Shaken and Stirred: Through the Martini Glass, and other Four-Ounce Adventures FROM THE PUBLISHER
William L. Hamilton loves a good gimlet. Rose's and lime. Straight up. Perfectly iced. Make the glass pretty too. "It ruined my reputation for thinking before I speak," he writes of that love. "I accept the trade-off." Like Lewis Carroll's Alice, when Hamilton sees it, he drinks it—and tells the incredible tale.
In "Shaken and Stirred," his biweekly Sunday Styles column, now an original book of his drinking adventures, the intrepid New York Times reporter offers a gimlet-eyed look at contemporary culture through the panoptic view of a cocktail glass. From the venerable martini to the young Dirty Jane, Hamilton shares his tip on the sip.
You hold in your hands a guide to "how it goes down." Not a cocktail manual or a Baedeker to the bar scene but a drinker's guide to drinking. These are four-ounce adventures of cocktails and the people who make them, from the bartenders and chefs to the patrons, the politicians and the power players of the liquor industry.
There are tales of the Champagne high life, the Long Island Iced Tea low life; men like Dr. Brown and his celery soda, and women like Eve and her Apple Martini. Hamilton's weekly Runyanesque rounds cover all the watering holes and their poisons, from the East Side's Southside to the Incredible Hulk in the Bronx, and monitors the latest trends, from the ultra-premium vodka wars to the Red Bull market. Shaken and Stirred is a report on a popular culture that comes alive after five, when the mood turns social and the moment is sweet (or sour, or bitter, or dry).
Hamilton has also picked up the best (or the most unbelievable) cocktail recipes from bars, lounges and restaurants in NewYork City and beyond. There is common sense and creativity in the classics, and new inventions with their eye on the prize, such as the Huckleberry Ginn and the Bleeding Heart. "Drink me," said the bottle in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Hamilton has, in every instance, and bottled his thoughts in sixty-four essays that are as readable as they are drinkable. Mix a gimlet, or a Minnesota Anti-Freeze, or a Gibson or a Bone. And spend a night in, on the town.
About the Author:
William L. Hamilton lives in New York, the capital of cocktails.
SYNOPSIS
A drinker's guide to the 'after-five' lifestyle in four-ounce stories, which are as readable as they are drinkable, written by the author of NYT's celebrated 'Shaken and Stirred' column.
"A drinker's guide to drinking," Shaken and Stirred will compile more than forty Times' cocktail columns in expanded form along with more than twenty-five never-before published essays. If you know the column well, you know it's not just a cocktail manual or a guide to the bar scene. It's a curious look at contemporary culture through what we're drinking--whether it's a classic gimlet or a Shanghai Cosmo--and where good conversation, a barstool, and a four once glass are the props for a good night on the town.
In Shaken and Stirred, William Hamilton spins the best tales from bartenders, industry leaders, famous nightlife entrepreneurs, chefs, and fellow drinkers to conjure up an environment celebrating the drinking lifestyle. The book will cover old standards, new inventions, beverage industry innovations and trends, drinkers' attitudes and enthusiasms, but always from the point of view of the drink itself. Mix yourself a drink and enjoy the night in on the town.
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