McDowell - Drinks: a users guide

A thoroughly useful and enjoyable compendium of drinking lore and knowledge, with an ample dose of much-needed cynicism, too often lacking in books of this type.

P HILIP G REENE , cofounder of The Museum of the American Cocktail and author of To Have and Have Another: A Hemingway Cocktail Companion

There is, as yet, no perfect users guide for life. But for the many moments in our lifetimes when a decent drink is requiredwhether its a crisp pilsner on a summer afternoon, a glass of champagne on a special day, or a dry martini when the clock strikes fiveAdam McDowells Drinks: A Users Guide has you covered.

P AUL C LARKE , executive editor of Imbibe magazine and author of The Cocktail Chronicles

If you dont know how to drink, this book is for you. If you do know how to drink, this book is also for you, since everyone is sure to be charmed by Adam McDowells sage and friendly advice about what to order, in any setting. After years of tweaking his philosophy of drink, McDowell has finally shared his accumulated knowledge in this invaluable resource. Not since Kingsley Amis has reading about drinking been this much fun.

C HRISTINE S ISMONDO , author of America Walks into a Bar

An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

375 Hudson Street

New York, New York 10014

Copyright 2016 by Adam McDowell

Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.

Illustrations Kagan McLeod

Tarcher and Perigee are registered trademarks, and the colophon is a trademark of Penguin Random House LLC.

Most TarcherPerigee books are available at special quantity discounts for bulk purchase for sales promotions, premiums, fund-raising, and educational needs. Special books or book excerpts also can be created to fit specific needs. For details, write: SpecialMarkets@penguinrandomhouse.com.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Mcdowell, Adam.

Title: Drinks : a users guide / Adam McDowell.

Description: New York, New York : TarcherPerigee, 2016.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016023526 (print) | LCCN 2016032155 (ebook) |

ISBN 9780143111269 (hardback) | ISBN 9781101992760 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Alcoholic beverages. | Cocktails. | Beer. | BISAC: COOKING /

Beverages / Wine & Spirits. | COOKING / Beverages / Bartending. | COOKING

/ Reference.

Classification: LCC TX953.M33 2016 (print) | LCC TX953 (ebook) | DDC

641.2/1dc23

The recipes contained in this book are to be followed exactly as written. The Publisher is not responsible for your specific health or allergy needs that may require medical supervision. The Publisher is not responsible for any adverse reactions to the recipes contained in this book.

Cover design: Danielle Deschenes

Version_1

F OR E MILY

The art of rational drinking is an accomplishment as indispensable as dancing or bridge.... To know how to drink is as essential as to know how to swim, and one should be at home in both these closely related elements.

FRANK MEIER, BARTENDER AT THE PARIS RITZ, 1936

H AVE YOU EVER NOTICED that characters in old novels and movies seem to know exactly what to drink and when? Many of us can only look back in envy at a time when people would simply know which brandy or champagne was the best to kick back with in the midst of some European adventure or could spontaneously fix up a tray of gin rickeys like Tom Buchanan does in The Great Gatsby or had some idea how to tell whether a martini was well made.

Were paying more attention to these details lately because we live in the dawn of a new golden age of drinking. Indeed, we can realistically hope it will turn out to be the golden age of booze. The general quality of wine is improving, product selection in virtually every category of beverage is increasing, craft distilleries flourish, old cocktail recipes are being rediscovered and new ones invented, cities that once featured two decent cocktail bars now have fifty jockeying for your attention, and the vogue for tasty craft beer rises like a froth with each passing year.

Meanwhile, for most of the public, this is all a little terrifying: It means there are more choices to make than ever before, and its difficult to know how to cope with it all.

I know this because I talk to people about drinks all the time. Ive written about booze for a major Canadian newspaper called the National Post for more than a decade, and over the past few years Ive been popping up on a daytime lifestyle program called The Social to chitchat about beverages and try not to spill things on live television. You might do a hundred different things with your life, but if you write and broadcast on the subject of drinks, its pretty much the only thing people will want to talk with you about at parties. And when people find out what I do, their first instinct is usually to apologize for what theyre drinking. They say they feel silly because they dont know anything about wine. Or they mime a defensive gesture like turning their beer label around so I cant see it, lest I judge their peasant ways. This tells me that people know they could probably be drinking something tastier or more exciting, but somethings stopping them from finding out what it could be.

If we are to enjoy the golden age of glorious drinking that is upon us, we must shed these defensive gestures, because being shy about drinks relegates us to retreating to the same old foxholes, sticking to whats familiar. Instead, we ought to be curious about the new world in front of us, ready to courageously advance into unknown territory.

If you are holding this book, I hope its reasonable of me to assume that you thirst (as it were) for more knowledge. What youll find is that people who know a thing or two about drinks are usually only too happy to share. Youre at little risk of being ridiculed by those who truly know their stuff. At least in my experience, applicants to the fellowship of drinks geekery are welcomed with open arms and flowing bottles.

Aim to learn enough about drinks to become what I think of as a complete drinker, someone who has a rough idea of what there is to drink, what these things taste like, and the right situations and means for serving them. To set yourself on that path, be willing to take an exploratory sip of (just about) anything. It sounds daunting but isnt nearly as tough as some peoplewhose motives I will leave you to guess atare keen to make it look. Just think of alcohol the way you think of food: a field to explore in search of what you personally find delicious.