The Encyclopedia of Cocktails Turns 1!

Books, They Grow Up So Fast.

Signing books prior to publication.

Today is the first anniversary of the publication of The Encyclopedia of Cocktails. It hit bookstands Oct. 17, 2023. The very next day, I was off on a book tour that eventually took me to Seattle, San Francisco, New Brunswick, Chicago, Larchmont, NY, Athens and Boston.

Many of the readers of this newsletter are familiar with the book, because complimentary, signed copies went out to every subscriber who subscribes at the Bar Regular level ($150 annually). Thank you again for your support!

And if you’re interested in that sort of perk, it’s not too late. Just click on the link below and upgrade from free, monthly or annual subscriber to Bar Regular, and a book will be on your way toot suite!

As some of you may recall, the Encyclopedia had a difficult birth. Much of it was written in a Covid hotel on the outskirts of Rome in May and June of 2022. (To read the whole sordid, ridiculous story, click here.)

I got to know William Schmidt, George Kappeler and Frank Meier and other dead bartenders much better in that sad hotel room, as I made my way through the liquid contents of the liquor-filled suitcase I had intended to check at the airport. I was also able to revisit the careers of contemporary bartenders like Julie Reiner, Audrey Saunders, Meaghan Dorman and Jackson Cannon.

Box O’ Books.

I got to ask myself interesting questions like “Why, in 16 years of covering cocktails, have you never written anything substantial about garnishes?” and “Why is there so little information about the history of cocktail glassware?” And I learned things about myself, like, “You really don’t think about rum a lot, do you?” and “You maybe know too much about Theophile Proulx. You should stop.”

And I had the surreal experience—again and again—of rediscovering old articles I wrote many years ago and forgotten about. “Let’s see what’s out there on the Ohio Cocktail. Hey, here’s something interesting. Who wrote it?… Oh—it’s me.”

Once I got out of Rome, however, it was relatively smooth sailing. My editor Kim Keller did superlative work. The illustrations by Suzanne Dias were fantastic. Annie Marino came up with a handsome design. (I like the silhouettes of glassware on the cover, because they echoed the cover of A Proper Drink, the book of mine that the EOC is most like.) And Kevin Alexander, Alice Feiring, William Grimes, Toby Maloney and Julie Reiner provided generous blurbs for the back cover and interior pages.

I still remember the launch party at Porchlight fondly, with guest bartenders Dave Arnold, Misty Kalkofen, Claire Sprouse and Phil Ward behind the stick, mixing up their signature concoctions. There were a lot of friendly faces in attendance. Even my son, Asher, was there, showing off the Wes Anderson-esque video he made to promote the book. (He may be my son, but I have to say, after watching the video for the first time in a year, that he is damned talented!)

Me, during my short-lived career as a production assistant to my filmmaker son, Asher. I had to make that plate of fried eggs four times before we got the shot right.

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With the EOC, I hoped to achieve three things:

• Connect ancient cocktail history with modern cocktail history by including entries on bars, bartender, drink and techniques both old and new.

• Deliver a text with a unified vision and voice.

At Brooklyn Bar Convent with Roberto Bava, owner of Cocchi Americano.

• Create a populist text, something that was bite-sized and fun to read, while still rich in substance—sort of like a series of Robert Christgau album reviews.

Books (l.) and booze.

Of all the reviews of the book, the one I liked best actually appeared not in any publication, but on an Instagram feed, that of noted bartender and author Jim Meehan. (Meehan himself has a great new book out, The Bartender’s Pantry, which I recommend you buy.) With Jim’s permission, I reprint some of his words here, because he is one of the few people in the business of the media who actually got what I was trying to do:

I hoped that Robert would find a way to unify the past with the recent present, and am thrilled to find that he has attempted just that. This concise, beautifully-illustrated book (a diet encyclopedia at just over 300 pages) threads the needle between Jerry Thomas and Toby Maloney. It connects Tom Bullock with Shannon Mustipher. It links Ada Coleman and Meaghan Dorman. Trader Vic and Jeff Berry. It put Bryant’s on the same pedestal as The American Bar. Regardless of what you think about who’s in there and who isn’t, the inclusion of modern places and practitioners with long gone “historic” figures and institutions levels the value of contemporary history and ye olde days… History is not neutral or objective, even if it’s portrayed as such, and so it sure is helpful when its storytellers give you enough information to connect the dots up to the present.

If that sounds interesting to you, click here.

With the EOC, I’ve written seven cocktail books in ten years. And, let me tell you, ladies and germs, boy are my fingers tired. But as we speak, I’m hard at work on the next one, about Bourbon and Rye cocktails and Bourbon and Rye history and American whiskey stuff like that. There will be recipes, of course. I’m actually headed down to Louisville tomorrow. I’m sure I’ll be back to Kentucky a couple more times before it’s time to turn in the text. If all goes well, the book will come out in mid-2026.

In the meantime, here are a few recipes, all taken from the “S” section of the EOC, and all of an appropriate autumnal character. Each appears with the original headnotes from the book.

Star

A Manhattan made with apple brandy instead of whiskey, this cocktail emerged in the 1890s. The drink was rediscovered during the cocktail revival of the 21st century. It is often built using equal parts apple brandy and sweet vermouth.

• 1 1/2 ounces applejack

• 1 1/2 ounces sweet vermouth

• 2 dashes Angostura bitters

Combine ingredients in a mixing glass filled with ice. Stir until chilled. Strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with a cherry.

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Stone Fence

A simple and age-old American mixed drink composed of whiskey and apple cider. The drink appeared in Jerry Thomas’ Bar-Tender’s Guide in 1862 as two ounces of bourbon topped with apple cider and served over ice. Sometimes applejack was used instead of whiskey, and sugar and lemon were occasionally added. In light of its ingredients, it was an intrinsically American quaff and likely of rustic appeal, where such things as whiskey, applejack, and cider were in ready supply. A Stone Wall was made with soda water instead of cider, though frequently the recipes for the Fence and Wall became switched around. And, after Repeal, Scotch was called for more often, causing to the drink to veer into Scotch and Water territory. The drink, being the simplest of highballs, is not one of the bygone beverages that bartenders made a concerted effort to revive during the cocktail renaissance.

• 2 ounces rye whiskey

• Apple cider

Pour whiskey into a highball filled with ice. Top with cider.

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Suffering Bastard

A refreshing highball invented in 1940 by Joe Scialom, a once-famous, now-obscure bartender, while he worked at the Long Bar inside the famous Shepheard’s Hotel in Cairo. The original highball featured gin, brandy, Angostura bitters, Rose’s lime juice cordial, and ginger beer and was devised as a sort of hangover cure for locally stationed Allied troops. Foreign correspondents who frequented the bar helped make the drink famous. It was soon the hotel’s signature drink and world renowned. Scialom later riffed on his own invention at the Marco Polo Club in Manhattan, creating the Dying Bastard and Dead Bastard. In both drinks, he simply added more and different spirits to the existing drink. Tiki scholar Jeff Berry called the Dead Bastard tiki’s answer to the Long Island Iced Tea.

• 1 ounce gin

• 1 ounce brandy

• 1/2 ounce Rose’s Lime Juice

• 2 dashes Angostura bitters

• 4 ounces ginger beer

Combine all ingredients except ginger beer in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake until chilled. Strain into a high ball filled with ice. Top with ginger beer. Garnish with orange twist and sprig of mint.

Have book, will tour. Me in a Seattle hotel room.