Matthew Royal’s Reviews > The Drunken Botanist: The Plants That Create the World's Great Drinks > Status Update

"The Moscow Mule, invented in 1941 by a vodka distributor and a bartender to make use of the bartender's unsold ginger beer and to jump-start vodka sales. Apparently the bartender's girlfriend owned a company that manufactured copper mugs, so her product became part of the recipe, too."

"Artichokes also play a well-known trick on the taste buds, temporarily suppressing taste receptors on the tongue that detect sweetness. The next thing that comes across the palate--a drink of water, a bite of food--tastes unusually sweet as those receptors start working again."

I've had half a dozen conversations with friends and strangers about things I've read in this book.

"There is one ingredient that can make mezcal different from whiskey or brandy: a dead chicken. Pechuga is a particularly rare and wonderful version of mezcal that includes wild local fruit added to the distillation for just a hint of sweetness, and a whole raw chicken breast, skinned and washed, hung in the still as the vapors pass over it. The chicken is supposed to balance the sweetness of the fruit."