Emily Vikre

The days are getting longer, but winter is far from over. So, here are a handful of new books to be on the lookout for this season.

Measurements: A Proportional Cocktail Guide by Nick Barclay (NHP Publishing) January 14, 2020 Whatever the season, it is always a good idea to sit back and relax with a cocktail. Graphic designer Nick Barclay has created a stunning anthology of cocktails. This book combines classic recipes with new drink ideas into clear and defined sections. After working on a bar industry magazine and being introduced to the world of cocktails, Nick realized that people love drinking cocktails but not many people know what goes into making them. The design for each cocktail breaks down the ingredients and measures and proportions these out. In this book we see a Nick’s signature style – clean, bold, yet minimal graphical design to showcase the drinks in an alternative and quirky way. The aesthetic for this book is well-designed and the book is the perfect accompaniment for any recipe book collection, art book collection or to have fun with your friends in making some new cocktails.

Mixing Cosmopolitans: The Pouring Tales by Daniel Staub (Alambic Books) January 27, 2020 Daniel Staub, the creative mind behind several bars and speakeasies in Zurich and author of the bartending blog ‘The Pouring Tales’ is on a mission to find and portray the most innovative and passionate bartenders from all across the globe – the true artists of modern mixology. Over the past few years, he has visited countless bars all around the world and formed friendships with many of the talented individuals who work there. Resulting from his extensive travels and research into the global nightlife scene, Mixing Cosmopolitans is a travel diary, a bar guide, and a recipe book all in one. Yet in the spotlight, first and foremost, are the people who breathe new, often unconventional, life into the art of hospitality and who in this book share their own personal path to finding their passion in bartending. Presenting twenty-one personal, beautifully illustrated portraits of bartenders and their bars along with the recipes for their signature cocktails, Mixing Cosmopolitans offers a compelling look into a constantly evolving scene and art form.

How to Drink Like a Writer: Recipes for the Cocktails and Libations that Inspired 100 Literary Greats by Apollo Publishers (Apollo Publishers) February 4, 2020 Do you long to trade notes on postmodernism over whiskey and jazz with Haruki Murakami? Have you dreamed of sharing gin martinis with Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton after poetry class? Maybe a mojito—a real one, like they serve at La Bodeguita del Medio in Havana—is all you need to summon the mesmerizing power of Hemingway’s prose. Writer’s block? Summon the brilliant musings of Truman Capote with a screwdriver—or, “my orange drink,” as he called it—or a magical world like J.K. Rowling’s with a perfect gin and tonic. With 100 spirited drink recipes and special sections dedicated to writerly haunts like the Algonquin of the New Yorker set and Kerouac’s Vesuvio Cafe, pointers for hosting your own literary salon, and author-approved hangover cures, all accompanied by original illustrations of ingredients, finished cocktails, classic drinks, and favorite food pairings, How to Drink Like a Writer is sure to inspire, invoke, and inebriate—whether you are courting the muse, or nursing a hangover. Sure, becoming a famous author takes dedication, innate talent, and sometimes nepotism. But it also takes vodka, gin, tequila, and whiskey.

Camp Cocktails: Easy, Fun, and Delicious Drinks for the Great Outdoors by Emily Vikre (Harvard Common Press) February 25, 2020 Cabin trips, hikes, patio parties, camping adventures—however you enjoy the great outdoors, it should be fun and easy. And so should the drinks! Simplicity, though, doesn’t mean you’re limited to a bottle and a mixer. With Camp Cocktails, you’ll have a variety of options for simple and tasty drinks that are ready to go wherever you go. Cool off after a hot day spent hiking through the woods with a Flask Boulevardier or the Northwoods Sidecar. Break in the campsite with a Grilled Orange Cobbler or the ultimate beer-based cocktail. Bundling up around the fire? Warm up with the Salted Nutella Hot Chocolate, the Penicillin Toddy, or a spiked hot apple cider. If you’re ready to go a step further, there’s even a chapter for using foraged ingredients. Every recipe comes with easy-to-follow instructions, and many feature expert bartender tips and hacks. A variety of occasions are all here, from stargazing to boating. And to round it all out, there’s a whole chapter dedicated to foraging/found ingredients, and integrating nature into your favorite cocktails.

Hollywood Cocktails: Over 95 Recipes Celebrating Films from Paramount Pictures by Cider Mill Press (Cider Mill Press) February 25, 2020 Paramount Pictures, the oldest Hollywood studio in operation, has released countless award-winning and box office-busting movies that have spanned the age of cinema, from the medium’s silent advent to talkies, color, and CGI blockbusters. Hollywood Cocktails features more than 100 cocktails inspired by over 100 iconic films, all released by Paramount Pictures. This gorgeously illustrated collection of star power is filled with film facts and detailed recipes that guarantee you’ll never again be wondering what to drink or watch.

Drinking French: The Iconic Cocktails, Apéritifs, and Café Traditions of France, with 160 Recipes by David Lebovitz (Ten Speed Press) March 3, 2020 Bestselling cookbook author, memoirist, and popular blogger David Lebovitz delves into the drinking culture of France in Drinking French. This beautifully photographed collection features 160 recipes for everything from coffee, hot chocolate, and tea to Kir and regional apéritifs, classic and modern cocktails from the hottest Paris bars, and creative infusions using fresh fruit and French liqueurs. And because the French can’t imagine drinking without having something to eat alongside, David includes crispy, salty snacks to serve with your concoctions. Each recipe is accompanied by David’s witty and informative stories about the ins and outs of life in France, as well as photographs taken on location in Paris and beyond. Whether you have a trip to France booked and want to know what and where to drink, or just want to infuse your next get-together with a little French flair, this rich and revealing guide will make you the toast of the town.

Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails: Prohibition Centennial Edition: From the 1920 Pick-Me-Up to the Zombie and Beyond – 150+ Rediscovered Recipes … With a New Introduction and 66 New Recipes by Ted Haigh (Quarry Books) March 3, 2020 In this new, expanded edition of Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails—issued for the 100th Anniversary of National Prohibition—historian, expert, and drink aficionado Dr. Cocktail vastly widens his examination of 1920–1933, the thirteen-year period when women got the Vote, child labor was abolished and, ironically, saw the cocktail elevated, prolonged, and expanded, spreading this signature American drink form in tasty ripples around the world. All this, plus more drink recipes! Nothing is so desired as the thing denied. Prohibition made people want cocktails very, very badly. Because “synthetic” liquor was the easiest to make, it was also the easiest to get. Problematically, it tasted awful and wasn’t exactly good for you either. Cocktails with their mélange of flavors were a made-to-order method for disguising the bad hooch. Along with 100+ rare and delicious authentic recipes gathered from old cocktail manuals and scraps of paper never published, this illustrated trip down mixology lane tells the fascinating origins of the cocktail and how it evolved over time, including its rising popularity during Prohibition. Vintage illustrations and advertisements, photos of old bottles and cocktail artifacts, and fascinating Prohibition-era photographs bring the tippling past back to vivid life.

Drinking with Chickens: Free-Range Cocktails for the Happiest Hour by Kate E. Richards (Running Press Adult) March 24, 2020 It’s drinks, it’s chickens: It’s the cocktail book you didn’t know you needed! To add some spice to your happy hour, shake a tail feather and drink with chickens, or just wish you could! Author Kate Richards serves up cocktails made for Instagram with the spoils of her Southern California garden, chicken friends by her side. Cocktails are arranged seasonally, and are 100% accessible for those of us without perpetually sunny backyard gardens at our disposal. Drinking with Chickens will quickly become a boozy favorite, perfect for gifting or for hoarding all for yourself. You don’t need chickens to enjoy these drinks or the colorful photos, but be careful, because you may even find yourself aspiring to be, as Kate is, a home chixologist overrun by gorgeous, loud, early-rising egg-laying ladies, and in need of a very strong drink.