Customer Reviews

How's Your Drink?: Cocktails, Culture, and the Art of Drinking Well

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
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I've been reading and enjoying Felten's WSJ column since it began, so I was primed to enjoy this book. But I have to say that the book exceeded my already high expectations. Felten has done a brilliant job of weaving together stories about cocktail culture into a wonderfully absorbing whole. This is an even richer book--funnier, more thoughtful, more erudite--than you might think just from reading the WSJ columns. This is not only a great book about cocktails, but also a great book of American miscellanea seen, as the cool little half-dustjacket has it, through the prism of a glass.

I have read hundreds of books on Drink (and much to my wife's dismay, have most of them in my library). Every so often, you find a good book on mixing drinks, but most are soulless compendiums of recipes from other books and endlessly repetitive with little insight or inspiration. Other times, you find a good book on the history of one type of libation or another, other times again one finds a social history. Almost never does one find all these elements in one book in equal measure. This is that almost never book.
Eric Felten combines all these elements with style, prose, twists and a wry sense of humor and insight into almost every element (or should I say cocktail) and makes each one a delight in the immediate sense and food for thought and experimentation for later. Not only does it supply a wonderful palette of cocktail recipes, but great stories to go with them and clues for research after it - be it the book or a party, is all over.
A must read for any serious Cocktailian or student of drink.

As the cocktail enjoys a well deserved resurgence, this new generation is quite fortunate indeed to have a guide in Eric Felten, and a guide book that is as fascinating as it is informative.

Make no mistakes -- this is no dry reference manual. Felten has an easy writing style and a marked ability to elevate the mixed drink to the level of literature while at the same time making his smart insight approachable to all. Even teetotalers will enjoy reading this rich look at our cultural history that provides insight into the culture of prohibition as well as the modern aesthetic that gave birth to the Appletini.

How's Your Drink is a literary work that will surely impact the way in which the cocktail is appreciated. In a world polluted with Martini's that are nothing of the kind, and sugary concoctions designed more for shock value than taste, Felton's book offers a smart, witty, and incisive insight into the culture of the cocktail.

I love this book. But then again, I am addicted to his WSJ column and it is for that reason alone that I still retain my subscription. For those of you who are regular readers of Mr Felten's WSJ column, rest assured there is a significant amount of new material in this book. Although it contains no new drink recipes, it appears to include everything that didn't make it past the WSJ editor. In other words, there are new stories and anecdotes for each cocktail supported by Mr Felten's extensive research. I have read the book several times and look forward to reading it several more. Well done Mr Felten.

Felten pens one of my favorite columns in the WSJ -- a column entitled "How's Your Drink". The book, taking its title from the column, carries through the theme of the columns which is to reintroduce the reader to the historical and culture heritage of cocktails.

Until recently a devout vodka drinker, I have, through Mr. Felten's writings, let go of my long held prejudice against gin and have instead come to favor it. At an earlier age my sisters and I were warned of the dangers of gin -- not alcohol, but gin specifically:"If you must drink anything don't drink gin... it will make you go blind!" Reading Mr. Felten's characterization of gin led me to risk going blind and give it a try.

Every chapter is filled with anecdotes and historical accounts of the origins of each drink mentioned in the book. For example, because of the Hollywood portrayal of James Bond, only those who have read Ian Fleming's novels or Mr. Feltens book would know that Bond drank anything other than a "vodka martini, shaken not stirred". In fact, Bond, like any true gentlemen, would select a drink appropriate for the occassion.

A book about cocktails wouldn't be complete without a few recipes. Each recipe is intend to best represent the cocktails presented. Felten does this, but also discusses some of the known variations, their origins and the relative merits or "challenges" of each. Two favorites I discovered in the book are the "Gin Rickey" and "The Bronx" cocktails.

Not all the recipes were to my liking, but that's to be expected. God bless the man who can make a palatable drink out of Campari -- The Americano Highball certainly doesn't fit the bill.

A cautionary note: I would encourage anyone reading this book to try making these recipes at home. Why? You may be challenged to find a bartender who can make most of the drinks mentioned in the book. It's not that the drinks are difficult to make or that the ingredients are difficult to obtain. Instead it reflects a willingness on the part of patrons to settle for the mundane and the eagerness of bars to keep those margins high. Don't believe me? Let me know when you find a bar that can make a Gin Rickey as good as the one you make without first asking you what's in it.

Felten's /How's Your Drink?/ is a pleasurable, although at times mildly disjointed stroll through the world of cocktails and their history. Many of the transitions are well done, but a few are along the lines of, "Speaking of horses, did I tell you that I got a haircut the other day?" Though those few abrupt changes of topic serve to startle the reader, it is very easy to get fully engaged once again in the new topic at hand. The topics slide from presidents to fashionable clubs to the history of a brand of rum to the symbolism inherent in a literary character ordering a specific drink, providing a varied and highly interesting history of the drink recipes presented. Coming in at just under 200 pages, it's a quick and (mostly) well-written read.

The recipes provided are nice punctuation marks to the stories surrounding them. Perhaps the best recipes are the ones where Felten demonstrates that the drink should be made to the cocktailian's taste, such as with the old-fashioned when he proclaims, "Garnish with orange and cherry (or don't) and the other lemon peel." Beyond that, though, they offer nothing especially spectacular, and that's a good thing. Like the bitters cutting through a slightly sweet cocktail, the recipes provide a reasonable balance, answering the question just in time, as you read and wonder how to make the delicious concoction described.

This book does a relatively thorough job of going through the history of mixed drinks, with some sharp analysis of cultural origins and context. However, when Felten strays from the discussion of drinks themselves and their history, his writing suffers. His conclusion, for example, is both sentimental and rather empty. More significantly though, his treatment of non-liquid media that he considers relevant (which is to say, books and movies in which mixed drinks are a significant theme) is startlingly superficial. He does little more than summarize. This would be a mere annoyance, if not for the fact that one of these summaries includes a detailed spoiler of Raymond Chandler's The Long Goodbye. So, if you haven't read that, like I hadn't when I read this book, this book might piss you off.

I was really bummed when I read that Eric Felten would no longer be writing his "How's Your Drink" column in the weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal. When I saw he had compiled them into a book, I bought it immediately. If you are looking for a bartender's guide style book with 2,000 recipes, don't buy this. Felten devotes about a chapter to one drink, say, The Dark and Stormy. He gives you a history of the drink, maybe its inventor, or someone famous that really liked it. He also will give you slight variations that create another drink, or gives you great detail about the ingredients and why they are important. Not only does he make it interesting, but it makes you want to try new drinks, or at least revisit old favorites. The chapter on the gin and tonic is alone worth the price, (if you would be so kind). Clearly a cocktail purist, Felten does not dignify trendy creations like chocolate martinis and he announces open war against sour mix. I respect a man with an opinion, especially when it comments about American culture. If you do too, you'll like this book, even if you don't drink (but it helps if you do).

One of our favorite Saturday evening exercises is to host a cocktail hour based on the recipe that appears in Felton's Wall Street Journal column that day. We've enjoyed his column since its beginning and we were excited to finally get a copy of his book. How's Your Drink does a great job of expanding on what Felton does weekly in the paper. He not only provides great cocktail recipes but more importantly he uses cocktails as a foundation to discuss our culture. It's an interesting look at America through the eyes of the bar, a unique, funny, touching and honest reflection at a major part of our culture.

Even though my wife has subscribed to The Wall Street Journal for years, and I have a general interest in cocktails and "the art of drinking well," it wasn't until I spread out a section of the paper for the equally manly art of polishing a pair of shoes that I encountered the work of Eric Felten -- and even then, it was his excellent review of Men to Boys: The Making of Modern Immaturity, not his regular column. I noticed this book in his bio blurb and got hold of a copy as soon as I could. From now on, I'm going to make a point of borrowing the Journal weekend section so I don't miss any more of his writing (I'm also, on his recommendation, going to read "Men to Boys").

"How's Your Drink" is an entertaining summary history of mixed drinks in America, a look at cocktail culture, and an entertainingly opinionated review of drinks and drink recipes. While not a "bar book" in the traditional sense, it would certainly be handy to keep around for that purpose too, both for the classics and for variants and new drinks invented by Felten himself. Whether you're a historian of American culture or an aficionado of the "cocktail resurgence" in need of some facts to back up your swank, "How's Your Drink" should both entertain and satisfy.