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To Have And Have Another: A Hemingway Cocktail Companion (2012)

by Philip Greene(Favorite Author)

3.93 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0399537643 (ISBN13: 9780399537646)

languge

English

genre

Food & Cookbooks

publisher

Perigee Trade

review 1: It's no secret that Hemingway liked a wee dram now and then, though it times the book does suggest he took his drams by the barrel. I liked the book's structure, a drink with recipe, then citing the mentions of that particular drink in Hemingway's writings, looking at both historical fact and fancy around who was the human face behind the drinkers in the fiction. (Or often, who was shit-faced in both fiction and fact.) There are plenty of debauched tales of Papa and pals making the rounds (and drinking many rounds) through Key West, Paris, Spain and other environs.I did try several of the cocktails mentioned in the book and didn't find a one I disliked, which says more about me than the recipes perhaps. The writing in this work is light and wry—a good companion to it wou... moreld be Kingsley Amis's "Everyday Drinking," which also provides cocktail recipes and their histories and legends, with some bitters added: Mr. Amis's curmudgeonly but entirely enjoyable prose.
review 2: There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of cocktail guides. Some excel from their great organization and quality of the recipes. Some work from their connection to great bars (think The PDT Cocktail Book). Most are pretty pedestrian reads. This great little book adds literary context as a third feature. It is a winner.Like most cocktail guides, the drinks are listed alphabetically, with a detailed recipe (sometimes with variations) provided. Then the fun begins. Each drink is cross referenced to its appearance in a Hemingway book or story (or two, or ten!). Like a literary critic, the author then tries to tie the drink and the story back to key moments of Hemingway's life, and a string of classic bars around the world. Not surprisingly there are drinks from the Key West/Havana era as well as very different drinks from the Spain/Southern France chapters of his life.The prose is sharp, fun, and the whole package builds up quite a thirst. I found myself searching for little used ingredients to try some of the combinations. One word of advice, however: Have a big bottle of gin handy. Hemingway seemed to like Gordons and in a lot of these recipes it makes sense. You could never taste the difference from Hendricks or Old Raj and in the quantities he consumed, it just isn't worth the extra cost.Think of good recipes and classic bars in cocktail guides as gin and sweet vermouth. The literary/biographical angle is like Campari; alluring and refreshing, but with some bitterness. Together they make the perfect Negroni. Go mix one now. Papa would approve. less

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