While some may wonder, Does the world really
needanother flavored vodka?
no one answers this question quite so memorably as spirits writer and raconteur Jason Wilson does in Boozehound.
(By the way, the short answer is no.) A unique blend of travelogue, spirits history, and recipe collection, Boozehound
explores the origins of what we drink and the often surprising reasons behind our choices.
In lieu of odorless, colorless, tasteless spirits, Wilson champions Old World liquors with hard-to-define flavors--a bitter and complex Italian amari,
or the ancient, aromatic herbs of Chartreuse, as well as distinctive New World offerings like lively Peruvian pisco. With an eye for adventure, Wilson seeks out visceral experiences at the source of production--visiting fields of spiky agave in Jalisco, entering the heavily and reverently-guarded Jagermeister herb room in Wolfenbuttel, and journeying to the French Alps to determine if mustachioed men in berets really handpick blossoms to make elderflower liqueur.
In addition, Boozehound
offers more than fifty drink recipes, from three riffs on the Manhattan to cocktail-geek favorites like the Aviation and the Last Word. These recipes are presented alongside a host of opinionated essays that cherish the rare, uncover the obscure, dethrone the overrated, and unravel the mysteries of taste, trends, and terroir. Through his far-flung, intrepid traveling and tasting, Wilson shows us that perhaps nothing else as entwined with the history of human culture is quite as much fun as booze.
Boozehound : On the Trail of the Rare, the Obscure, and the Overrated in Spirits [A Travel and Cocktail Recipe Book]
Description
Table of Contents
Introduction The Booze Beat 1
chapter 1 • THE OMBIBULOUS ME 9
chapter 2 • FLAVOR AND ITS DISCONTENTS 27
chapter 3 • LIQUOR STORE ARCHAEOLOGY 47
chapter 4 • ROMANCE: THEY POUR IT ON 71
chapter 5 • BITTER IS BELLA 95
chapter 6 • WATER OF LIFE 121
chapter 7 • TERROIR-ISTS 133
chapter 8 • OF POLITICS and RUM 159
chapter 9 • THE ANGELS’ SHARE 185
Acknowledgments 211
Appendix 213
Index 225
Author Description
JASON WILSON writes the spirits column for the Washington Post.
His column has twice won an award for Best Newspaper Food Column from the Association of Food Journalists. Wilson is also the series editor of the annual anthology The Best American Travel Writing
and is the editor of TheSmartSet.com. Wilson's work has appeared in many magazines and newspapers, including National Geographic Traveler,
Travel ] Leisure,
the Boston Globe,
and the Washington Post's Sunday magazine.
He previously served as the restaurant critic at Philadelphia Magazine.
He teaches writing at Drexel University. Visit www.jasonwilson.com.