My husband and I are trying to take ourselves on a culinary tour of one of my favorite drinks – whiskey! Take a look around some of the cocktail recipes on my blog, and you’ll see I am quite smitten with this pre-prohibition era spirit!
I am also a history buff and visual junkie, so when I stumbled upon this book – The Art of American Whiskey: A Visual History of the Nation’s Most Storied Spirit, Through 100 Iconic Labels – I thought it would be a fun coffee table addition to share with friends and leisurely read through. When the book arrived I was wowed by the quality of the images and my “leisurely read” turned into a page by page read along between my husband and I!
We had a blast reading this book together and I’m not gonna lie, this book inspired about two bottles of whiskey’s worth of cocktails, haha. The author is very engaging and humorous in the way he shares his insights and historical tid-bits, and even the brief excerpts attached to images are fun to read. I thought I was fairly well versed in “whiskey lore”, but found that I learned quite a bit in just the first few pages.
I was particularly fascinated learning the history of Old Forester Whiskey, the first glass bottled whiskey in America and one of the only whiskies that survived the prohibition, and my hubby and I went out to buy and try a bottle – and now we have a new favorite! So along with the book, I’d recommend that particular whiskey to read along to! <3
Is my description of the book lacking? (Probably.) Check out this book description from Amazon.com:
A visual history of American whiskey, as told through hundreds of whiskey bottle labels, from early, pre-Prohibition-era days to the present.
Just as wine is to the French or beer is to the Germans, whiskey–especially bourbon and rye–is an integral part of the history and culture of the United States. The Art of American Whiskey traces the arc of this beloved, renowned spirit–from its earliest days in the Colonial era, through the Civil War, Prohibition, Great Depression, and up to the current craft-distilling boom. Illustrated with 100 full-color modern and historic labels from the most iconic bottles ever made, The Art of American Whiskey is an instant collectible and a fantastic gift for any whiskey enthusiast or design lover. Captions, sidebars, profiles and short histories tell the story of the pioneers and places behind the labels, and each chapter features era-appropriate recipes from all-star bartenders and cocktail experts that will tickle any tippler’s fancy.
Quite an interesting read, dear! xoxo
I would love to learn more about my favourite drinks, so it actually sounded like I knew what I was talking about haha.
LOL, that’s actually my secret ambition! haha… 😉
Sounds like a good book!
Okay, I have to admit that I have never had whiskey! Now I’m feeling a bit un-American…. I guess I’ll have to take the plunge and give a try!
Dooooo eeeet! For the sake of being patriotic! 😉
Sounds like a great book…I’ve always found the history of drinks to be so interesting!
I’m afraid the only thing I know about Whiskey is that honey Jack is good in small quantities, that’s about it I’m afraid, haha 🙂 maybe I should check this book out to increase my knowledge a little bit!
♥.•*¨ Amanda Says ¨*•.♥
Whiskey isn’t my thing of course I don’t drink alcoholic beverages at all 🙂 I guess the book would be a nice gift to a whiskey lover like my father-in-law. I know you rejected last time but I would like to show you my appretiation. So I nominated you to the award Versatile Blogger since I think your blog meet up to it. Feel free to visit my blog to read about it *hugs* <3
Awwwww, you always make me feel so special!!! Don’t say rejected, it makes me feel like I turned it down.. I didn’t! I promise! Hehehe.. I just have posted tons of those on my blog before! (That one a couple of times!)
Hehe… No worries, I don’t take it personal 😉 Hope all is fine with you and your sweet little girls.
Like Seana, I’ve never had whiskey! My dad is quite the fan, though. And Cassidy swears by it for colds. So there’s that!
Never had whiskey?! My.. my brain.. it doesn’t understand!
I don’t drink anymore but all I know is now, the Japanese ones are the world’s No. 1, not longer the Scots’.
This makes me want to have some Whiskey
xo
http://www.laurajaneatelier.com
Such an interesting post. I love a good whiskey too. Thanks for sharing!
xx
cvetybaby.com
<3
I’ve had quite a few good American whiskeys – a friend gave me a bottle of Jefferson’s Bourbon, which is rather hard to get here. I like rye whiskey and bourbon but over here it’s all about blended and single malt Scotch whisky.
Old Forester sounds rather promising, I’ll try and see if they carry it in the import speciality bottleshop here.
If you try it, let me know what you think of it!! <3
Unfortunately, they don’t carry it in the bottleshop I go to, have to look in duty free when I go travelling next month.
I’ll be sure to look for Old Forester and report back! 🙂
This sounds SO interesting! I like Whiskey and I’m always keen on trying new whiskey’s out for sure
x- Naomi in Wonderland
Such a good read Gingi <3
Serene | I Am Serene L
Love learning about my favorite drinks and foods! Great read Gingi!
Thanks Mira! <3
Looks really cool!
Melanie @ meandmr.com
I love this post, so cool. And true- whiskey is an American thing. I, unfortunately, can’t drink it- or I have to go lay down and have what I’ve dubbed “a whiskey nap.” HA!
-Ashley
Le Stylo Rouge
A whiskey nap.. haha, I love that!
Yum, whiskey! 🙂 Interesting info on a fascinating topic. The book sounds great too!
My husband manages the local alcohol store, so he is full of stories about alcohols and mixed drinks. We don’t actually drink that much ourselves which makes it a bit funny that he’s got all this useless knowledge!
That’s kind of awesome! There are so many interesting potions out there, and I like filling up on the useless knowledge of drinks, haha..
Would make a great gift for any whiskey fan.
xox
Lenya
FashionDreams&Lifestyle
Well – have to say I’m not a lover of whisky but the outside of this book does have a warm and inviting look to it. I loved your post, it had a warm and humorous feel to it.
Hope your week is going well.
All the best Jan
If I’m havy
I was typing on to say If I’m having a cocktail it would probably be gin based …
All the best Jan
Yeah, I fell in love with the cover myself!
I don’t think I’ve tried whiskey… It looks like an interesting book though! Always good to discover a good read!
http://www.lisarusso.com
I think it’s awesome you and your husband read this book together. My husband does not read! I know, I know!!! And I pretty much just want to read all day doing nothing else. History books are awesome, especially on Whisky, I’ll have to pick up a copy, seems to interesting!!!
My hubby doesn’t really like reading, he prefers audio books.. or me reading TO him, haha…
What an awesome book! My husband is a huge whiskey lover so I am definitely going to tell him about it!
xo,
Jessica
http://www.fortheloveofbubbly.com
this sounds very like, good post
would you like to pass from my blog?
I wish you an happy day
kiss
I think that I need to know more about my fave drinks too, great idea to take a tour and end with product tasting :)))
http://www.StripesNVibes.com
BlogLovin
Yeah, I’m loving it so far!
I don’t know anything about whiskey so this was really interesting for me to read! Happy for you that you got yourselves this book, it seems really interesting!
XO IMKE | Pastellics
Interesting post!
Have a nice day!
Photographer Gil Zetbase
http://www.gilzetbase.com/
I’ve read about my relatives of past during prohibition. Interesting time. It’s great how you actually tried the Whiskey. Pretty cool. Have a beautiful day!
xo, Bry
GothicRomance.Naughty&Nice
Prohibition is such a fascinating time period! There’s a really cool Netflix documentary on it right now!
great post! such a fun and informative post! thank you for sharing 🙂
xx Jamie| Love Peace and Shimmer
What a beautiful destination! http://www.eshopviviennewestwood.com
My husband and I love American whiskey, so this sounds like a perfect coffee table book! Artful and interesting.
Yeah, you should check it out!! <3
Great post!
Have a nice week-end!
Photographe Gil Zetbase
http://www.gilzetbase.com/
such a wonderful post :)) enjoy your day!
mfashionfreak♥blog
This looks like an interesting read for Whiskey lovers! Thanks for sharing!
Prudence
http://www.prudencepetitestyle.com
<3 <3
o.k. outing myself here, I used to love whisky, well, you know being from Germany, I toured the Highlands and fell in love with the smooth single malts of the Glens. Not the peaty, harsh e.g. Islays, however it has been a while. I guess I am getting old 🙂