Friday, June 22, 2018

Review & Excerpt: Drinking Like Ladies

Looking for something to drink this weekend? Me too! I recently added Drinking like Ladies to my collection and wanted to share it with all of you. My friends and I love trying new drinks and we're pretty proud feminists, so this one was definitely perfect for us. Some of the recipes are a bit difficult, but the history of the woman who inspired the drink makes those few you can't really make worth it. Check out my review and get a glimpse at a couple of pages below.

Drinking Like Ladies is dedicated to the proposition that a woman’s place is behind the bar. . . or in front of it. . . or really any place she pleases.

Acclaimed bartenders Kirsten Amann and Misty Kalkofen have scoured the globe collecting recipes--often from equally acclaimed female bartenders--pairing each tipple with a toast to a trailblazing lady. From gin to whiskey, tequila to punch, Drinking Like Ladies has a twist and a toast for every tippler, whatever your base spirit.
Drinking Like Ladies: 75 modern cocktails from the world's leading female bartenders; Includes toasts to extraordinary women in history
by Misty Kalkofen and Kirsten Amann
Review
4 Stars

I was not prepared for how fantastic Drinking Like Ladies is as both a coffee table book and a cocktail recipe book. More than just a bartender's guide to incredibly unique cocktails, Drinking Like Ladies features women who have left a lasting impression on the world. From spies to Princess Diana, the book features women from all over the world and the difficult tasks they faced head on in spite of what was expected of them. There is Mary Coffin Ware Dennet, a social reformer I did not previous know of, and of course, a page dedicated to Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the aptly named When There Are 9! cocktail. Along with each woman's short biography is a note from the bartender that created the well-themed drink, a nice touch I appreciated that made the drinks feel more personal.

Ultimately, many of the ingredients or tasks to make the cocktails require more bartending knowledge and ingredient access than I have. My friends and I have set out to try to create as many as we can, but I certainly will need to do extra research to complete some of them properly. That said, all sound fantastic and I was very impressed with the detail given to describing each liquor base and the flavoring it brings to a cocktail. Blossom & Six is at the top of my list to try, but I'll probably be distracted when I open the book by the gorgeous pages and the incredible history held within.

Excerpt
Jovita Idar
Expose the President and defy the Texas Rangers? All in a day’s work for Jovita Idar.
Jovita was born in Laredo, Texas in 1885 to an activist father Nicasio Idar and publisher of La Crónica, a newspaper addressing political, educational, socio-economic issues for Mexican-Americans. Jovita’s father formed the first Congreso Mexicanista (Mexican Congress) civil rights organization in 1911, a response to the racially motivated lynching of a teenager by a mob that included Texas Rangers. Jovita formed the auxiliary La Liga Feminil Mexicanista (Mexican Feminist League), the first Mexican-American women’s political organization with the slogan 'educate a woman and you educate a family.'

After the 1913 Battle of Laredo, Jovita crossed the border to Nuevo Laredo in Northern Mexico to work as a nurse. There she bore witness to atrocities committed against Mexican immigrants by Texas Rangers, and the U.S. government’s active role in the Mexican Revolution.

After returning to Laredo she joined the paper El Progreso and wielded the pen as her sword, writing eyewitness exposes of the situation that criticized President Woodrow Wilson.

Her 1914 editorial on the Tampico Affair raised his ire so much, Texas Rangers were sent to shut El Progreso down, only to be met at the door by a defiant Jovita Idar who refused to yield her ground. They returned the following day with sledgehammers, damaging supplies and machinery beyond recovery.

Jovita ran La Crónica after her father died in 1914, and went on to establish a free bilingual kindergarten, found the first Democratic Party-related political group for Mexican-Americans in Texas, and promote social justice. She died in 1946 leaving an incredible legacy of service.

LA CUMBRE
This strong Tequila cocktail is a fitting toast to Jovita Idar, a woman unafraid of the President and steadfast in her commitments to her ideals and her community.

Stir the Tequila, Cointreau, Maple Syrup and Bitters with ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Express the oil from an orange swath and garnish with grated nutmeg.

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