Cocktails: A Global History

Edible

by Joseph M. Carlin

Cocktails are the most American of alcoholic beverages, and at the same time the most international of drinks. Created in the United States around 1806, they quickly spilled over into all corners of the globe. The cocktail’s ancestor, punch, arrived from the British colonies and became a mainstay of taverns and entertaining at home in the eighteenth century. After ice began to be mechanically harvested and sold, and mixers such as soda water invented, the modern cocktail was born; and with it cocktail parties, cocktail dresses, cocktail hors d’oeuvres, cocktail napkins and the Molotov cocktail. From Singapore to New York, Rio to Bangkok, Joseph M. Carlin describes how cocktails have influenced society around the world, and explores the new breed of cocktails currently being fashioned by artisanal mixologists.Featuring many tempting recipes, Cocktails: A Global History will appeal to anyone who enjoys a cocktail or is interested in how some of our most popular drinks were invented and travelled around the globe.

Genres: Food, Cooking, Nonfiction, Food and Drink, History, Cocktails

148 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 2, 2012

Reviews

[Tara Brabazon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Another book in the Reaktion Edible Series, this one is a major disappointment. Perhaps part of the problem is the celebration of a particular type of U.S. ideology. But the major concern is with regard to the structure and configuration of the argument and 'analysis.' Frequently through the chapters, cocktails are mentioned and their ingredients reviewed. This book lacks the social and cultural history and historiography that is present in the other books.

[Desiree Koh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank goodness Cocktails is only a book, because it's awfully light. Granted, The Edible Series is meant to be bite-sized nuggets covering the global history of staple food and drink, but an information hangover this is not. Carlin is a fun enough erstwhile libation historian and buff to leave you thirsting for more morsels, and the book is bar nuts-addictive from the invention of cocktails and growth in popularity and social standing to cultural relevance (if you need more specifics on the main spirits, you should consult series brethren Whiskey, Rum, Vodka and Gin).

That the book was published in 2012 indicates just how much more rabid the cocktail revival has continued to shake and stir the way we drink beyond America and Europe - my only grouse, as is often the case with this series, is the cursory treatment of trends and practices in Asia-Pacific and South America. The book jacket promises an exploration of cocktail culture inclusive of Bangkok and Singapore, where I live, but the former only shows up in a recipe for its eponymous Cooler and a couple of movie references. And the latter's cocktail scene will certainly need much more than a picture of Raffles Hotel's Long Bar and a few paragraphs on its signature Singapore Sling. Why not delve into how the tropical humidity naturally lends itself to cool concoctions? And that the world's top bartending talent is rapidly gravitating here to do what Dale DeGroff has set adrift in the US?

While the book is a Piña Colada on the grand scale of literary heft, you should pull out every jigger of knowledge served up by Carlin at your next cocktail party or to sling at fellow barflies. It took me barely more than an hour to finish it, but it was a happy one, and since I can't find the tip jar, consider my four stars a virtual tip of the hat. So, set them up Joe... make it one for my baby, and one more for the road.

[Steve · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read a number of volumes in this series, and this is the first one I have been disappointed in. They are quick studies, but usually go beyond a cursory introduction. Not this one. If you have the slightest background in cocktails, there will be little new, or of interest, to you in this volume. He provides some background on how the word came about, but pretty much drops the history of the cocktail for most of the 19th Century! And what can you say about and author/book on cocktails that refers to Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville not once, but twice?
Pass - big disappointment. The way he throws quick mention of (at the time) current cocktail trends all together at the end makes you feel like you're reading a YA NF title on booze.

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another of Reaktion's Edible books. This one felt a little less focused than some of them, but overall still a fairly fun (if very, very light) read with some great pictures.