Category Archives: Books

IMBIBE! (no, the other one)

“In the absence of certainty, bullshit blooms.” David Wondrich doesn’t get around to stating this mixographical truism until page 292 of IMBIBE!, but the statement could well have served as a seven-word pitch to potential publishers, citing the need for such a volume. In his magazine pieces and online articles (which now seem to have… Continue Reading

Bum Rap

As Michael pointed out this weekend, Imbibe magazine has now passed the one-year milestone. That’s a big deal, folks — around 60 percent of new magazines fail in their first year (and I’ve seen other figures that peg that closer to 90 percent), so Imbibe is really bucking the trend. Having been a contributor to… Continue Reading

Running a Tab

I’ve gnashed my teeth before about the escalating prices of vintage cocktail manuals on eBay and online bookstores, but even books currently in print can take a toll, in terms of both finances and time. Case in point: Ted Haigh’s modern classic, Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails. Granted, the price tag is only $15.99 (cheaper… Continue Reading

What to Drink with What You Eat

These are heady days for drinkophiles (beverage believers? libation lovers? whatever–). Today’s proverbial cups runneth over with more and better types of custom-roasted coffees, premium teas, microbrewed beers, fine wines, artisan-distilled spirits and, of course, culinary cocktails than perhaps at any other time in our history. But while there’s a growing number of books, magazines,… Continue Reading

And a Bottle of Rum

A couple of months ago, I wrote about an essay at Lost Magazine by a writer named Wayne Curtis, about a cocktail very dear to my heart, the El Presidente (or should that just be “El Presidente?” I never remember the protocol). Well, Curtis has a book coming out next week entitled And a Bottle… Continue Reading