if I applied myself more here, I could have made the cocktails myself and read about them while sipping that particular drink. But without a drink at hand, I didn't want to keep this book in hand. It's well-written, but just didn't do it for me.
December 6, 2007
Eric Felten is writing more detailed and carefully researched cocktail history than anyone else today -- his Saturday columns in the Wall Street Journal are well worth following. I was really looking forward to this book, and it didn't disappoint. Well, it did a little -- it's a collection of the columns, spliced together somewhat thematically, and the seams often show. I would rather just have had a compendium of columns. But that's a small quibble for getting to reread some great tales of great cocktail and how they came to be.
December 12, 2007
A wonderful "expanded" compilation of Felten's award-winning columns from the Wall Street Journal. Anyone interested in the history of cocktails would love this book as it touches upon some of the most famous - and not so famous - potables. Aside from the history, Mr. Felten also weaves in stories of colorful characters and episodes that helped to make each drink a legend.
A fun read that I would recommend to give as a gift - but read first.
A fun read that I would recommend to give as a gift - but read first.
May 11, 2010
#45 - 2010.
I always enjoyed reading Eric Felten's weekly cocktail column in the Wall Street Journal and was very sorry when it recently ended. Luckily, this book conveys the interesting combination of history and drink that Felten is so good at writing. With delicious and carefully selected recipes, naturally! I have tried the Raspberry Shrub and found it delicious.
I always enjoyed reading Eric Felten's weekly cocktail column in the Wall Street Journal and was very sorry when it recently ended. Luckily, this book conveys the interesting combination of history and drink that Felten is so good at writing. With delicious and carefully selected recipes, naturally! I have tried the Raspberry Shrub and found it delicious.
September 17, 2011
An informative, though not overly exciting discussion on the history of certain cocktails. Felt some of his recipes were misguided, or lacking any creativity. I understand he is following an historic approach to the cocktail formulas, but wondered why he had to do so with such rigidity? That being my only complaint. I did enjoy the book thoroughly.
April 13, 2012
It's like reading the origins of the super heroes but for cocktails. Also its funny, and not at all like a comic book.
This is a fun way to learn about many of the classic cocktails complete with great storytelling and simple but delicious recipes.
Looking forward to making some shrub this summer.
This is a fun way to learn about many of the classic cocktails complete with great storytelling and simple but delicious recipes.
Looking forward to making some shrub this summer.
November 8, 2009
A wonderful little ode to the cocktail. Playfully written, with selected drink histories and recipes throughout. Felten writes about cocktails not as a detached chronicler but as an enthusiast for a well made drink and the joy of social libation.
December 23, 2013
This is so fun a book that I hate returning the borrowed copy I was lent. But I will Ted, I will. The history of cocktails is done so well and informatively, it makes me want to have a drink or three. Well written and funny, hell of a good time.
April 1, 2014
Such an amazing read! Thoroughly enjoyed both the historical aspects of the book and the recipes and pure craftsmanship of the cocktails presented. Got a ton of great anecdotes to throw around at get-together's now!
February 5, 2008
Fascinating trip through the past examining the origins of drinks familiar (martini) and not so familiar.
June 2, 2009
Loved it. The book was more then just a collection of random recipes, but quotes and histories to go along with the cocktails. Excellent.
October 7, 2009
Cocktails are endlessly fascinating, at least to hear Felten tell it. Makes me want to stock the old bar and mix away the nights....
February 13, 2010
Loved this book, as I do his columns in the Wall Street Journal from which the book was mined. For a second reading, would like to make/drink each cocktail while reading the relevant chapter.
July 17, 2012
Great little book with anecdotes about the origin of cocktails both well-known and obscure. Plus some decent recipes, to boot. Quick read, worth it for any cocktail enthusiasts.
October 7, 2013
A solid light read.
Read
January 17, 2015Eeeee
June 9, 2016
This was a fun little read about the history of various cocktails. Would be a great vacation read!
April 28, 2017
Short, fun histories of classic cocktails. I especially like the authors use of references from books and movies.
December 26, 2021
What a wonderful little book, I can’t say enough good things about it. Back in 2020 when our lockdown lives began I rode the wave of at-home cocktail enthusiasts turned away from the bars and forced to fend on our own. I didn’t want to be just drinking swill at my kitchen table, and was referred to this book by a friend. What followed was a nearly two-year journey through the history of cocktails.
I bought every bottle the book required, I bought all the accoutrements, became a deep lover of fine glassware, and even travelled when I was able to taste cocktails at the source. I meticulously mixed each drink and shared the cocktail’s history with my friends and family while we tasted tested. The book pulled me in and held my interest as I travelled through the author’s hand-picked selections.
It is rare I find a book that is enjoyable to read and that spurns me to action. This was just such a book, and I recommend it highly to anyone interested in expanding their drinking pallet with a dash of history and comedy.
I bought every bottle the book required, I bought all the accoutrements, became a deep lover of fine glassware, and even travelled when I was able to taste cocktails at the source. I meticulously mixed each drink and shared the cocktail’s history with my friends and family while we tasted tested. The book pulled me in and held my interest as I travelled through the author’s hand-picked selections.
It is rare I find a book that is enjoyable to read and that spurns me to action. This was just such a book, and I recommend it highly to anyone interested in expanding their drinking pallet with a dash of history and comedy.
December 22, 2021
This book is my go-to for making well-crafted cocktails.
It is also the only book of it's kind that I have actually read from cover-to-cover (and enjoyed reading). So many of these cocktail books have copy that just seems to be fluff without any compelling reason to bother reading it. Felten has given us an engaging history about these cocktails and their ingredients. Beyond that he has provided enough "whys" to building cocktails to teach you how to come up with your own concoctions that people will truly enjoy.
Of the many fancy cocktail books I've been given over the years. This is the only one that has the stains and broken spine of a well-loved cookbook that opens right to your favorite recipes.
It is also the only book of it's kind that I have actually read from cover-to-cover (and enjoyed reading). So many of these cocktail books have copy that just seems to be fluff without any compelling reason to bother reading it. Felten has given us an engaging history about these cocktails and their ingredients. Beyond that he has provided enough "whys" to building cocktails to teach you how to come up with your own concoctions that people will truly enjoy.
Of the many fancy cocktail books I've been given over the years. This is the only one that has the stains and broken spine of a well-loved cookbook that opens right to your favorite recipes.
February 18, 2020
I was expecting so much more from this book than I received. There is still so much more that you can go into when discussing drink and relating historical anecdotes. In the end, this felt very underwhelming.
April 1, 2019
Really 3.5. Fun little book.
December 25, 2024
A book about cocktail culture, with amusing historical anecdotes and a scattering of recipes.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews