Spirits of Latin America: A Celebration of Culture & Cocktails, with 100 Recipes from Leyenda & Beyond

by Ivy Mix

A James Beard Award-nominated bartender explores the history and culture of Latin American spirits in this stunningly photographed travelogue—with 100+ irresistible cocktails featuring tequila, rum, pisco, and more. TALES OF THE COCKTAIL SPIRITED AWARD® WINNER • IACP AWARD WINNER • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR BY POPMATTERS“Ivy’s unique combination of taste, talent, and tenacity make her the ideal ‘spirit’ guide.”—Steven Soderbergh, filmmaker, professional drinker, and owner of Singani 63Through its in-depth look at drinking culture throughout Latin America, this gorgeous book offers a rich cultural and historical context for understanding Latin spirits. Ivy Mix has dedicated years to traveling south, getting to know Latin culture, in part through what the locals drink. What she details in this book is the discovery that Latin spirits echo the Latin palate, which echoes Latin life, emphasizing spiciness, vivaciousness, strength, and variation. After digging into tequila and Mexico's other traditional spirits, Ivy Mix follows the sugar trail through the Caribbean and beyond, winding up in Chile, Peru, and Bolivia, where grape-based spirits like pisco and singani have been made for generations. With more than 100 recipes that have garnered acclaim at her Brooklyn bar, Leyenda, including fun spins on traditional cocktails such as the Pisco Sour, Margarita, and Mojito, plus drinks inspired by Ivy's travels, like the Tia Mia (which combines mezcal, rum, and orange curacao, with a splash of lime and almond orgeat) or the Sonambula (which features jalapeño-infused tequila, lemon juice, chamomile syrup, and a dash of Peychaud's bitters), along with mouthwatering photos and gorgeous travel images, this is the ultimate book on Latin American spirits.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cocktails, Food and Drink, Cooking

244 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 26, 2020

Reviews

[Luke Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can we all just agree right now that Ivy Mix is the perfect name for a bartender?

But beside that fact, Spirits of Latin America is a beautiful book with a really good balance of the history of tequila/mezcal/pisco and more along with cocktail recipes. The cocktail recipes are a little too fancy for my budget but if I should ever find myself bellying up to the bar at Leyenda in Brooklyn, they're probably going to have to drag my drunk culo out of there.

The photos in the book are beautiful, reminding me of one of my favorite long form magazine, The Bitter Southerner. Though it's hard to pick just one, I'd say my favorite is on page 115 where a famed "cantinero" is mixing a cocktail and the sweat pouring from his temples is clearly visible. As someone who has long studied the works of Michael Jackson and Dave Broom when it comes to whisky, I very much enjoyed the layout and information provided in this book.

It could do with a touch more editing though, for example, on page 243 a recipe for a Saline Tincture lists ingredients of salt and water and yet the instructions call for stirring, "until the sugar is fully dissolved..." but that's being nit-picky I know. Overall, if you'd like to learn more about these south of the border spirits this is both an information and beautiful way to go about just that.

[Katy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice summary of mezcal (not much about tequila!) rum and pisco. The cocktails are a bit extravagant though.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd never thought of rum, pisco, and agave spirits together, but it's interesting to put them all together based on their geographic origin. Agave (especially mezcal) is the unique focus here, especially compared with all the other places to learn about rum. The photography is great. The recipes are interesting, if a little out of reach for me, at least. I learned a lot about production methods, history, and how it all impact what's in the glass.

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is more than a cocktail book. Ivy Mix provides high-level history and background on each of the spirit categories and details the production. This is just an introduction to begin a passion. As she says "a window into these places and people." Time for a drink!

[Markus Öhman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting information about spirit culture and history but the majority of recipes require difficult-to-find ingredients.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

mostly history, photos and recipes. some purchasing advice for newbies would have gone a long way

[Queer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seriously one of the few informative books on this topics in English.

[Anne Frisbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Interesting & informative history of Mezcal/Tequila, Rum & Pisco/Singani.

Tried one recipe which I didn’t like, but have a dozen more marked to try and I believe that several will be winners.

[Jarrod · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delight. To say the author has a passion for the spirits, culture, and craftsmanship of Latin America is a huge understatement. She explores the spirits in three broad categories — agave, sugarcane, and grape based spirits — and does a deep dive into the history, economics, and production of tequila, mezcal, rum, and pisco. I learned a great deal about all that goes into that first sip of a cocktail. While my best traveling days are behind me, this book transported me to some beautiful vistas and allowed me to visit with some incredible people.