When A Drink Is Your John Hancock
An Interview With Cocktail Writer Amanda Schuster About Her New Book "Signature Cocktails," Plus a Recipe.
What is a “signature cocktail”?
According to Amanda Schuster, the career cocktail writer whose book by that name hits shelves tomorrow, Oct. 4, it is “a bespoke drink that expresses the nature of the time, person, venue, city, or country for which it was created.” It can be invented by a bar or a specific bartender. It can be a new drink or an already extant cocktail from the past that a particular bar or bartender has somehow perfected.
In short, the answer is not a simple one. But answers are what Schuster gives you in her new 430-page tome (published by Phaidon), which included the recipes and backstories of more than 200 drinks dating from the 1400s to 2023. The potions hail from all over the world, from Argentina to the Virgin Islands, and New York to New Delhi. Nearly half are from our current era of fervent mixological creation. Each entry is accompanied by a beautiful original photograph by Andy Sewell.
We here at The Mix have known Amanda for a while now, as a fellow cocktail scribe; Brownstone Brooklyn neighbor; frequent patron of Long Island Bar and Sam’s Pizzeria; and as a member of our erstwhile Covid-era cocktail pod. To commemorate the release of her latest volume, we asked her a few questions about the work.
By the way, if you want to meet Schuster in person, she will be hosting a ticketed book launch event at Porchlight in Manhattan on Monday, Oct. 9. You can buy tickets here.
The Mix: How did the idea for this project come about?
Amanda Schuster: Like all my other books, this one is a commission. Originally I think it was meant to complement Phaidon's existing Signature Recipes That Matter cookbook, but it kind of took on a life of its own.
It's quite a sizable volume with hundreds of drinks. Was it always intended to be this big a book?
AS: It was meant to be even bigger, if you can believe it! 250 cocktails. But once we got started, we realized 200 seemed more reasonable.
The way the book is arranged—chronologically, according to when each cocktail was invented—is unusual. Tell me how that came about.
AS: In order to present the scope of the drinks—with so many of the cocktails the classics in their original form—it made the most sense to go chronologically. This way, the reader can appreciate the cocktail revolution. It's a liquid X-ray of the "bones" of contemporary drinks.
How did a drink make the cut in being included in the book? What were the criteria?
AS: The drink had to have a definite tie to a person, place, or event. So Martini as its own standalone cocktail, no. The Duke's Martini or the Connaught Martini, yes. These are very specific presentations and recipes.
How many of the bars in the book have you been to?
AS: My original wording for the intro included this passage, which ended up getting cut in the final draft (hey, Robert, you have a scoop!) "I am often asked, 'Did you get to travel all over the world to taste cocktails for this book?' For my life’s work, somewhat. For this book, sadly no. But there’s a good reason. This is the first time signature recipes from around the globe, spanning the entire history of cocktails through the centuries, are all in one place. Perhaps one day I will finally visit the Long Bar at Raffles for a Singapore Sling (and order both versions!) or beat the heat with a Daiquiri at La Floridita in Havana, but it would now be impossible to order the signature punch at Philadelphia’s Fish House Club, the Line Cocktail at Café Line in Tokyo, a Bird of Paradise Fizz at the Stranger’s Club in Panama, or a Pegu Club at either the original in Myanmar or the bar in New York City—never mind just hopping on the F train at my local stop for a Bamboozicle at Nightcap—unless I had a time machine."
A good number of drinks are from the past decade, or even the past three years, and from very new bars like Lullaby in Manhattan and Silver Lyan, Ryan Chetiyawardana’s bar in Washington, D.C. How did you find cocktails that qualified as signature drinks from very recent history?
AS: It was important to me to include very recent drinks. There's no question from opening day that the Dole Whip was a signature, an instant classic—that's totally Lullaby's thing! I loved that a Ryan Chetiyawardana concept had crossed the pond. I knew there would be at least one signature to discuss from that D.C. outpost. Really it's about drinks that are memorable for one reason or another. And there are so many cool things happening now. I had to fit as much in there as I could.
I see your favorite Summer Manhattan from Travel Bar is in the book. Are there other cocktails in the book that are somewhat personal choices of yours?
AS: I wish I could have fit more in there from New York. Summer Manhattan made the cut because it's such an unusual take. It really does taste summery and not as brooding and unctuous as a classic Manhattan. I campaigned hard for Vieux Carré in New Orleans, and local favorites Old Cuban. and especially Yippee Ki-Yay MotherF***er, which Phaidon was a little dicey on at first, not only because of the name, but also—because it's an internationally released book—how it would be received outside the U.S.
I see you also managed to work your beloved Duran Duran into the book in the form of the cocktail Her Name Is Rio by bartender Abigail Gullo. Tell me about that.
At one point there was a discussion about including celebrity signatures. Her Name Is Rio was originally conceived for a Forbes article I wrote with an interview with Annie Zaleski, who had written a book about the album “Rio.” I absolutely had to include it. Not only is the drink the embodiment of the song—cachaça and cherries, summery, elegant, zippy—but also because of Abigail Gullo herself; and it's perhaps the most personal drink in the book for me. It's my signature on the signatures. Abigail is a massive Duran Duran fan like me. Also, fun story: for the photo shoot, she printed the garnish [an image of the “Rio” cover] out on edible rice paper with vegetable ink in New Orleans, sent it to Phaidon's office in NYC, and it was muled to London for the final photo. So like the song, the drink is about travel ("from mountains in the North, down to the Rio Grande"), adventure (will the garnishes even survive the trip? Yikes!), and fashion.
By the way, we also have Hit Me Baby One Mai Tai by Britney Spears devotee Brynn Smith in L.A.
There's a lot of history in this book. How much did you already know and how much was new to you?
I knew quite a bit about most of the classics, but then had to hit the books to get the exact details as accurate as possible. Whenever I could, I consulted original source material or spoke with someone who had access to it. Wow, there is a lot of misinformation on the Internet! Of course, there was a ton I didn't know, especially some of the more esoteric recipes and stories from Latin America and Asia.
Tell me an example of something new you learned about cocktail history while researching this book.
Oh, so many! Mostly having to do with drinks that have more than one origin story. I had no idea, for example, that there were two versions of the Tequila Sunrise, and that we wouldn't even be discussing that drink now at all, the second iteration, if Mick Jagger hadn't been ordering it all over the U,S. during the 1972 tour supporting “Exile on Main Street,” a.k.a. the "Cocaine and Sunrise" tour. (To paraphrase what I say about it in the book, it wasn't referred to by that name by the band because they were fond of mornings). There are also two Mojitos, which I didn't know at all. The dual Singapore Sling thing I did know thanks to a talk years ago at Tales by Jared Brown, but years later I was fuzzy on the details until I delved into it more again.
You wrote this book during the pandemic. Did that affect your approach to researching and writing the book in any way?
One of the big takeaways with the newest recipes in the book was when and how they were conceived. There are a few that exist as a direct result of bars adapting to the conditions of the pandemic—served outside or for a concept that veers from the original bar space. An example of this is Las Piñas in Albuquerque, from Los Conejos, which grew out of necessity, with an outdoor space, as a sister bar to the Copper Lounge.
Her Name Is Rio
Abigail Gullo, New Orleans, LA, 2021
2 ounces Cachaça
3/4 ounce sweet tea syrup (either commercial brand or simple syrup made with brewed tea instead of water)
Juice of 1 lime
1 egg white
2 to 3 fresh pitted cherries
Muddle the cherries in a cocktail shaker with the sweet tea syrup. Add the lime juice, egg white and Cachaça. Dry shake without ice. Add ice and shake until chilled, about 15 seconds. Double strain into chilled cocktail glass.
Odds and Ends…
Harrison’s, one of the oldest purveyors of the the Massachusetts regional food sandwich known as North Shore Beef, has closed its doors after nearly 40 years in business. The Mix visited Harrison’s in North Andover earlier this year in its Search of North Shore Beef… Rowley’s Bay Resort, the decades-old resort near the northern tip of Door County in Wisconsin, has decided not to rebuild after a devastating fire last month. Instead it will look for a new buyer for the property. The resort has been run by the Peterson Family since 1970. It was founded in 1948 by Lou Casagrande and was previously called Wagon Trail Resort for a time. Inside the lodge were artifacts from the settlement and buildings that stood in that part of Door County in the late 1800s and early 1900s, including old timbers and a church organ, as well as a series of murals depicting Door County life, painted by Frank Gospodarek in 1949, which were saved. The lodge was also home to Grandma’s Swedish Bakery. The resort stood across from Rowley’s Bay, which leads to the Mink River Estuary, one of the most pristine freshwater estuaries in the country. Real estate is at a premium in Door County these days. New developments are popping up everywhere. Let’s hope the new owners respect the history and spirit of the place and don’t tear down the remaining structures in favor of a slick, modern, faceless, luxury resort of the kind you can find everywhere in the warmer climes of the nation… The new fall menu at Grand Army drops today. It’s called “Burn Book” and the theme is the film “Mean Girls.” As to the reason for the menu debuting today: “It’s October 3rd.”… I recently got to visit Miesfeld’s, a meat market that has been doing business in Sheboygan since 1941. It’s quite the place, carrying 25 varieties of bratwurst, all house made, as well as other types of fresh and smoked meats. Your can also buy local cheese and bread, as well as a wide array of specialty food products from other states including JJ Wilke Pierogies from Canada, a line of sauces and condiments from St Elmo’s Steakhouse in Indianapolis, and kringles from Racine, WI. If you’re in the area, it’s well worth a stop. You may get lucky and find the Brat Haus outside the store open for business and selling freshly grilled bratwurst and hamburgers… Chives, the longstanding farm-to-table restaurant in Bailey’s Harbor, WI, has added a breakfast restaurant to its growing food truck garden. It is run by the owners of Morning Glory of Door County, a diner near Sturgeon Bay. The diner is inside a converted 25-foot gooseneck trailer… Ci Siamo, Danny Meyer’s Manhattan West Italian restaurant, celebrated two years in business on Oct. 1… Paradise Lost, the new East Village tiki bar, will open its doors on Oct. 13… Leyenda, the Latin-spirits-themed Brooklyn cocktail bar, has a new fall menu… Somebody in Philadelphia created a Cheesesteak Martini… Chinato, a new Lower East Side cocktail bar at 108 Stanton Street from Ray Zhou (former R&D captain for Double Chicken Please), will open Oct. 12. Its design is inspired by experimental cocktail bars in Europe and Asia, in that the main bar is a center island with no front or back… Nominations for the 2004 James Beard Awards are now open.
Way to go, Amanda! 👏👏👏
Thank you so much, Robert! This is a lovely write up. Means so much to me (like a birthday, or a pretty view).