Review of 'Imbibe! : From Absinthe Cocktail to Whiskey Smash, a Salute in Stories and Drinks to Professor Jerry Thomas, Pioneer of the America' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Great book covering the early days of American cocktail mixing, writing and drinking, from the mid-1800s through the early 1900s. Lots of interesting cocktail recipes, with discussions about how they came about, what the ingredients were like and what some variations might have been. He tracks down the earliest mentions of many of them, and tries to pin down the inventors, with varying degrees of success.
I also really liked the discussion of early bar tools and what the liquor was like back then. Sadly, the most glaring ingredient that isn't available at all any more is "Old Tom Gin", which was, presumably, a sweeter, heavier gin than the "London Dry" we have today. Another very hard to get gin is the Holland Gin, which is a genever of even thicker purpotions. It's good to see that a real Plymouth gin is more widely available these days. Wonder if any …
Great book covering the early days of American cocktail mixing, writing and drinking, from the mid-1800s through the early 1900s. Lots of interesting cocktail recipes, with discussions about how they came about, what the ingredients were like and what some variations might have been. He tracks down the earliest mentions of many of them, and tries to pin down the inventors, with varying degrees of success.
I also really liked the discussion of early bar tools and what the liquor was like back then. Sadly, the most glaring ingredient that isn't available at all any more is "Old Tom Gin", which was, presumably, a sweeter, heavier gin than the "London Dry" we have today. Another very hard to get gin is the Holland Gin, which is a genever of even thicker purpotions. It's good to see that a real Plymouth gin is more widely available these days. Wonder if any of the boutique distillers will take a crack at an Old Tom gin?
While I enjoyed the recipes, I have to say that for some reason, I found them very hard to follow. I think part of it is that he uses the original quotes from the various groundbreaking books of the day, which means the measures are much more vague. While he puts equivalents in, I'm still not sure if they are exact equivalents or his adjustments to the recipes. And while he more clearly describes each, I think he goes back and forth himself as to which way the reporting is done.
Other than that minor nitpick, I really enjoyed this book. The writing was wonderfully colorful, with an almost 19th century feel to it. You can tell Wondrich really loves his research! I'm dying to try some of the recipes. As a bonus, there's a very nice appendix on his online research notes and I'm going to be looking into all of them.