Mondo Cocktail: A Shaken and Stirred History

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

Tangents rule. The methodology the author uses to fill the pages of this
work, which she calls her “odd little project,” is to name a
cocktail and then follow any sidetrack that can in any way link it to a
celebrity, a historical tidbit, or a boozy fact. Embedded in the
ramblings on each of 12 cocktails are directions for constructing the
drink, references to famous names and events, history, lore, and famous
bars and drinking spots associated with the drink. A sprinkling of
archival photos, muddied by a false sepia tint, add to the mixture.

The text is a slow, rather monotonous ramble through an assembly of
clutter (“cocktail culture”) linked to the big 12: Bloody Mary,
mojito, daiquiri, margarita, sangrita, Bourbon sour, mint julep,
Manhattan, Sazerac, martini, gimlet, and sidecar. If there is a point to
all this stringing together of miscellaneous information, it is lost in
the sophomoric indulgence of a show-offy style. Perhaps its strength is
as a compendium of obscure facts for use as cocktail-party conversation
fillers.