An Intoxicating History of Seven Spirits
September 1, 2015
Much hardheaded research has gone into this, a gathering of lectures the authors offered at their Victoria Bar in Berlin. They announce joyously the waning of what they call definitely light drinks. They acknowledge the mean side of alcohol while brushing it off with a shrug. Next morning, they advise, consider carrying on where you left off. There's a ton of history here, linking the sauce with momentous moments like the planning of the Normandy invasion, the ascension of Ivan the Terrible to the throne of Russia, the passing of the Franco regime in Spain. All that is good for reference, but it's the quirky stuff that carries the book. Bet you didn't know that Scotch was a drink for yahoos until the English ran out of cognac at the end of the nineteenth century. Or that the global cognac industry, declining as the 1990s wore on, was all but bailed out by the rappers. They love the stuff, calling it yak. Snoop Dog and Coolio commanded fans to drink up, and the homies did what they were told. A wet feast for imbibers with a sense of the past.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)