Last Call

July 1, 2019
Drink experts offer end-of-life planning with a twist—or sometimes an olive—in this ambitious cocktail guide that doesn’t live up to its promise. “As I approached my fiftieth birthday, my own mortality and sense of legacy weighed heavy on my mind,” writes James Beard Award–winning Parsons (Bitters and Amaro) in the introduction to this travelogue cum collection of recipes and bartender interviews. Visiting nearly three dozen bars throughout the country, Parsons asks mixologists for the recipe for the last drink they would like to have before they die. Given the premise, the book is disappointingly not quite edgy enough to captivate, nor especially epiphanic. Parsons’s project is instead workmanlike, with straightforward prose, informative Q&As, and moments of serendipity. At Brooklyn’s Long Island Bar, he meets Toby Cecchini, the man who, while working at Odeon in the 1980s, perfected the cosmopolitan. As a cocktail collection, the book’s 40 recipes are a mixed bag: some bartenders want to meet their maker with a classic Manhattan (two nearly identical recipes are offered) or martini. More intriguing are the craft cocktail options such as the grilled apricot iced tea, using apricot-infused Irish whiskey, found at the Service Bar in Washington, D.C., or the Kona swizzle, with rum and coffee liqueur, from the Fox Liquor Bar in Raleigh, N.C. While there are certainly gems, unfortunately, too much here feels watered down.

September 1, 2019

Food writer Parsons (Bitters: A Spirited History of a Classic Cure-All) started with the idea of asking bartenders their final drink before the ultimate last call. He used that premise to interview bartenders around the United States. For most of them, the question of the last drink brought out reflections on bartending techniques, history, memory, and tradition. A few of the bartenders offered no last drink or suggested a drink that didn't include alcohol, yet the question still provoked deep thoughts on one's own mortality. Of course, if you ask about a last drink, you'd expect to make the drink, so from each bartender comes a recipe (or recipes) for the last-call drinks as well as tips for each. It should be noted that the bars Parsons visited are mainly located on the coasts (East, West, and even along the Southern coast). VERDICT Parsons alternates between direct interviews and storytelling, which leads to a slightly inconsistent writing style that makes the book less smooth to read. Still, he manages to offer a thoughtful and enjoyable book that will delight cocktail aficionados and lovers of bars alike.--Ginny Wolter, Toledo Lucas Cty. P.L.

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.