Tuesday, October 01, 2013

Down The Hatch: Publication Day

Could you use a drink? Then have I got the book for you.

Today’s the day, gang. Down the Hatch: One Man’s One Year Odyssey Through Classic Cocktail Recipes and Lore is now available at Amazon. Your very own collection of the first fifty-two Cocktail of the Week posts, revised and updated, along with an all-new introduction, is only a click away. At $2.99 it’s cheaper than a happy hour drink, and made with more love.



You get more than fifty recipes, each one garnished with history and served with enthusiasm. But don’t take my word for it. I’ve already told you what gaz regan had to say about the book. Now here’s the estimable Philip Greene, author of To Have and Have Another – A Hemingway Cocktail Companion and co-founder of the Museum of the American Cocktail:

“In his classic The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks, David Embury noted he was ‘not a distiller, an importer, a bottler, or a merchant of liquors. I am not even a retired bartender. My practical experience with liquors has been entirely as a consumer and as a shaker-upper of drinks for the delectation of my guests.’ Vince has taken much the same approach, and the result is a very fine cocktail book. It brings to mind Ted Haigh’s classic Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails for its depth of research, readability, and in colorfully telling the stories behind the drinks (what we all strive to do). It chronicles a man’s immersion into craft cocktails, with a delicate balance of history, folklore, technique, humor, and the human side of mixology, personal taste. Vince’s book is eminently approachable by geek and novice alike, and offers to the latter a fine introduction to many of the other experts on whose shoulders we all stand, i.e., Craddock, MacElhone, Embury, Baker, Amis, Regan, DeGroff, Wondrich, Felten, Wilson, the aforementioned Haigh, et al. I look forward to including Mr. Keenan’s book alongside these others behind my bar.”

Still not convinced? Here’s David J. Montgomery, Professor Cocktail himself, on my “cocktail memoir.”

No Kindle? No problem! Download a free Kindle app at Amazon and you can read Down the Hatch on any computer, tablet or smartphone. What are you waiting for? Buy a copy and help me support my growing family of bartenders.