Boozehound: On the Trail of the Rare, the Obscure, and the Overrated in Spirits [A Travel and Cocktail Recipe Book]

by Jason Wilson

While some may wonder, “Does the world really need another flavored vodka?” no one answers this question quite so memorably as spirits writer and raconteur Jason Wilson does in Boozehound. (By the way, the short answer is no.) A unique blend of travelogue, spirits history, and recipe collection, Boozehound explores the origins of what we drink and the often surprising reasons behind our choices.  In lieu of odorless, colorless, tasteless spirits, Wilson champions Old World liquors with hard-to-define flavors—a bitter and complex Italian amari, or the ancient, aromatic herbs of Chartreuse, as well as distinctive New World offerings like lively Peruvian pisco. With an eye for adventure, Wilson seeks out visceral experiences at the source of production—visiting fields of spiky agave in Jalisco, entering the heavily and reverently-guarded Jägermeister herb room in Wolfenbüttel, and journeying to the French Alps to determine if mustachioed men in berets really handpick blossoms to make elderflower liqueur.  In addition, Boozehound offers more than fifty drink recipes, from three riffs on the Manhattan to cocktail-geek favorites like the Aviation and the Last Word. These recipes are presented alongside a host of opinionated essays that cherish the rare, uncover the obscure, dethrone the overrated, and unravel the mysteries of taste, trends, and terroir. Through his far-flung, intrepid traveling and tasting, Wilson shows us that perhaps nothing else as entwined with the history of human culture is quite as much fun as booze.

Genres: Nonfiction, Food, Food and Drink, Booze, Cocktails, Cooking, Alcohol

242 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 21, 2010

About the author

JASON WILSON is the author of Godforsaken Grape: A Slightly Tipsy Journey through the World of Strange, Obscure, and Underappreciated Wine, to be published in April by Abrams Books.
Wilson is also the author of Boozehound: On the Trail of the Rare, the Obscure, and the Overrated in Spirits, and the series editor of The Best American Travel Writing since its inception in 2000.
A regular contributor to the Washington Post, Wilson wrote an award-winning drinks column for years. Wilson has also been beer columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, dining critic for the Philadelphia Daily News and Philadelphia Magazine, and has written for the New York Times, NewYorker.com, AFAR, National Geographic Traveler, and many other magazines and newspapers.

Reviews

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

It would be easy to dismiss Jason Wilson as a spirits snob. His rants about populist vodka and adoration of the obscure certainly rings of snobbishness. But that's just on the surface. Sprinkled throughout the length of the book, Wilson admits to all sorts of un-hip, un-snob likes and dislikes. And while he may be friends with some true snobs, I think his own self-applied label is spot-on: geek.

Geeks are great. Geeks have strong opinions for one reason only - they're really into things. If a geek says he's over the moon about an expensive Calvados, it's not because he thinks it will sound cool. It's because he really, really likes it. And he's not only going to like it, he'll know why he likes it. He'll have had the experience with other Calvadoses (Calvodii?) to know a good one.

This book starts off very strong with great humor and it's a breeze to get about halfway through it on sheer momentum alone. I found that I bogged down a bit in the Italian section. I'm sure everyone else will find other parts they enjoy more than others. But it's a short book, and your stamina for paragraph after paragraph of descriptions of aperitifs and digestifs is only tested in short spurts.

As for the snobs, I get the feeling Wilson is treading a careful line here. Obviously, he's in cahoots with some of the more extreme elements of the traditional cocktail revival. So he's not going to out-and-out insult them. But I think he gives an even hand to the whole "vodka debate". I love his quote from Audrey Saunders of the Pegu Club: "If someone wants a vodka drink, give 'em a vodka drink. Who are we making drinks for? Are we fascists?"

There is a great selection of cocktails in this book - few that you'll not have already seen in other classic cocktail books, but I gained some fresh insight into some of them. You could also read this as a primer for a variety of base spirits. Good stuff!

[Olive Fellows (abookolive) · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Boozehound, spirits columnist Jason Wilson takes us along for some of his boozy adventures to try complex liquors from around the world. I don't agree with other reviewers that he completely avoids snobbery (the rage against flavored vodka precludes that, in my opinion), but I enjoyed his open-minded approach.

I read this as part of a very silly reading challenge that somehow turned out to be successful.

Click here to hear more of my thoughts on this book over on my Booktube channel, abookolive!

[M. Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this. Wilson has an enjoyably tongue-in-cheek approach to his subject, an admirable lack of pretension and willingness to mock sacred cows (and himself), and a good sense about the essential good fortune of working as a spirits writer. While there are plenty of anecdotes that start off in one exotic locale or the next, occasionally leaving the impression that the job is nothing but travel and drinking and other first world problems, he's aware of that issue and balances it with plenty of info and reporting. The chapter about the mythology around the production of St. Germain is alone worth the price of admission.

[Colleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book would make an excellent gift for anyone who enjoys stepping outside of the box when it comes to imbibing. It is a wonderful introduction into a large variety of alternative beverages from the obscure and hard to find to the easily available but often under-rated. The drink recipes that follow each chapter help whet the appetite, and made me want to rush out to my local store to start picking up ingredients. Best of all, the narrative voice was friendly and approachable- I felt more like the author was sharing a love than teaching a lesson. 5 stars!

[Amar Pai · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, although I feel you have to be an alcoholic to write this much about cocktails. Made me want some cognac. Alice made us Vespers yesterday and this book talks about the Vesper... apparently it got big when featured in Casino Royale. I liked it better than a martini. I don't like olive juice. In conclusion, booze is a land of contrasts.

[Adam Rabiner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Boozehound by the Washington Post's spirits journalist Jason Wilson is a Sea Breeze of a read, light and sweet but with a hint of punch. He writes about many common spirits, gin, rum, cognac, pisco and other brandies, eaux-de-vie, as well as some popular liqueurs from absinthe to Chartreuse to St. Germain to Tuacua. He weaves the tales of these spirits with where he drank them, who he met while trying them, how they tasted, what particular adventures he experienced at the time. Like a good wine, much of the pleasure he derives from his boozing is the associations particular drinks have to him. He discusses terroir, which apply to certain drinks just as much as they do to wine, and you learn a bit about the business of producing and bringing these interesting alcoholic beverages to market. He ends each chapter with recipes and provides some basic bar tending tips in the appendix. If you can summarize his advice to those who aspire to be boozehounds, it would be don't be afraid to try new and unusual things at the bar. Go out of your comfort zone. And also that you can make a lot of this stuff at home once you get some basic essentials. Even though he is not a fan of vodka (flavorless) and its ridiculous flavors (he would limit it to Citron and Vanilla), he does acknowledge that you should keep a bottle around at home since "inevitably someone's going to come over and want a vodka tonic."

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wilson could've gone the pompous ass route here -- fortunately, he manages to avoid that altogether. Instead, he explains why it's important to drink the good stuff (you get what you pay for). I appreciated the travel narrative aspect for each liquor: Norway for akavit, Netherlands for gin, Italy for vermouth, etc. As a matter of fact, I've never even had vermouth before, but was scouting the local liquor stores for some of the ones he recommends! He gives drink recipes at the end of each chapter, but the individual ingredients are so expensive individually that it'd probably be cheaper to share the info with a sympathetic bartender - generous tip included.

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of the information in this book is also available on the spirits column archives at the Washington Post website.

I highly recommend both the book and the Washington Post spirits column.

I read the library copy but this book is definitely worth buying.

This book really opened my eyes about how little I know about spirits.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

"A lot of good beverage in here," as a Kentuckian once told me as she was ladling toddy into my cup.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great alternative beach read. (You will never look at vodka the same way again.)

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Starts off very interesting, with facts about different kinds of booze, a little about prohibition, some tidbits about the industry as it was and is, all interspersed with bits of his travel and life as a “booze hound”.
Around the 50% mark it starts to become more story heavy than information heavy, and around the 65% mark, I was beginning to skim.
Unfortunately I have known a few guys like this author, and even married one. In the interest of fairness, the author actually seems to have lived the life my ex and his BFF just wanted to, so there’s that. I personally have had enough Hemingway wannabes for multiple lifetimes, and so this book crashed and burned for me.

Come for the recipes, I suppose. This could have been edited into a very charming coffee table book, but as it is, the only one who probably cares at all is the guy who wrote it.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the third of Jason Wilson's books I've read, and I believe the first one he wrote. It's also my least favorite. He sounds just a little bit like a jerk in this one, compared to his wine book and his cider book. I would assume that is because he wrote this one after years of working in the field, so he felt like he knew everything at that point. But I like the tone in the others more, regardless. Not a bad book, I learned some things, so certainly not a waste of time. But I don't know that I would've gone on to read his other books if this had been the first one I read.

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite working in a bar/restaurant at one point of my life, I don't actually know that much about spirits. I found this interesting and the writing style the right mix of casual, entertaining, and informative. It also furthered my desire to expand my drinking comfort zone and try something new.

[Brigid · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable and entertaining, even though he'd hate my affinity for vodka drinks. (Although, I am going to look for some Laird's apple brandy now, so good job there, buddy.) It's always fun to read something like this when the author is aware of how odd and lucky it is that this is their life.

[Dawne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun read. Makes me want to stock the cabinets

[Sherrie Nicholson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was well written and very informative, although the author seems a bit pretentious.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not perfect, but a good read. Recipes sprinkled throughout the the book add color and incentive to act on some of the knowledge that Wilson shares.

[John Pledger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many different kinds of liquor that I have never heard of, will never try and do not care to. Pretentious crap mostly.

[Will G · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm so excited for future drunk me.

[Steve Gerdes · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite books. Informative, entertaining.. I've read it two times and will probably read it again in a few years.

[Allison Cully · Rating 3 out of 5]

This author comes off as... such a douche. There's a lot of good information on alcohol and cocktails, though. So, do with that what you will.

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Is the cocktail world bigger than vodka and gin? The Boozehound: On the Trail of the Rare, The Obscure, and the Overrated in Spirits by journalist Jason Wilson is a book about new experiences and inspiring readers to consider options beyond the obvious and routine.

I challenge readers to get through this engaging, story-filled tasting travelogue without buying a bottle of something they've never tried before or haven't consumed in years. For me it was Tuaca--a vanilla and brandy mixture that tastes like the butterscotch candies that I loved as a kid.

Wilson's favorites appear to be old style gin, rum, rye, vermouth, and Calvados. Somewhat surprising, the book barely mentions Scotch and bourbon. As a single malt Scotch drinker, I grudgingly acknowledge the author when he says, "if there's a single-malt [Scotch] drinker in your life, that's all he or she is going to want." But breaking free of this gravitational force is one of the reasons I read this book and watch the Travel Channel's Booze Traveler with Jack Maxwell and Esquire's Best Bars in America with comedians Jay Larson and Sean Patton.

Finally, the mandate of the book, as told to the author by a French distiller is: "In America, people may not know anything about spirits. But at least they're excited to learn." The lesson plan can be found at the end of each chapter with a selection of cocktail recipes to try and experiment with the possible exception of vodka (especially flavored vodka), which has become the McDonalds/Starbucks of the spirits world.

[Lynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most of the other reviewers have hit the high, and, to my mind, the most important bits about this book. What I want to add is that the author doesn't take himself seriously. However, he does convey an appreciation for the passion involved in producing excellent spirits. He explains succinctly what it is we should be looking for in drinkable spirits.

I found myself laughing out loud as he called a spade a spade regarding martinis - and it's something I've been saying ever since I discovered the original recipe in a 1933 cocktail book. If you only add one drop of vermouth, of just waft the fumes over the glass, you are NOT drinking a martini; you are drinking a glass of gin, so just call it that!


The second time I found myself in agreement with him was the matter of vodka. It is so utterly worthless that to keep sales high, they've begun dumping in artifical flavors.

The third time was at the end, when he discussed barware. For those of you under a certain age, the two or three martini lunch was possible because the size of the cocktail glass was for a traditional martini: 1 ounce gin + 1 ounce dry vermouth + a dash of orange bitters + a twist of lemon (or an olive). These days, one sees cocktail glasses that hold the equivalent of a can of soda! By the time you are two sips into the drink, it is, as he points out, no longer icy cold. Bleah.

Even when waxing brilliant of this or that detail regarding a spirit, the author remains firmly rooted in a no-nonsense approach. He calls that spade a spade and doesn't hesitate to add the anecdotes that prove he's still a regular guy who likes booze. He even calls it that!

This was a fun read and I'm looking forward to trying some of the recipes. I'll add some of the more arcane bottles to the collection whenever the VA ABC store gets with the program (or I make a trip to a state that is more enlightened!), and I look forward to seeing if I continue to be in agreement with him.

[Evan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wilson's Boozehound is a great introduction to the joy that can be had by drinking well. It takes the form of a sort of travel memoir focused on spirits (and interspersed with recipes), and Wilson's experiences seem to make him the perfect person to pitch the subject. Perhaps most importantly, he succeeds in avoiding pretension, which can be offputting to readers not already immersed in the subject. He introduces topics at the neophyte level, so the reading is appropriate for any one, but there is enough here to make it interesting for the biggest of cocktail geeks. As one of those cocktail geeks myself, I found the discussions with individual distillers quite intriguing.

The book does have slight weeknesses in organization and style. The book is quite anecdotal, and sometime Wilson fails to make a cohesive whole out of the anecdotes. Further, some chapters and subsections seem truncated - the author has a habit of ending his stories too quickly. But these are minor gripes that are rather inoffensive because the book is rather short and a fairly quick read.

Boozehound is ideal if you're just becoming interested in spirits and cocktails - it will show you how it can be so much fun. And if you already understand that fun, there are many interesting tidbits to hold your attention. Recommended.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an entertaining book about, well, booze! Specifically rare, local spirits from all around the world. Granted, you have to have a particular interest in this for this book to be interesting (and you have to accept the fact that you'll never try 90% of the rare, exotic, and expensive spirits that the author gets to try, him being a "lifestyle" journalist who writes about spirits for a living). The only reason I give it 3 stars instead of 4 is that it's just kind of a narrow topic. But if you're into it, you'll find it interesting.

It includes a lot of cocktail recipes (again, many including spirits that you probably can't get your hands on! But it was still somewhat interesting to flip through them). The author also goes into a lot of history about how the various spirits were developed in various places. He really travels all over the world and gets into a lot of local culture, which I think is really the strength of the book.

Oh, and if you like vodka, you'll question yourself after reading this! Apparently vodka is completely disdained in "fine spirits" circles. Especially the dreaded flavored vodkas.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

The more books I read by columnists, the more I recognize the simple fact that they can't write in anything other than a column format, even if that column is 15 pages long. One of the last chapters in which he covered tequila, eau de vie and brandy felt especially truncated.

While you could consider this a history of spirits, this is not for someone who has little knowledge about them. Wilson will often refer to terms he hasn't explained or give incomplete explanations.
While you could also consider this a memoir, Wilson gives enough technical explanations that it doesn't quite feel like this either.

I can't quite tell who Wilson was writing for. It veers between TMI memoir, extremely interesting food writing vignettes, and informative explanations of spirits. It's not particularly cohesive.

I think it'd really benefit from being longer and more expansive.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really an enjoyable read, far more so that I expected. I was afraid the author was going to be snobby and pretentious or only try and sell the reader on what he liked or what was prohibitively expensive. Instead, he's pretty down to earth, witty, and writes in a very casual style for the average person. I learned a lot about history (of places in the world and generalized history as well as specifically to spirits), almost without realizing it. I'm not a big drinker of spirits, but he really got me curious about some of them. If I was a bigger drinker, I'd want to have this on hand when travelling, hosting parties, shopping, etc. He includes a lot of recipes as well as an appendix that includes what a "good host" would have on hand in their bar. Great read; definitely recommended.

[Melissa McCauley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have long wanted to learn about liquor, but all the books I have picked up were pretentious tomes talking down to suburbanites like myself. (Yes, I know I have terrible taste in wine… and I admit it - I have no idea what is in a Tom Collins… so just get over it!)

This book is part travel memoir, part spirit review, part cocktail recipe book. Each chapter takes you on a journey through the author’s past and attempts to educate the reader about how to taste and understand the flavors in various obscure (and often maligned) spirits. The author includes recipes at the end of each chapter and stresses how the proper ingredients can be the difference between a good cocktail and a sub-par (or just plain awful) drink.

[Kirkrivera · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eric Felten's "How's Your Drink?" a collection of essays about various spirits and cocktails--weaving stories in about their history and legend in our culture-- was so enchanting that it was a revelation: a sui generis form of literature, a literary series of "amuse-bouches." While "Boozehound" by Jason Wilson falls short of the gold standard set by Felten, it is nearly as entertaining. The front cover has an Anthony Bourdain quote which intrigues:"Superbly informative, entertaining, and yet deeply subversive." Writing by a Washing Post spirits reporter can be subversive? Didn't see that but it does read effortlessly, marvelously covering on spirits we've always wanted to know more about--Norwegian acquavit, Italian grappa, French Calvados, pisco, Italian bitters, and more.

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm really looking forward to reading this having read some of his columns through the years. I imagine I'll find much to ponder and a little bit to challenge vociferously. Thanks to Briar and Michelle Jones for such a thoughtful gift. Having read it now, I can say it's a fun n d witty book, except that much of what he writes about Martinis is bunk. Still a great treasure trove of more antique cocktail recipes for starters. As well as an interesting cultural history of what I would argue is one of America's great additions to world culinary efforts: the classic cocktails dating from especially the roaring 20s on.