"Three measures of Gordon's, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it's ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon peel. Got it?"
--James Bond orders a Vesper in
Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale
If your idea of a perfect evening is to settle in with a good cocktail and a great novel, how does a good cocktail from a great novel sound? Raise a glass to the drinks showcased in the works (and lives) of William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ian Fleming, Raymond Chandler, Truman Capote, Dorothy Parker, and other sipping scribes.
Sample a Whiskey Sour like the many that Hemingway and Fitzgerald shared (with none-
too-pleasant consequences, according to Hemingway’s memoir A Moveable Feast) on a road trip from Lyon to Paris. Sip a Bronx Cocktail that consoled Fitzgerald’s lovelorn Amory Blaine in This Side of Paradise. Try a Ramos Gin Fizz, a drink that plays a supporting role (and causes an allergic reaction) in Walker Percy’s Love in the Ruins. James Bond’s iconic shaken-not-stirred Martini is part of a long line of cocktails that Ian Fleming serves up for 007, including the Negroni, Americano, and Vesper. Channel the spirit of Philip Marlowe as you sip a Gimlet, one of the drinks that quenched the thirsts of the often-shady characters in Raymond Chandler’s detective novels.
Learn how to make these classics, hear excerpts from the books in which they’re featured, and anecdotes about authors and their favorite drinks. You’ll also enjoy some delicious, cocktail-appropriate snacks. Your host is Philip Greene, a co-founder of the Museum of the American Cocktail in New Orleans. The evening is a sophisticated and entertaining celebration of bookworms—and barhopping, literary style.
You must be at least 21 years old with valid ID to attend.
Other Connections
The Algonquin serves a contemporary variation of the cocktail enjoyed at the hotel’s legendary literary lunches of the 1920s. Learn how to make it.
