I’LL HAVE A DOUBLE / BOOZE AS LITERATURE

Gift ideas for the reader in your life, who enjoys a cocktail or two.

“Tequila Mockingbird” By Tim Federle

Congrats. You fought through War and Peace, burned through Fahrenheit 451, and sailed through Moby-Dick. All right, you nearly drowned in Moby-Dick, but you made it to shore—and you deserve a drink!

A fun gift for barflies and a terrific treat for book clubs, “Tequila Mockingbird” [Running Press Publishers, 2013] remains one of the ultimate cocktail books for the literary obsessed. Featuring 65 delicious drink recipes—paired with wry commentary on history’s most beloved novels—the book also includes bar bites, drinking games, and whimsical illustrations throughout.

Even if you don’t have a B.A. in English, tonight you’re gonna drink like you do.

Drinks include:

--The Pitcher of Dorian Grey Goose

--The Last of the Mojitos

--Love in the Time of Kahlúa

--Romeo and Julep

--A Rum of One’s Own

--Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margarita

--Vermouth the Bell Tolls.

Author Tim Federle also penned “Hickory Daiquiri Dock: Cocktails with a Nursery Rhyme Twist.”

“To Have and Have Another” By Philip Greene

Here’s the Hemingway Cocktail Companion we’ve all been waiting for.  Written by noted Ernie H. scholar and cocktail specialist Philip Greene, the author delves deeper into the author’s drinking habits than ever before, offering dozens of authentic recipes for drinks directly connected with the novels, history and folklore, and colorful anecdotes about the man himself.

In “To Have and Have Another” (Penguin Press, 2012), readers will fully enjoy Hemingway’s works beyond the limits of the imagination—pick up this book and taste how “cool and clean” and “civilized” Frederic Henry’s martini was in A Farewell to Arms, or sip a Bloody Mary, a drink rumored to be named by Hemingway himself!

Greene points out Hemingway probably never had a Mojito but he did enjoy daiquiri’s and a drink called Gregorio’s Rx, a rum drink concocted by Gregorio Fuentes, a crew member on Hemingway’s yacht.

Gregorio’s Rx

1 oz honey syrup (1:1 mix of honey and water)

1 oz fresh lemon juice

4 mint leaves

1 oz Papa’s Pilar Blonde Rum

2 oz sparkling water

Add all ingredients except for the sparkling water to a shaker with ice.  Shake very well for 15 seconds.  Strain into a glass with fresh ice.  Add sparkling water to shaker, swirl it around, then strain it into the glass.  Stir once or twice, garnish with mint sprig.

Source: Books available online at Amazon and Barnes & Noble or book stores of note.