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To Have and Have Another: A Hemingway Cocktail Companion
In To Have and Have Another , Ernest Hemingway enthusiast and cocktail connoisseur Philip Greene 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. With this cocktail companion, you will be able to 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!
320 pages, Hardcover
First published November 6, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
August 24, 2022
Hemingway has retained lasting allure even if it’s just his lifestyle and drinks. That is really the subject of this book. He was born in Oak Park, IL in 1899. The book is generally chronological but not totally. His adult life could be said to start with his experience in the Red Cross Ambulance Corps in Italy beginning in 1918. His literary career started in a big way with The Sun Also Rises in 1926. The drinks mainly come from his time in Paris in the early 20s through 1961, by which time he was in poor mental and physical condition. He killed himself in 1961.
Greene’s book is not designed to explicate Hemingway’s works although his novels, short stories and letters are all discussed here. My favorite parts give insight into the times, his friendships and his four marriages. To a degree his life in drink went by decades. Paris with rambles in Spain, Italy and the Alps in the 20s, marriage to his second wife and their life in Key West, FL (1927 to 1940), third wife 1940 Cuba and then as a reporter in WWII in France. Another divorce and another marriage in 1945 (his fourth and final wife (Cuba, Key West, and Ketchum, ID) 1946-61.
There are 62 Hemingway drinks and recipes including how they fit into particular works. Those are followed by at least 30 more “Hemingway inspired” drinks by contemporary bartenders. Except for being very particular about temperature (very cold with the exception of hot punches) or amount of vermouth (very little) he wasn’t very particular about what he drank. Bourbon doesn’t get much attention though. Some drinks he was exposed to in Europe and being of the cocktail generation you see lots of mixed drinks, most pretty simple and not everything shaken. As he got older and his health declined (diabetes, hypertension) he was told to cut back, but his solutions were pretty laughable. Alcohol is a carb no matter how you look at it, but at least he didn’t have a sweet tooth. What he did have was a lifelong interest in food, drink, bars, and drinking friends. No wonder he had diabetes later in life.
Reasons to read: great photos, you are a big Hemingway fan, you love the “lost generation,” you are interested in drinks, particularly mixed drinks.
Reasons to skip the book: it’s not deep enough into the literature for you, no interest in alcohol, too much interest in alcohol.
Greene’s book is not designed to explicate Hemingway’s works although his novels, short stories and letters are all discussed here. My favorite parts give insight into the times, his friendships and his four marriages. To a degree his life in drink went by decades. Paris with rambles in Spain, Italy and the Alps in the 20s, marriage to his second wife and their life in Key West, FL (1927 to 1940), third wife 1940 Cuba and then as a reporter in WWII in France. Another divorce and another marriage in 1945 (his fourth and final wife (Cuba, Key West, and Ketchum, ID) 1946-61.
There are 62 Hemingway drinks and recipes including how they fit into particular works. Those are followed by at least 30 more “Hemingway inspired” drinks by contemporary bartenders. Except for being very particular about temperature (very cold with the exception of hot punches) or amount of vermouth (very little) he wasn’t very particular about what he drank. Bourbon doesn’t get much attention though. Some drinks he was exposed to in Europe and being of the cocktail generation you see lots of mixed drinks, most pretty simple and not everything shaken. As he got older and his health declined (diabetes, hypertension) he was told to cut back, but his solutions were pretty laughable. Alcohol is a carb no matter how you look at it, but at least he didn’t have a sweet tooth. What he did have was a lifelong interest in food, drink, bars, and drinking friends. No wonder he had diabetes later in life.
Reasons to read: great photos, you are a big Hemingway fan, you love the “lost generation,” you are interested in drinks, particularly mixed drinks.
Reasons to skip the book: it’s not deep enough into the literature for you, no interest in alcohol, too much interest in alcohol.
September 30, 2014
It's no secret that Hemingway liked a wee dram now and then, though it times the book does suggest he took his drams by the barrel. I liked the book's structure, a drink with recipe, then citing the mentions of that particular drink in Hemingway's writings, looking at both historical fact and fancy around who was the human face behind the drinkers in the fiction. (Or often, who was shit-faced in both fiction and fact.) There are plenty of debauched tales of Papa and pals making the rounds (and drinking many rounds) through Key West, Paris, Spain and other environs.
I did try several of the cocktails mentioned in the book and didn't find a one I disliked, which says more about me than the recipes perhaps. The writing in this work is light and wry—a good companion to it would be Kingsley Amis's "Everyday Drinking," which also provides cocktail recipes and their histories and legends, with some bitters added: Mr. Amis's curmudgeonly but entirely enjoyable prose.
I did try several of the cocktails mentioned in the book and didn't find a one I disliked, which says more about me than the recipes perhaps. The writing in this work is light and wry—a good companion to it would be Kingsley Amis's "Everyday Drinking," which also provides cocktail recipes and their histories and legends, with some bitters added: Mr. Amis's curmudgeonly but entirely enjoyable prose.
December 15, 2015
Lots of limes, vermouth, rum and threesomes. Especially threesomes.
April 5, 2013
There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of cocktail guides. Some excel from their great organization and quality of the recipes. Some work from their connection to great bars (think The PDT Cocktail Book). Most are pretty pedestrian reads. This great little book adds literary context as a third feature. It is a winner.
Like most cocktail guides, the drinks are listed alphabetically, with a detailed recipe (sometimes with variations) provided. Then the fun begins. Each drink is cross referenced to its appearance in a Hemingway book or story (or two, or ten!). Like a literary critic, the author then tries to tie the drink and the story back to key moments of Hemingway's life, and a string of classic bars around the world. Not surprisingly there are drinks from the Key West/Havana era as well as very different drinks from the Spain/Southern France chapters of his life.
The prose is sharp, fun, and the whole package builds up quite a thirst. I found myself searching for little used ingredients to try some of the combinations. One word of advice, however: Have a big bottle of gin handy. Hemingway seemed to like Gordons and in a lot of these recipes it makes sense. You could never taste the difference from Hendricks or Old Raj and in the quantities he consumed, it just isn't worth the extra cost.
Think of good recipes and classic bars in cocktail guides as gin and sweet vermouth. The literary/biographical angle is like Campari; alluring and refreshing, but with some bitterness. Together they make the perfect Negroni. Go mix one now. Papa would approve.
Like most cocktail guides, the drinks are listed alphabetically, with a detailed recipe (sometimes with variations) provided. Then the fun begins. Each drink is cross referenced to its appearance in a Hemingway book or story (or two, or ten!). Like a literary critic, the author then tries to tie the drink and the story back to key moments of Hemingway's life, and a string of classic bars around the world. Not surprisingly there are drinks from the Key West/Havana era as well as very different drinks from the Spain/Southern France chapters of his life.
The prose is sharp, fun, and the whole package builds up quite a thirst. I found myself searching for little used ingredients to try some of the combinations. One word of advice, however: Have a big bottle of gin handy. Hemingway seemed to like Gordons and in a lot of these recipes it makes sense. You could never taste the difference from Hendricks or Old Raj and in the quantities he consumed, it just isn't worth the extra cost.
Think of good recipes and classic bars in cocktail guides as gin and sweet vermouth. The literary/biographical angle is like Campari; alluring and refreshing, but with some bitterness. Together they make the perfect Negroni. Go mix one now. Papa would approve.
February 15, 2021
Really interesting to learn which cocktails Hemingway enjoyed and how he has woven them into his novels. I read this as a warm-up for starting For Whom The Bell Tolls as my next book.
September 11, 2018
I liked this book a lot. Beautiful production, great title and cover, great writing from a booze and Hemingway fan, what's not to like? It is essentially a coffee table book of sorts; you read a chapter based on a favorite Hemingway drink recipe, read related anecdotes that mention said drinkin Hemingway fiction and lore. It's way fun if you like Hem and his work and the whole drinking/writing life he lived. And I do! Greene is no literary scholar, but he researched deeply into Hemingway's bios and works to make drink connections, and has fun with it all. Greene is a drink historian, a mixologist, and good storyteller who obviously both loves Hemingway as writer and drinker though refuses to deify him. Greene knows with a wink that Hem is a liar and not a saint on any level, which makes it more entertaining.
July 14, 2015
I haven't read this cover-to-cover, but this is a FASCINATING book- one which I always hoped someone would write. If you're one of those people who absolutely HAVE TO try the food and drink in your favorite novels (and first and foremost you're a Hemingway fan), this is a fantastic reference. It provides the literary appearances of Papa's favorite drinks and his real-life preferences as to how to make them. I'm enjoying this a great deal, I only wish it'd been available when I went through my Hemingway phase in my mid 20's. Currently reading the Martini chapter...
December 10, 2018
Being nonfiction, this book was one I picked up and put down in between reading other books. Interesting project, compiling all the drinks mentioned in Hemingway's works, providing the recipes, and then pairing drinks with reading selections. Hemingway pickled his liver with these drinks. Book was well researched and had lots of Hemingway anecdotes. If you are a Hemingway fan, this one is for you.
May 13, 2020
This is an easy-breezy read about Ernest Hemingway, how he liked to drink, how he liked to fix his drinks, and how he liked to blend drinks into his literature.
The Martini seems to be his favorite, although he drank a lot of Scotch Whisky, and wine and aperitifs and on and on and on. I especially like the story about how he devised a freezing technique to ensure he had and made the coldest Martinis.
The Martini seems to be his favorite, although he drank a lot of Scotch Whisky, and wine and aperitifs and on and on and on. I especially like the story about how he devised a freezing technique to ensure he had and made the coldest Martinis.
January 2, 2013
A pretty enjoyable little read - but then how can this book go wrong, with Hemingway's fiction and non-fiction, stories about Hemingway, and the cocktails that he and his characters enjoyed, complete with recipes? Good way to start the new year.
January 18, 2024
A delightful read, surprisingly informative – and not alluding to the plethora of cocktail recipes. The author, Phillip Greene, devotes a chapter to each drink – 62 chapters in all – 62 different cocktails... each one associated with Ernest Hemingway. And each one is bolstered with information, tidbits, revelations about Hemingway, his associates, his wives, his affairs, his life and his novels. That is what makes the book so delightful. It is an eclectic mix of Hemingway esoterica that ultimately gives the reader insight and understanding into Hemingway the man, his personality and character. Greene draws on numerous sources – letters, diaries, logs kept by Hemingway himself, biographies, memoirs, and the characters in his novels. Each drink is specifically tied to Hemingway, either directly per his own tastes and consumptions, or indirectly through his novels and the tastes and appetites of his characters.
In the end, a couple of things are abundantly clear – Hemingway continues to be a fascinating figure. And his consumption of alcoholic beverages was prodigious, as it was among his friends and associates, and the social castes in which they lived. The cumulative effect of all 62 chapters is an agglomeration of revelations and inside information that leaves you with wonderful appreciation of Hemingway as he was, and as that influenced his writing. And maybe an idea for a different cocktail to try out... although hopefully not to the Hemingway scale!
In the end, a couple of things are abundantly clear – Hemingway continues to be a fascinating figure. And his consumption of alcoholic beverages was prodigious, as it was among his friends and associates, and the social castes in which they lived. The cumulative effect of all 62 chapters is an agglomeration of revelations and inside information that leaves you with wonderful appreciation of Hemingway as he was, and as that influenced his writing. And maybe an idea for a different cocktail to try out... although hopefully not to the Hemingway scale!
November 10, 2017
I met Philip Green at a rum bar, and because I was able to answer a Hemmingway trivia question, I won an autographed copy of this book. Now, this isn't a biography in the linear time style. This book examines the cocktails popular over the course of Hemmingway's life. It's more like a book of cocktail recipes, with well-researched anecdotes about how Hemmingway invented, modified, or simply enjoyed them with his circle of friends. Some anecdotes describe how those cocktails made their way into the hands of his story characters. I give it 4/5 stars because Philip Green has assembled an incredible collection of stories and photos. He makes some assumptions and provides ample reasoning for those assumptions.
This is a book I pick up and read a story here and there. My reading pace is irrelevant.
This is a book I pick up and read a story here and there. My reading pace is irrelevant.
August 16, 2019
Though I am in no way a Hemingway scholar; I have read a few of the classics and visited his home in Key West. However, I enjoy a good simple cocktail and a good story, and this book is chocked with both. Arranged alphabetically by the name of the cocktail, each entry usually only covers a page or two, and the writing is clear and structured (I think Papa would have approved). With Hemingway's peripatetic lifestyle, we get introduced to wines, liquors and juices from Paris to Cuba, South America to Idaho. It made me rush out to the liquor store for a unknown spirit, squeeze a few limes, concoct a concoction, and sit back and smile at the antics of Hemingway and his drinking companions. Cheers to Philip Greene!
August 6, 2019
This is the first drink recipe book that I have read from cover to cover! Lots of interesting anecdotes around Hemingway's life and the drinks. The book nicely added to the memoirs of Ernest Hemingway, which I read last summer.
The book inspired me to try some of the drinks. Of the ones I tried, "Bailey" was the best, "Pauline Hemingway's Rum Scoundler" the worst. The "Papa Double" (The Wild Daiquiri) was a little bit too much for me as each drink contains 1,1 dl of rum! In the book a friend of Hemingway claims that they each drank 17 Papa Doubles in a day - that is 2 litres of rum per person!
The book inspired me to try some of the drinks. Of the ones I tried, "Bailey" was the best, "Pauline Hemingway's Rum Scoundler" the worst. The "Papa Double" (The Wild Daiquiri) was a little bit too much for me as each drink contains 1,1 dl of rum! In the book a friend of Hemingway claims that they each drank 17 Papa Doubles in a day - that is 2 litres of rum per person!
March 16, 2021
A good cocktail compendium of Hemingways' literary and real life drinking habits. The author makes clear that copyright prevents him from including more direct passages from Hemingway's stories, but he still does a good job weaving stories from what he had to work with. Makes me want to re-read my old Hemingway favorites.
January 8, 2023
Breaking news! Hemingway liked to drink! Shocking, I know! And here’s a book of recipes of drinks he liked to drink at some point or another, with a charming anecdote about each one. There. Now you don’t need to read this book.
March 11, 2018
What a pleasant book! Very well-researched, with interesting recipes and fascinating related stories. Makes you want to have a cocktail with Hemingway AND the author.
September 2, 2019
A must read if you’re a Hemingway fan.....but fun in any case!
December 28, 2019
A fine book for lovers of cocktails and of Hemingway, this is a beautiful and erudite addition to any bon vivant’s bookshelf
January 12, 2021
Gotta love a writer with such obvious passion about a subject. This would be a great recommendation for fans of history, literature, or the influence of spirits on the first two subjects.
June 29, 2022
I didn’t know either of them had the capacity, but after this read, both my love for Hemingway and my liquor cabinet have noticeably increased.
March 28, 2023
This book is a delight. I think I've learned the secret to enjoying Hemingway's work. (The secret is gin. And rum. And Scotch.)
June 7, 2023
Amusing anecdotes about Hemingway and his favorite cocktails. He was certainly quite the drinker.
July 6, 2018
Philip Greene is a rock star. What a funny, educational, vivid, and enticing read. I couldn't get enough. As I progressed through the book, sipping or gulping depending on time permitted, I relished every single drop.
Shaken, stirred, drizzled, hot, cold, straight up, on the rocks, with or without garnish; every cocktail was attached to a stroll down memory lane in a usually exotic local with Hemingway. I can't use enough adjectives to describe how much I enjoyed this book.
A sincere thank you to the author for brightening my day every time I turned a page.
Rudy
Rudolf J. Waldner
Marketing from the Trenches: Your Guide to Retail Success
The Corporate Jungle: Animal Personalities Colliding with Job Titles
Shaken, stirred, drizzled, hot, cold, straight up, on the rocks, with or without garnish; every cocktail was attached to a stroll down memory lane in a usually exotic local with Hemingway. I can't use enough adjectives to describe how much I enjoyed this book.
A sincere thank you to the author for brightening my day every time I turned a page.
Rudy
Rudolf J. Waldner
Marketing from the Trenches: Your Guide to Retail Success
The Corporate Jungle: Animal Personalities Colliding with Job Titles
September 22, 2014
To Have and Have Another is a wonderfully bad influence. Part cocktail compendium, part biography, the Hemingway Cocktail Companion examines the many different cocktails used in Hemingway's works, their recipes, how they are used as literary devices, the history of the cocktail, and Hemingway's personal history with the cocktail. It also conveys, through stories involving his prodigious drinking, Hemingway's general badassery. From going deep sea fishing, pulling in a tuna with one hand and shooting at sharks with the other, to cleaning his fractured skull from a plane crash with gin, to throwing a pugilist and his pet lion out of a bar (both by the scruff of their necks). Highly recommended.
July 10, 2015
A witty, well-penned compendium of cocktails, quotations and anecdotes from Hemingway's world. I enjoyed particularly the chapter on "Carburetion," a method of drinking cognac developed by one of Hemingway's fellow revelers:
Take a large mouthful, but don’t swallow it now. Swish it around in your mouth half a minute or so. Hold it. Now exhale through your nose–-completely deflate your lungs. That’s right. Then swallow the cognac to get it out of the way. Open your mouth. Quickly! Inhale as deeply as you can.
I can find no fault with this volume, although that could be attributed to the many Death in the Afternoons and fines à l’eau I consumed during its reading.
Take a large mouthful, but don’t swallow it now. Swish it around in your mouth half a minute or so. Hold it. Now exhale through your nose–-completely deflate your lungs. That’s right. Then swallow the cognac to get it out of the way. Open your mouth. Quickly! Inhale as deeply as you can.
I can find no fault with this volume, although that could be attributed to the many Death in the Afternoons and fines à l’eau I consumed during its reading.
March 28, 2015
This is a hoot! And I never would have read such a thing if it wasn’t for visiting the Hemingway House in Key West, FL. While at its heart a cocktail recipe book, Mr. Greene not only documents the cocktails in Hemingway’s writings, but also his personal life. Talk about research -- you get the rich history of most of the cocktails, in which Hemingway work and chapter the cocktail appeared, as well as where in Hemingway’s personal life he, or those around him (like his wives, F. Scott Fitzgerald, etc.) referenced the cocktail. All this and photos too! Having read this and “Mrs. Hemingway,” I don’t think I’ll need to read another biography of “papa.” Skol!
March 15, 2015
Let's be honest, Greene is no Hemingway, but this is a fine enough book if you're a fan of Papa's and cocktails. I wonder if any of the guides at Hemingway's house in Key West have read this, as Greene points out several common ways that said guides will perpetuate things about the Hemingway mythology that are, according to this author, less than true. If they have read it, it hasn't inspired them to pull the book from the gift shop shelves, where I saw several copies for sale just a few days ago.
June 2, 2015
Loads of fun and near-perfect for Summertime, this book'll have you making Gimlets and rum drinks in your kitchen as you read. With a recipe at the beginning of each chapter followed up by either a writing from or about Hemingway's connection(s) with a given beverage (or in some cases, a de-bunking of Hemingway factoids), this is an entertaining book and should probably live on the shelves of kitchens where people care about spirits. Or Papa. Or both.
July 14, 2013
I wouldn’t go so far as to say this book drove me to drink, but it sure got me browsing the liquor store with the same interest I use to browse the library.
Read my full interview at WanderLit:
http://wanderlustandlipstick.com/blog...
Read my full interview at WanderLit:
http://wanderlustandlipstick.com/blog...
Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews