We’ve received an abundance of new titles on tippling lately, some for serious tasters and others requiring tiny umbrellas. Please read responsibly.
Beach Cocktails: Favorite Surfside Sips and Bar Snacks
This bright and sunny volume by Oxmoor House offers almost 300 pages of fun recipes for summer drinks. Beginning with the tools of the trade and basic supplies, the cocktails are arranged loosely by the main spirit, with a full page devoted to the origin and production of each type of liquor. Although there are some fancy touches, such as the amazing blue Curaçao or whimsical bitters, most of the recipes use widely accessible ingredients. There are recipes to make your own syrups, such as Toasted Orgeat Syrup; mixes, such as Sweet-and-Sour Mix; shrubs, such as Lemongrass-Citrus Shrub syrup; and bitters, such as Homemade Peach-Vanilla Bitters. Yum.
For your young or expectant guests or those who do not indulge, they include a chapter of Mocktails, too. Nothing boring or derivative here. These nonalcoholic offerings are just as pretty and festive as the hard stuff. As a diabetic, a mocktail means a sugar-free version of a cocktail, but there are plenty of recipes in this book that are low enough in carbs on their own that there is no need to worry. And what is a bar without snacks? The last chapter is filled with savory bites that pair perfectly with the libations.
Fun and festive. A must-have for your next pool party.
A Field Guide to Whisky, by Hans Offringa
Subtitled An Expert Compendium to Take Your Passion and Knowledge to the Next Level, this handsome, chunky tome leaves no stone unturned in the quest for erudite knowledge of everything whisky—or should I say whiskey? The author even tells us why the spelling differs. Arranged by topic in a mostly question-and-answer format, the reader will learn about all the different types of whiskey, their places of origin, varying ingredients, aging, bottling, and how to read a whiskey label, among other detailed topics. There are stories of great distillers, discoveries of celebrated spirits, and interruptions like Prohibition. Here is a sample of some of the questions:
What is a rummager?
What is single pot still whisky?
What is the old bottle effect?
What is the devil’s cut?
What is the influence of water during mashing?
There are many more such in-depth inquiries in these 320 black-edged pages. After a thorough history of each country’s role in this amber liquid, the author also gives the current state of affairs for each geographic region involved in its production.
Thorough but readable, with both explanatory or just plain beautiful photos throughout. Pour a couple of fingers of your finest and sip your way through this one.
Moonshine Mixology, by Cory Straub
Now, to get really close to home here in North Carolina, this volume celebrates the (legal) revival of moonshine in the southeast. With the subtitle 60 Recipes for Flavoring Spirits & Making Cocktails, Straub brings the clear spirit out of that jug marked XXX. In the shiner tradition, this is a true do-it-yourself guide to everything moonshine.
First, Straub gives a short account of moonshine’s checkered history, followed by step-by-step instructions for distilling your own batch. The next section offers loads of suggestions for flavoring your basic moonshine, such as vanilla, cinnamon, coffee, and apricot. The cranberry flavor is so pretty it begs for holiday cocktails. The longest section of the book is filled with recipes for fun drinks made with your moonshine. Some are reworks of classic cocktails, such as a “Moonhattan,” but most are completely original and very easy, with color pictures on every page.
The last part of the book gives instructions on creating gifts with your moonshine, such as lollipops and chocolate-covered cherry bombs. As a real DIY touch, Straub provides pages of adorable labels that you can scan and print onto label sheets for your Mason jars!
I doubt that I’ll set up my own still, but I happen to know of a new distillery very close by. I believe it’s time for a field trip.
Bourbon, by Kathleen Purvis
This slender hardcover is part of the single-ingredient series called “a Savor the South cookbook,” published just down the road by the University of North Carolina press. Nice to know that higher education in this country is not entirely wasted.
For the Teals, Bourbon is the house wine, so I read this volume with great attention. After Ms. Purvis gives an explanation of how bourbon is made and its colorful history, including the Whiskey Rebellion and some apocryphal stories of the Reverend Elijah Craig, she launches into cocktail and other recipes. Did you know that the barrels used to age bourbon cannot be reused for more bourbon? However, they can be sold off to age other whiskeys, like Irish whiskey or Scotch. These days, foodie entrepreneurs are also using them to flavor gourmet foods, to which I can attest, since I have a bag of bourbon barrel-aged coffee beans in my freezer right now.
The cocktail recipes in this book range from the classic Old-Fashioned and Manhattan to the newfangled Rhythm & Soul. A Sazerac is the perfect cocktail for a winter’s evening, and our favorite Garden & Gun tailgating drink is here in a modified version called a Bourbon & Burn.
After the cocktail section, the author presents a few chapters of main dish and dessert recipes using bourbon as an essential ingredient. Bourbon’s vanilla and caramel flavors lend a smoky sweetness to many culinary creations, from meats to ice cream, not to mention the much-loved Bourbon Balls, here in several incarnations, including Chocolate Nut Bourbon Balls. How about Bourbon Pimento Cheese, which combines two of my husband’s favorite things in the world? Pork Tenderloin with Bourbon-Mango Sauce, Bourbon-Pecan Sweet Potatoes, and Bourbon-Fudge Pie are just a few of the mouthwatering offerings in this very southern little cookbook.
Thank goodness that bourbon, like all pure spirits, has no carbohydrates. Time for a Bourbon & Burn!
Disclaimer: I read library copies of all of these books. Opinions expressed are solely my own and do not reflect those of my employer or anyone else.
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