‘An Anthology’ is available now as a download and audiobook
Perhaps the best compliment I can pay Jake Burger is that in the old days when brands used to send journalists along with bartenders on trips to exotic locations, seeing his name on the passenger list meant I knew it would be a fun trip. This was true not just because he is a lovely chap, but also because he is genuine raconteur, with a seemingly unending supply of interesting stories and knowledge at his disposal.
So it comes as no surprise to me that Jake has written a book, and that the book is excellent. An Anthology of 12 Classic Cocktails is an absorbing mixture of historical facts, anecdotes, and storytelling that investigates the roots and evolution of 1 contemporary and 11 ‘historical’ cocktails. Written in a humorous style that will be familiar to those who follow Jake on Facebook, the thing that sets this book apart from others on the subject is that An Anthology is as much about people as it is about drinks. This is not a dry piece of cocktail-archaeology, rather it ties the adventures and misadventures of the people who invented these cocktails to the development of drinks themselves, which makes for entertaining reading.
An Anthology was written in collaboration with Hi-Spirits, and each chapter contains two cocktail recipes that employ Hi-Spirits brands such as Buffalo Trace and Sazerac Rye. The book will also tie in with a cocktail competition that Hi-Spirits will launch in July this year, of which we will bring you more news when we have it.
An Anthology of 12 Classic Cocktails is now available as a digital download and an audiobook, with hard copies becoming available in September. BarLifeUK was lucky enough to be given one of the advance copies, which is a beautiful cloth-bound hardback affair, so we recommend you pick one up via a chat with your Hi-Spirits rep.
In the mean time, you can read the digital version here.
And listen to the audiobook on Spotify.