The Cocktail Parlor: How Women Brought the Cocktail Home

by Nicola Nice, Robert Simonson

Meet the hostesses who have shaped cocktail history, and learn how to make the drinks they loved.

Throughout American history, women have helped propel what we know as classic cocktails—the Martini, the Manhattan, the Old-Fashioned, and more—into popular culture. But, often excluded from private clubs, women exercised this influence from the home, in their cocktail parlors. In The Cocktail Parlor, Dr. Nicola Nice, sociologist and spirits entrepreneur, gives women their long-overdue spotlight in cocktail history and shows how they still impact cocktail culture today.

Journeying through the decades, this book profiles a diverse array of influential hostesses. With each historic era comes iconic recipes, featuring a total of 40 main cocktails and more than 100 variations that readers can make at home. Whether its happy hour punch a la Martha Washington or a Harlem Renaissance–inspired Green Skirt, readers will find that many of the ingredients and drinks they’re familiar with today wouldn’t be here without the hostesses who served them first.

Genres: Nonfiction

212 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 23, 2024

Reviews

[John (LHBC) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nicola Nice's "The Cocktail Parlor: How Women Brought the Cocktail Home," is a captivating journey through the intertwined history of cocktails and women. Organized chronologically, the book offers a delightful exploration of how cocktails evolved alongside societal shifts, presenting a rich tapestry of history, culture, and mixology.

One of the book's highlights is its unique organization by era, which not only provides a historical backdrop but also introduces readers to the popular cocktails of each period. Through this approach, readers gain insights not only into the evolution of mixology but also into the broader historical context that shaped cocktail culture.

What sets "The Cocktail Parlor" apart is its emphasis on the often overlooked contributions of women to the world of cocktails. Nicola Nice delves deep into history to uncover the stories of these trailblazing women, shedding light on their impact on cocktail culture and society at large. From forgotten figures to underrepresented populations, the book celebrates the diverse voices that have shaped the cocktail landscape.

I read the audio version, narrated by Allyson Voller. Voller's narration skillfully brings the book to life, making it an engaging listen. However, while the audio version offers convenience, it may not be the ideal format for this type of book. A significant portion of the book is dedicated to recipes, which are better suited for reading rather than listening. I spend a good portion of the book listening to lists of ingredients, and while skipping these sections is an option, I didn't want to miss parts of the audiobook.

Despite this drawback, "The Cocktail Parlor" is a must-read for anyone interested in cocktail history, the influence of women on our culture, or simply those seeking a comprehensive guide to both classic and contemporary cocktails. However, for a more rewarding experience, opting for the traditional print or ebook version is recommended.

Thank you to Tantor Audio for providing me with an advance reader copy of this book for review.

[Melindam · Rating 4 out of 5]

🍸 COCKTAIL TIME!🍸

ARC for the Audiobook edition received by the publisher via Netgalley. CHEERS. 🍸

"A cocktail is hospitality in a glass."

Raising my glass to this lovely little appetizer of a book.



Author Nicola Nice has a light, but confident touch while mixing the parts that are culinary history, history, societal issues and feminism spiced up with some interior design and recommendation on books that formed/influenced cocktail making and housekeeping from the 1800s onwards until today.

I also appreciated the fact the while the topic seems to suggest rich, white, middle- and upper-class involvement, Nicola Nice made sure to include Afro-American women who played an important part in all the eras, like Malinda Russell, Bertha Lee Turner, A'Lelia Walker, Freda DeKnight, Helen Evans Brown, Barbara Elaine Smith and Toni Tipton-Martin.


Although I think that a printed/electronic format would suit the reading experience for this particular book better, as there are lots of delicious recipes of syrups, cordials, alcoholic and non-alcoholic cocktails included, the narrator does a very good job and the publisher includes the recipes in pdf format for those who decide to listen.

If you want more insights into the world of cocktail-history, you may find this book inadequate, but it never pretends to be more than it is: an entertaining overview (appetizer) light on history, but offers you a wide variety of menu in listing other influential and important books that you can choose from.

What's also a refreshing twist is the female POV.

Nice structures her book as follows:

- The Domestic Hostess (cca 1800-1860)
- The Lady Hostess (1860-1900)
- The Tea Party Hostess (1900-1920)
- The Apartment Hostess (1920-1940)
- The Grand Hostess (1940-1960)
- The Dinner Party Hostess (1970-1990)
- The City Hostess (1990-2010)
- The Craft Hostess (2000-2020)
- The Responsible Hostess (from 2020)

and the chapters are created along the same pattern: she talks briefly about the historic, social and culinary sides of cocktail evolution, mentions the female "influencers" and books published at the time and then follows up with another chapter on cocktail recipes.

It may feel disjointed a bit, but generally worked for me.

The great thing about the cocktail recipes is that Nice keeps them simple. You don't need to go hunting for hundreds of exotic ingredients, the basic stuff is more than enough.

[ARR]

Good

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great concept - in the barrage of cocktail books that have come out over the last few years, nearly all have focused on drinks developed in bars and restaurants. This book attempts to shift that focus to drinks created by and for women entertaining at home, with a particular focus on recipes requiring only a few ingredients, since the average household does not have on hand the variety of mixers, garnishes, etc. that an upscale bar might stock. The chronological approach is a nice touch, as it provides the opportunity to see how legal and societal changes affected what and how drinks were served over the last couple centuries.

There is, however, a tendency to wandering off topic that is particularly unfortunate in such a compact book. The surprising lack of connection between the text and the recipes, particularly relating to substitutions and regional variations, is disappointing. Looking at cocktail history from the perspective of cooks rather than bartenders should be an opportunity for a deeper dive into the development of what are now familiar flavor combinations and how knowledge of the chemistry and balance of cooking informed experiments with mixing drinks, but there is very little to be found along those lines.

I do appreciate the publisher providing a downloadable PDF of the recipes to accompany the audiobook - it would be helpful if the address and access code were repeated at the end of the book as well as the very beginning. I hope that subsequent editions (as the author mentions launching her own liqueur brand at the end, I presume the hope is that there will be updates as new products come out) bring the focus back to the ingredients and flavors while continuing to bring long overdue attention to the generations of home mixers who developed the recipes.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

[Maria Cloos · Rating 5 out of 5]

cheers!

Hallelujah! In the forward, a man admits he was wrong. Publicly and unabashedly. As a person interested in social history, particularly with an emphasis on food and drink, I too was aware of such personages as Mrs. Beeton, but it never occurred to me to consider them as a part of cocktail canon. For shame! Nicola Nice lays out a beautiful history, from pre-revolutionary US (and to an extent, the UK) to the present day. She focuses on the writing and social mores for each era, detailing who drank what, where, why and how, and in what way women influenced that. Then she gives a few classic recipes that are no less worthy now than they were in their times. In doing so, she does translate the often vague directions given in old-timey recipes (then called receipts). Based on my personal experience with infusions, I expect all of these recipes work as expected. I plan to add this to my personal library and seek out as many of the books she references as I can.

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really fun, inspiring book on the role of women as hostess and cocktail specialists. I'm very familiar with being intimidated when making cocktails, because it tends to be my husband's thing. Now I feel curious and more prepared to say, I got this. The recipes included are fun and useful. I can't wait to host my next party and try something new.

[Martin Doudoroff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although it is, by nature, a corrective bibliographic summary, so not exactly gripping reading, and the recipes aren’t particularly interesting, it’s still rather unlikely that a more important book in the booze/cocktail topic area will be published this year.

[Desig]

Good book

[Crystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it