Customer Reviews

Straight Up or On the Rocks: The Story of the American Cocktail

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This slim volume offers a charming and urbane (though brief) history of what could arguably be one of America's greatest contributions to world culture.

As NY Times restaurant critic Grimes notes, cocktails turn up only fleetingly in literature -- they are everywhere and nowhere. The word itself debuted in 1806, and "bartender" arrived on the scene in 1836.

He relates delightful tales of illustrious mixers and saloons, as well as the history -- as best it can be divined -- of specific drinks from the Manhattan and the daiquiri to many lost and unlamented experiments such as the Lightning Smash, the Alabama Fog-Cutter, and the Free Silver Fizz.

Apart from anecdotes about Dickens and Washington Irving sharing a mint julep in Baltimore (1842), or the fact that Sherwood Anderson died of peritonitis brought on by the swallowing of a martini olive toothpick, Grimes's colonial pre-history of the cocktail is perhaps the most interesting part of the book. He also notes the evolution of today's standards: for example, Rangoon Ruby to Bog Fog to Cape Codder.

The text is garnished with passages from Bunuel, Ben Franklin, Dreiser, Twain, Hawthorne, O'Hara, and of course Hemingway. (Fitzgerald's Turkey Cocktail will make you laugh out loud.)

The reason I give this lovely book only 3 stars is that it's so short. There's but 126 pages of text, plus about 36 pages of cocktail recipes. That's a drawback for a stout and heavy reader like myself, but it might make this book the perfect gift for the person who does not read a lot beyond the Wall Street Journal and Forbes -- someone who truly does appreciate the cocktail in this age of Chardonnay nuts and tae bo, and might be most inclined to experiment with the 103 recommended recipes in the back.

Grimes traces the history of that uniquely American invention, the cocktail, from its origins in colonial times to its current revival. He is particularly entertaining when reviewing extinct drinks -- ever wonder what a shandy is? -- but the storied bartenders and venues are also a pleasure.

The second half of the book is recipes. For these, you're probably better off with a bartender's handbook.

Net -- mix yourself a drink and settle into your favorite armchair for this one.