Category: Books

Book Review: “A Drinkable Feast: A Cocktail Companion to 1920s Paris” by Philip Greene

"A Drinkable Feast" by Philip Greene perfectly captures the cocktails of 1920s Paris.

If I could be transported back in time to anywhere in the world, it would be 1920s Paris. The City of Light was the epicenter of the cultural, literary, and artistic worlds during the Roaring Twenties, drawing everyone from Picasso and Dalí to Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald to its boulevards. (Besides, my favorite actress — Audrey Hepburn — once remarked, “Paris is always a good idea,” and I’m inclined to believe her.)

I may not have a magical car-turned-time machine to get there à la Owen Wilson in “Midnight in Paris,” but I have found the next best thing: Philip Greene’s newest book, “A Drinkable Feast: A Cocktail Companion to 1920s Paris,” released on October 16. Here’s why it needs to be on your bookshelf, whether you’re a Hemingway scholar or a home bartender.

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5 Reasons Why Maggie Hoffman’s “The One-Bottle Cocktail” Needs To Be On Your Bookshelf

Picture this: it’s a Friday night, and you’ve decided to try your hand at mixing your own cocktails. You settle on something called a Vieux Carré — a classic cocktail that originated in New Orleans — but as you scan the ingredient list, you realize that you need four different bottles of liquor and two bottles of bitters. Your heart sinks: another cocktail dream bites the dust.

So what do you do when you love cocktails, but don’t want to spend years and lots of moola building up a sizable liquor collection? Enter Maggie Hoffman’s lifesaver of a cocktail recipe book, “The One-Bottle Cocktail,” out today. Here are five reasons why it needs to be on your bookshelf, pronto.

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