Boozehound

June 28, 2010
In his first book, Wilson, the spirits columnist for the Washington Post, has concocted an idiosyncratic exploration of the world of spirits. His primary ingredients include heavy doses of cocktail recipes, travelogues, history lessons, polemics against popular trends (flavored vodka is his primary target), all mixed together with a dash of autobiography. Wilson's bibulous quest takes him across Europe and the Americas, where he quaffs everything from Genever and Calvados to añejo tequilas and a substance called "Peanut Lolita." As he drinks his way around the world, Wilson also examines the myriad ways in which alcohol has shaped culture and his own suburban New Jersey upbringing. Wilson sees the American obsession with flavored vodka as part of the long hangover from Prohibition. Yet he also discerns a growing American interest in more complex spirits, and he makes it his mission to introduce readers to the delights of arcane substances like Chartreuse and Tuaca. Wilson succeeds in his pose as an American everyman abroad; his gestures toward memoir and cultural analysis, however, tend toward the generic. Yet he has done his readers a real service: with cocktail recipes at the end of each chapter, Boozehound serves as a smooth personalized guide to classy mixology.

September 1, 2010

Spirits columnist for the Washington Post and series editor of The Best American Travel Writing anthologies, Wilson shares his comprehensive knowledge in this conversational book. Chapters provide historical and general information about various spirits and the author's experiences drinking them. In Leghorn, Italy, Wilson visits a distillery that makes Tuaca, a citrus-vanilla liqueur that is more popular in the United States than in Italy. Each chapter ends with associated recipes for the spirits discussed, with some standards (e.g., Sloe Gin Fizz) but more twists (e.g., Bianco Manhattan) and obscure or rare cocktails (e.g., Boris Karloff, a gin and elderflower liqueur-based drink). The appendix provides essential guidelines for stocking a home bar. VERDICT Wilson's rich descriptions will entice readers to try something new the next time they hop on a bar stool. Recommended for strong cookery or lifestyle collections.--Meagan P. Storey, Virginia Beach

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