I enjoyed the first volume in this series, Booze & Vinyl (you can read my review here), so I was excited to see another volume celebrating 70 great albums and 140 new mixed drink recipes.
Booze & Vinyl 2 presents an album and then suggests a couple of mixed drink recipes to make the enjoyment of the music an even more exciting experience. For example, on pages 24-25, The Pretenders first album–cunningly titled The Pretenders–has a Chrissie Hynde song called “Brass in Pocket.” Here’s the recipe for the mixed-drink “Brass in Pocket”:
1 1/2 ounces light rum
1 ounce dry vermouth
3/4 ounce creme de cacao
Cherry, for garnish
Stir rum, vermouth, and creme de cacao with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a cherry.
I also liked the choice for Janis Joplin’s album (p 8-9), Pearl: a
“SoCo Sangria”:
1 (750 ml) bottle dry white wine, chilled
4 ounces Southern Comfort
8 ounces ginger ale, chilled
Combine all ingredients in a pitcher. Serve in glasses over ice.
If you want to explore 70 wonderful albums and 140 delicious mixed drinks, check out Booze & Vinyl 2. Do you have a favorite drink? GRADE: A
I don’t really get the idea of a cocktail – mixing everything?
I like a glass of wine (red, white, rose) or just a beer.
We have so many variations of these in Eurpe – why not just try the different tastes?
OT:
That reminds me of one of my favourite stories (sorry if I told that already):
On one of our holidays to the USA we went to Death Valley, Grand Canyon, Zion, Vegas and then to relax: San Francisco.
Got a cheap (!!!) room at the Whitcomb on Market St for 3 nights and rode the Cable Car and the Tram – fantastic!
After walking around one day we were tired and I proposed to my wife to sit down in the F-line and ride it to the end in the Castro districht. Because of the name I thought it might be Spanish.
When we arrived we were thirsty and saw a bar just a few yards away so decided to go there. Standing in the door I looked around and it was rather full so we weren’t sure whether to go in and look for a place.
Then someone at the bat turned around and called out: Come in, we don’t bite! He showed us a free seat at the bar and I realised that there were only men inside …
But we went in, sat down at the bar and had a nice conversation with the guy ho had called out and his partner. Both were working in IT, did many business trips to Europe and we started discussing the different beers there and which ones they and we liked.
Pils, Export, Lager, Kölsch, Alt from Germany and the Belgian beers – tasting llike fruits …
A wonderful afternoon!
Wolf, like you I prefer red wine to mixed drinks. But, many of our friends like Manhattans and Martinis and all sorts of drinks with funny names.
Except for a very occasional beer I do not drink alcohol. Nothing against it; I just never developed a taste for it. Instead of pairing music with drink, I’m more apt to pair it with silent enjoyment and the occasional contemplation.
Jerry, you might remember Lawrence Welk and his “Champaign Music.” His opening theme song was “Bubbles in the Wine.”
I used to drink a lot but not much anymore. Usually just a beer or rum and diet coke (have to watch the carbs/sugar). If I’m out a whiskey sour. Never developed much of a taste for wine.
Steve, as a teenager I enjoyed rum and cokes. But alcohol makes me sleepy so I have to time my glass of wine near Bedtime or I’ll fall asleep in front of the TV.
I don’t think this book is for me. To have a specific drink for a specific song makes about as much sense to me as wearing a specific dress to read a particular book. What does one have to do with the other? Anyway, I’m not much of a drinker. A glass of Asti with Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving dinners, plus one on New Year’s Eve. An occasional maragarita if we go to a Mexican restaurant and I’m not driving. Other than that, I could go all year without a drop.
Deb, I suspect BOOZE & VINYL is a marketing approach to appeal to retro tastes in music and mixed drinks.
I like that analogy–I do try to wear tennis togs before cracking open a Wodehouse. And, yes, any hook to hang a cute notion book on!
Before giving up alcohol for diabetes meds, I didn’t get too far in exploring mixed drinks. When I was a kid, and getting served on airplanes and the like (I was 6′ 1″ tall when I was 11yo), the choice was a screwdriver…grew a bit fond of a Cuba libre before the diagnosis. Would mix up a sangria on occasion.
Is this for real? I wouldn’t care about this even if I were a drinker, which I’m not.
Michael, not only is BOOZE & VINYL real, it’s real TWICE! I was surprised when I found the sequel to the first volume. Perhaps a third volume is in development. Projects like this tend to be sales related.
I never drank at all until I was forty-eight. We were in Paris for a week and Phil pointed out that the coke was more expensive than the wine. He challenged me to try it for a week. By the end of the week I liked it enough to have it when we went out. And then I had a glass every day. Alcohol is not good for breast cancer so now I mostly have non-alcoholic wine with an ounce of real wine to cut the sweetness. I like Moscow Mules, Margaritas and Negronis if I order a mixed drink. I only like gin or vodka or tequila. I have friends who drink an awful lot and others who don’t touch the stuff.
Patti, I drink a glass of red wine each day on the recommendation of my internist. That’s it for me.
Geroge, an elderly man i knew when I was young was teetotal. He used to bring out the WCTU pledge he had signed as a youth to for my inspection. the, during his last year (he was in his eighties) his doctor recommended a daily glass of red wine. He was relieved and happy to finally have an excuse to break the pledge!
Jerry, I went for over 30 years without alcohol and only my doctor’s recommendation of a daily glass of red wine brought me back. Alcohol, like opioids and marijauna, has been demonized over the years. Moderation is the key.
It’s been about three decades for me to not have had more than a sip or swallow, as it happens. There’s all kinds of vague about whether alc is not a good idea for Type 2, but I might as well continue not till counterindication is persuasive. (Sure are some good Belgian ales out there.)
Todd, the glass of red wine I drink daily doesn’t seem to have much of an effect on my glucose level or A1C.
Indeed, the rationale I was given was that alc would interact badly with the Type 2 drugs I was taking at that time…not too many in common with today’s cocktail of diabetes meds. Only one of my old meds actually banned. Nowadays, as my kidneys function at the Bad Side of average, I’m leery of drinking alc too much, as well, for that reason.
Todd, you’re right to be cautious about the potential interaction of alcohol and prescription drugs.
Favorite drink? Water.
I don’t drink much these days. Jackie doesn’t drink at all these days (she never drank much). I have an occasional beer or glass of wine. If we go to a wedding or the like I’d have a vodka & tonic. My father was a Scotch drinker but I never liked the stuff. I prefer gin and vodka, or rum or tequila in a pinch.
In our younger days, we had a good friend who drank A LOT. So we drank a lot more – screwdrivers, Harvey Wallbanbgers, whiskey sours with my parents, Tom Collins (or Vodka Collins), Black Russian, etc. Then there were cheap wines…
Best Tour Ever was the Tuborg Brewery in Copenhagen, with free samples.
Jeff, I did experiment with various types of mixed drinks while I was in College, but I didn’t like the effects of the Morning After. I pretty much ignored alcohol until my internist recommended a daily glass of red wine for my heart. So far, so good.
One lesson I will never forget. When we were visting Jackie’s parents in the Catskills one summer before we were married, her sister’s boyfriend broke up with her. She drowned her sorrows in a bottle of Southern Comfort. Man, was that a mistake. She was sicker than a very sick dog.
Jeff, I’ve only gotten sick after drinking alcohol twice. The first time was as High School life was winding down at an evening party on Class Day. My drinking inexperience led me to messy results around midnight. And, I felt like crap the next morning on AWARD DAY. It took effort to walk up to the podium to accept my Awards. The second and last time I got sick was in College when “friends” kept buying me drinks I didn’t want. Like a fool, I drank the whiskey shots and later that night I spent a lot of time hugging the toilet. I vowed I’d never do that again!
Australian shirazes were running about $8 a bottle a decade back. Took the occasional sip when I’d pick up a bottle for Alice. Not too shabby. Dunno how much they go for now (could check), inasmuch as Alice mostly drinks beer sparingly these years.
Reading about all the different drinks here makes me almost feel kind of groggy.
There’s one “cocktail” I’ll make an exception for:
Slushy or frozen margarita is one of my favourites.
I still remember what happened almost 30 years ago on one of my business trips to the USA.
We visited the World Bank in Washimgton and for the evening our IBM representative roposed a Mexican restaurant – I like most of my colleagues had never been to one. And the first thing he ordered for all of us (except of or boss who didn’t drink and also was a vegetarian) was a pitcher of Slushy Margarita – fantastic!
My colleagues must have felt the same because after that we often looked for Mexican restaurants on our next trips.
Totally OT – what a coincidence:
Just got the ad paper from our Hungarian Lidl for next week – it’s Mexican week!!!
So we’ll buy Tacos, black beans, sweet and hot salsa and whatever comes to mind …
If you want to have a look (and learn some Hungarian …) here it comes:
https://leaflets.assets.schwarz/pdfs/5c26eddf-1f9d-11ed-95ed-fa163e07e303/Akcios-ujsag-34-het-Ervenyes-08-25-tol-04.pdf
Sorry, Mexican week starts on page 15 of the pdf.
I’m just a beer and wine guy and have never cared for liqour. If I was going to listen to music while having a cocktail then mid-century pop vocals (Peggy Lee, Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darrin) seem more like the ideal soundtrack.
Byron, don’t forget Julie London!