Eric Felten's "How's Your Drink?" a collection of essays about various spirits and cocktails--weaving stories in about their history and legend in our culture-- was so enchanting that it was a revelation: a sui generis form of literature, a literary series of "amuse-bouches." While "Boozehound"...
Except for the book, she fit the popular image of the young Siciliana: black hair, black dress, black shoes. She looked as if she’d come from Mass. I took a seat at the other end of the bench, from where I could make out the title of her book: The Portrait of a Lady. “That’s a good book,” I said....
The aim was to make a pith-helmeted-like visit to older, neglected liquor stores—the sort of family-owned shops that perhaps were once prosperous and now do business mainly in pint-size flasks or liters of cheap wine or beer by the can. Inside, we’d scour the dark bottom shelves and dank back cor...