Book Review: Hemingway and Bailey’s Bartending Guide
Bookage June 1st, 2007
This is a collection of famously drunk (and only dead, to Norman Mailer’s apparent dismay) authors and their associated drinks. The recipes are very classic and can be trusted to be true to the drink’s original make-up and intent. The introductions and anecdotes for each author are great reads as you gain insight not only into the type of drinker each author was but also the world they inhabited with that drinking.
My only two complaints of the book are that the drinks seem to sometimes only be loosely connected to the highlighted author and the writing samples are too brief. The excerpts for each writer are well chosen and highlight how drinking was romanticized or portrayed in the author’s works. No doubt many suffered no shortage of passages from which the editors could select.
Overall, the book is a bit shallow as a cocktail guide and likewise shallow as an introduction to the authors’ drinking habits and works. However, it’s a clever idea, it’s beautifully illustrated and arranged, it’s great for a quick read or to touch on now and again for light reading, and its strengths and charms far outweigh its detractions.
Rating: 
