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Mixing It Up: Our Guide to Pairing Cocktails and Books Perfect For Every Reader
The Bartender's Manifesto: How to Think, Drink, and Create Cocktails Like a Pro
Toby Maloney, Emma Janzen, The Bartenders of The Violet Hour
Hardcover
$32.50
Ships in 1-2 days.
When we were thinking about the quintessential summer post, we thought about how many people enjoy a cocktail on summer nights with their friends and wondered, “how great would it be to pair great cocktails with fantastic books?” And that’s how this post was born. We talked to Toby Maloney about some of his brilliant cocktails and had fun pairing them up with some books to enjoy while you wet your whistle. He gave us fruity, spicy, refreshing, smoky, and spooky options which helped us come up with books for every reader, particularly lovers of mystery, romance, dramas laden with secrets, and horror.
Fruity Pairing: Vodka Cobbler with Joanne Fluke’s Peach Cobbler Murder
While this Vodka Cobbler isn’t your traditional cobbler, it has just the right amount of bitterness to complement it and make it go down easy. So, it was a no brainer for us to pair it with Peach Cobbler Murder where some bitterness between a suffering bakery and the owner of its rival leads to the primary suspect in a murder case. Make this drink by the carafe and enjoy lazing around on the weekend with this cozy mystery!
Spicy Pairing: Flaming Heart with Neon Gods by Katee Robert
When we asked for a drink to pair with a romance novel, we got a spicy drink. Flaming Heart is a spicy drink with notes of pineapple, lime, and tabasco with a tequila base. To us, this cocktail paired perfectly with Neon Gods and the Dark Olympus series. Full of romantic spice and complex relationships, it complements this flavorful drink through the sweetness of the pineapple juice and the zip of the tabasco sauce!
Refreshing/Summery On Ice Pairing: Dance of Dragons with Jenna Evans Welch’s Love & Gelato
For both a book and a drink with “Big Summer Energy,” you’ll want to pair the sweeping romance in Love & Gelato with Dance of Dragons. With nods to the creator’s Italian heritage, this cocktail has a potable bitter woven in among its flavors, so it’s perfect for being swept off to Italy in a romance! Plus, this book will be on Netflix starting June 22nd, so drink it before you see it!
Smoky Pairing: Riki Tiki Tavi with Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
When presented with a cocktail that has a smoky flavor, we couldn’t help but immediately think about what produces smoke — fire! So, it was a no-brainer to pair Little Fires Everywhere with the cocktail, Riki Tiki Tavi. This cocktail breaks the rules by giving drinkers a taste of summer no matter what the season is, so enjoy it while reading a book that challenges the idea that following rules prevents life from flying off the tracks!
Spooky Pairing: Daywalker with Brett Easton’s American Psycho
Daywalker is a twist on a dirty martini, perfect for after-work endeavors … ring any bells? By day, Patrick Bateman is your average Wall Street businessman, but by night, Bateman’s extracurricular activities invoke horror in the lives of so many. For anyone looking to add a little bit of spookiness to the mix, we can’t recommend pairing Daywalker with American Psycho enough. But maybe leave the lights on and lock all your doors while you settle in for this read.
Want to try your own?
Check out the recipe below for Toby Maloney’s cocktail, Juliet and Romeo!
We had such a blast partnering with Toby Maloney for this post! For all of these cocktails and more, check out his cookbook, The Bartender’s Manifesto, to learn all about crafting the perfect cocktail, brilliant descriptions of the drinks, and amazing recipes that will make you the hit of your summer gatherings!