We’re so often told that a reader can experience new places between the pages of a good book. But what about combining the pleasure of reading with the luxury of a craft cocktail? It can bring back memories of reading with a margarita on a beach chair or cracking open a new book while a flight attendant hands you a mini bottle of gin.
Feeling ready to leave your living room yet?
Let’s up the book-travel factor by pairing the plot of a novel with a corresponding themed cocktail. Reading and sipping a drink will give you a sensory experience of having left your home—traveling past the grocery store and over to Asia, Europe, and around North America. From nonfiction to historical stories, classic literature to contemporary reads, the list below has something for everyone—Cheers!
1. The Singapore Sling + Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
Ok, so this may be an obvious one, but sipping a refreshingly fruity drink while voraciously reading this gossip-filled novel is a sure-fire way make you feel as if you have travelled east. The Raffles Hotel in Singapore claims to be the spot this cocktail was invented—it doesn’t get any more authentic than this!
1.5 oz Gin
½ oz Heering cherry liqueur
¼ oz Cointreau
¼ oz Benedictine
4 oz Pineapple juice
½ oz Fresh lime juice
1/3 oz Grenadine
1 dash Angostura bitters
Combine all ingredients into a cocktail shaker over ice; shake vigorously. Strain into a hurricane or high ball glass and garnish with cherries.
2. The Golden Dream + The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
Following the American dream from the golden wheat fields of Texas to the state of milk and honey, California, The Four Winds follows mother and daughter as they struggle to thrive during the Depression era. This cocktail is sure to taste luxurious.
1/3 oz Fresh cream
2/3 oz Fresh orange juice
2/3 oz Galliano
2/3 oz Triple Sec
Add ice and all ingredients to your cocktail shaker and shake briskly. Strain into a martini glass.
3. French 75 + My Life in France by Julia Child
The delicious food descriptions in world-famous chef Julia Child’s autobiography will have you reaching for snacks and drinks. Luckily, the French 75 is a simple cocktail to whip up, leaving you with time to spend perfecting Child’s recipes.
1 oz Gin
½ oz Lemon juice
½ oz Simple syrup
2 oz Champagne
Add all ingredients, except champagne, into a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake vigorously and strain into a flute glass, top up liquid with Champagne.
4. Sloe Gin Fizz + The Rose Code by Kate Quinn
Bletchley Park, home to English codebreakers during WWII. This cocktail/book pairing gives British female agents their own shaken (not stirred) cocktail. Sloe gin is made with the addition of sloe berries that grow wild in the English countryside
1 ½ oz Sloe gin
1 oz fresh lemon juice
¾ oz simple syrup
Club soda, to taste
Combine first three ingredients to your cocktail shaker with ice and shake until you feel the shaker grow cold. Strain the liquid into a highball glass and top with club soda.
5. The Clover Cub + Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery
Who can forget the scene in Anne of Green Gables when Anne accidentally gets Diana drunk on wine, instead of serving raspberry cordial? This cocktail has a delicious raspberry syrup making it slightly red, the colour Anne says are the tastiest drinks.
1 ½ oz gin
½ oz fresh lemon juice
1 oz raspberry simple syrup
1 egg white or 2 TBS Aquafaba (the liquid from a can of chickpeas)
Make your simple syrup by heating up equal parts water and sugar over a saucepan; stir until sugar is dissolved. Next, add raspberries and crush with a fork. Strain mixture into a jar and let cool.
Once your syrup is cool, add all the cocktail ingredients to a shaker and shake vigorously without ice. Strain into a cocktail class and garnish with raspberries.