Books

Cocktails in literature

Books are remembered for their characters, plots, language, humor, and heartbreak. They're not typically remembered for their cocktails, and yet many of literature's most famous stories are so full of booze their pages practically reek of it. In fact, alcohol plays a role in many important literary scenes, from the moment Ebenezer Scrooge endeavors to assist Bob Cratchit's struggling family in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, to the sweltering hot afternoon at the Plaza Hotel in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.

While we may not recall that it's a bowl of smoking bishop Scrooge offers Cratchit, or that Daisy insists Tom and Gatsby cool down with a mint julep, there are some cocktails a reader cannot forget, like James Bond's iconic martini, or the moloko plus in A Clockwork Orange. From the iconic to the hardly-noticed, we've compiled a list of literary cocktails fit for a bibliophile. Cheers!

Champagne Cocktail, The Big Sleep (1939)

Cocktails in Literature cover art

While there's no shortage of drinking in Chandler's 1939 crime classic The Big Sleep, General Sternwood's take on the champagne cocktail is a favorite. In response to Philip Marlow taking his brandy "any way at all," Sternwood says "I used to like mine with champagne. The champagne as cold as Valley Forge and about a third of a glass of brandy beneath it."

Jack Rose, The Sun Also Rises (1926)

Cocktails in Literature cover art

Where there's Hemingway, there's booze. In The Sun Also Rises, narrator (and heavy drinker) Jake Barnes enjoys a Jack Rose at the Hotel Crillon in Paris: At five o'clock I was in the Hotel Crillon, waiting for Brett. She was not there, so I sat down and wrote some letters. They were not very good letters but I hoped their being on Crillon stationery would help them. Brett did not turn up, so about quarter to six I went down to the bar and had a Jack Rose with George the barman.

A popular cocktail in the 1920s and 1930s, the Jack Rose is made from applejack, lime juice, and grenadine.

Daiquiri, Our Man in Havana (1958)

Cocktails in Literature cover art

For some, it's morning coffee. For accidental secret agent James Wormold, it's a morning daiquiri at the Wonder Bar with pal Dr. Hasselbacher in the opening scene of Greene's 1958 satire, Our Man in Havana. Wormold enjoyed his rum cocktails frozen, with lime.

Moloko Plus, A Clockwork Orange (1962)

Cocktails in Literature cover art

A milk-based cocktail with a sprinkling of opiates and hallucinogens, the Moloko Plus is a fictional cocktail invented by Burgess in his 1962 dystopian classic, A Clockwork Orange. Alex and his "droogs" drink the cocktail in preparation for a night of "ultra-violence".

Smoking Bishop, A Christmas Carol (1843)

Cocktails in Literature cover art

"A merrier Christmas, Bob, my good fellow, than I have given you for many a year! I'll raise your salary, and endeavour to assist your struggling family, and we will discuss your affairs this very afternoon, over a Christmas bowl of smoking bishop, Bob."

A changed and happy man, Scrooge is referring to the popular Victorian punch made from port, red wine, orange juice, and sugar.

Mint Julep, The Great Gatsby (1925)

Cocktails in Literature book cover art

"Open the whiskey, Tom, and I'll make you a mint julep. Then you won't seem so stupid to yourself....Look at the mint!"

Tragic characters, The Plaza Hotel, and mint juleps make up one of the most pivotal scenes in Fitzgerald's 1925 classic, The Great Gatsby. Tom's caught on to his wife's love affair, and in a sweltering suite at the Plaza, Daisy tries desperately to distract him by offering up refreshing mint juleps - made from whiskey, sugar, and mint.

Webster F. Street Lay-Away Plan, Sweet Thursday (1954)

Cocktails in Literature book cover art

"The Webster F. Street Lay-Away Plan - a martini made with chartreuse instead of vermouth. Very good."

Doc's line in Sweet Thursday is an inside joke. The Webster F. Street Lay-Away Plan was apparently named for Steinbeck's former Stanford classmate and Monterey friend, attorney Webster 'Toby' Street.

Vesper Martini, Casino Royale (1953)

Cocktails in Literature book cover art

"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?"

Bond's iconic gin-vodka martini is his own invention. He names it after the alluring Vesper Lynd - Vesper meaning 'evening' in Latin.

White Angel, Breakfast at Tiffany's (1958)

Cocktails in Literature book cover art

"You heard from Holly?"

"I can't say exactly heard from her. I mean, I don't know. That's why I want your opinion. Let me build you a drink. Something new. They call it a White Angel," he said, mixing one-half vodka, one-half gin, no vermouth.

And so begins the tale of Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's

Alexandra Cocktail, Brideshead Revisited (1945)

Cocktails in Literature book cover art

"I expect you would prefer sherry, but, my dear Charles, you are not going to have sherry. Isn't this a delicious concoction?"

The eccentric Anthony Blanche in Brideshead Revisited, has just ordered four 'Alexandra Cocktails', also known as an Alexander Cocktail, and is about to drink them all. The "delicious concoction" consists of gin, crème de cacao and cream. A Brandy Alexander replaces gin with brandy.

Hot Toddy, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1954)

Cocktails in Literature book cover art

In Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, it's Big Daddy's birthday, and a melancholic Brick Pollitt indulges in this winter-time drink, made of whiskey, hot water, and honey.

House of Lords Martini, Breakfast of Champions (1973)

Cocktails in Literature book cover art

The title of Vonnegut's 1973 comedy does not refer to Wheaties. In fact, it refers to martinis, as Bonnie, a down-on-her-luck cocktail waitress says, "Breakfast of Champions" every time she serves the drink. Character Dwayne Hoover's martini of choice is the House of Lords martini with a twist of lemon peel - House of Lords being a brand of gin.

Whiskey Sour, The Crying of Lot 49 (1966)

Cocktails in Literature book cover art

The Crying of Lot 49 opens to the suffering of Mrs. Oedipa Maas, the bored housewife to Wendell "Mucho" Maas. In the opening scene, Oedipa goes through the motions of the gathering of her marjoram and sweet basil from the herb garden, the reading of book reviews in the latest Scientific American, into the layering of a lasagna, garlicking of a bread, tearing up of romaine leaves, eventually, oven on, into the mixing of the twilight's whiskey sours against the arrival of her husband.

Later, Oedipa observes Mucho gliding like a large bird in an updraft toward the sweating shakerful of booze, smiling out of his fat vortex ring's center.

The whiskey sour contains lemon juice, simple syrup, and bourbon.

Singapore Sling, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1971)

Cocktails in Literature book cover art

We had actually been sitting there in the Polo Lounge - for many hours - drinking Singapore Slings with mescal on the side and beer chasers.

Many, many drinks appear in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, not to mention barrels of narcotics, but the Singapore Sling is said to be Thompson's drink of choice. The cocktail is made with gin, triple sec, cherry brandy, and pineapple juice.

Gin Rickey, The Great Gatsby (1925)

Cocktails in Literature book cover art

It's only fitting that Fitzgerald's jazz age story should appear twice.

Tom came back, preceding four gin rickeys that clicked full of ice. Gatsby took up his drink. "They certainly look cool," he said, with visible tension. We drank in long, greedy swallows.

Wine Spodiodi, On the Road (1957)

Cocktails in Literature book cover art

In On the Road, Sal and Dean sit at a San Francisco bar with a colored guy called Walter who ordered drinks at the bar and had them lined up and said, "Wine-spodiodi!" which was a shot of port wine, a shot of whisky, and a shot of port wine.

Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979)

Cocktails in Literature book cover art

In The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the effect of drinking a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster is like having your brains smashed out by a slice of lemon wrapped round a large gold brick.

One shouldn't expect less from a drink that contains juice from one bottle of the Ol' janx Spirit, water from the seas of Santraginus V, Arcturan Mega-gin, Falian marsh gas, Qualactin Hypermintextract, the tooth of an Algolian Suntiger, Zamphuor, and an olive.

Gimlet, The Long Good-bye (1953)

Cocktails in Literature book cover art

We sat in a corner of the bar at Victor's and drank gimlets. "They don't know how to make them here," he said. "What they call a gimlet is just some lime or lemon juice and gin with a dash of sugar and bitters. A real gimlet is half gin and half Rose's Lime Juice and nothing else. It beats martinis hollow."

If anyone knows a real gimlet, it's Philip Marlowe in The Long Goodbye.

Gin Fizz, Love in the Ruins (1971)

Cocktails in Literature book cover art

The gin fizz almost killed Walker Percy, an experience he later wrote into Love in the Ruins as the near-demise of Dr. Thomas More, who describes the egg-based cocktail as "silky and benign" shortly before going into anaphylactic shock.

May Queen, Uncle Fred in the Springtime (1939)

Cocktails in Literature book cover art

From, Uncle Fred in the Springtime: "Do we by any chance know of a beverage called May Queen? Its full name is 'To-morrow'll be all the year the maddest, merriest day for I'm to be Queen of the May, mother, I'm to be Queen of the May.' A clumsy title, generally shortened for purposed of ordinary conversation. Its foundation is any good, dry champagne, to which is added liquer brandy, armagnac, kummel, yellow chartreuse and old stout, to taste."

Share

More essential reading lists

October 19, 2021
Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time high fantasy series is epic in more ways than one. There are 14 novels where Jordan creates an imaginary magical world in immense detail and introduces thousands of good and evil characters.
1 Min Read
By Jessica Doyle
November 30, 2021
Written for the stage but just as good a read as any novel, a plays book is a book that contains the script of one or more dramatic plays. This list of 15 plays books includes well-known classics like A Street car Named Desire and Twelve Angry Men alongside modern award-winners including Water by the Spoonful and Wit.
1 Min Read
By Jessica Doyle
November 08, 2021
The top fiction and non fiction books of 2021. Our top picks for the best books of the year include Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winners, New York Times bestsellers, and many titles shortlisted for the year's big book awards.
1 Min Read