The Best Cocktails to read Novels by

I like reading. I like drinking. And I like reading while drinking. Some people match cheese with wine, I match booze with books. Now, for your reading pleasure, here’s a list of some of my favorite books written by some of my favorite drunks and the cocktails to go down smoothly with them. 

THE HURRICANE

&

JIM THOMPSON

THE ALCOHOLICS

It's almost mandatory to drink while reading the savage books of Jim Thompson and the Hurricane is my drink of choice to go down smoothly with this booze stained novel The Alcoholics. The drink became popular at Pat O'Briens bar in 1940's New Orleans, apparently debuted at the 1939 World's Fair and was named after the hurricane lamp-shaped glasses the first drinks were served in. It's said that O'Brien created the heavily rummeddrink as a means to get rid of the large stock of rum his Southern distributors forced him to buy.

THE HURRICANE

INGREDIENTS

2 ounces light rum

2 ounces dark rum

2 ounces passion fruit juice

1 ounce orange juice

Juice of a half a lime

1 tablespoon simple syrup

1 tablespoon grenadine

Orange slice and cherry for garnish

THE MOJITO

&

HEMINGWAY

FIESTA

When you crack open a Hemingway novel and smell the pages, it smells like rum. If you haven't read Fiesta, read it now and read it drinking a Mojito.

THE MOJITO

INGREDIENTS

60ml white rum 

6 mint leaves

20 ml fresh lime juice

10 ml sugar syrup 

Schweppes Soda Water

THE OLD FASHIONED 

&

HAMMETT

I don't think there's a scene in Dashiell Hammett's The Thin Man where somebody doesn't have a drink in their hand, or isn't complaining about not having a drink in their hand.The perfect cocktail to read Hammett to is the Old Fashioned - Garnished of orange, never, ever a cherry.

OLD FASHIONED

INGREDIENTS

1 sugar cube

3 dashes Angostura bitters

2 ounces rye whisky

VODKA, COKE

&

BURROUGHS

William Burroughs loved Vodka & Coke. A simple drink that has been overshadowed since coke became a dirty word. To mix it up add a slice of lime.

VODKA & COKE

INGREDIENTS

If you need to know the ingredients you've had too much to drink already.

HUNTER S THOMPSON

&

THE AMERICAN TRILOGY

Hunter S Thompson will always be remembered for Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, but for me Fear & Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 is a far more important piece gonzo journalism. He told the truth using lies and told lies using the truth. Best devoured with an American Trilogy. 

THE AMERICAN TRILOGY

INGREDIENTS

• 1 Sugar Cube
• Orange Bitter
• 1 part Apple Brandy
• 1 part Rye Whiskey
• Served in a jar

CHARLES BUKOWSKI

&

AND A GLASS OF WARM BEER

I know, I know. A glass of warm beer a cocktail does not make. But I can't write about matching books to drinks to drunks with out mentioning Buk and Buk cannot be read while drinking anything other than a glass of warm beer. 

WARM BEER

INGREDIENTS

Guts

THE BEAUTIFUL & THE DAMMED

&

AND THE GIN RICKEY

What does one do with ones self when one has nothing to do? Well, in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Beautiful and the Dammed, apparently one hunts for a husband and drinks a hell of a lot. But let's not be too harsh on F. Scott, anyone married to Zelda Fitzgerald would drink too. And F. Scott's drink of choice was the Gin Rickey.

THE GIN RICKEY 

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 oz gin
• juice of 1/2 limes
  carbonated water
  1 lime wedge

CHANDLER

&

A WHISKEY SOUR

Chandler and whiskey go together like black coffee and cigarettes. Whiskey neat is fine in a pinch but if you're settling in for some Phillip Marlowe action pull together a whiskey sour and sit back and enjoy.

WHISKEY SOUR

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 oz whiskey

1 1/2 oz lemon juice

3/4 oz sugar syrup

Maraschino cherry for garnish

JACK

&

THE VAGABOND

And finally the king of the drunken writers, Jack Kerouac. Wine, whiskey, beer, you name it, he drank it. So it seem appropriate to match a bit of Kerouac with a drink that combines a few of Jacks favorite flavors. 

THE VAGABOND

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 oz. Single Malt

3/4 oz. Punt e Mes

3/4 oz. Sweet wine

Orange Twist

DRINK RESPONSIBLY AND READ RECKLESSLY

Luke Preston