Read Hemingway & Bailey's Bartending Guide to Great American Writers Online
Authors: Mark Bailey,Edward Hemingway
Hemingway & Bailey's Bartending Guide to Great American Writers (7 page)
The Maltese Falcon,
1929
“A
H
, M
R
. S
PADE
,” he said with enthusiasm and held out a hand like a fat pink star.
Spade took the hand and smiled and said: “How do you do, Mr. Gutman?”
Holding Spade’s hand, the fat man turned beside him, put his other hand to Spade’s elbow, and guided him across a green rug to a green plush chair beside a table that held a siphon, some glasses and a bottle of Johnnie Walker whiskey on a tray, a box of cigars—Coronas del Ritz—two newspapers, and a small and plain yellow soapstone box.
Spade sat in the green chair. The fat man began to fill two glasses from bottle and siphon. . . .
“We begin well, sir,” the fat man purred, turning with a proffered glass in his hand. “I distrust a man that says when. If he’s got to be careful not to drink too much it’s because he’s not to be trusted when he does.”
“Drinking made uninteresting people matter less and, late at night, matter not at all.”
As far as drinking goes, it would have been difficult for anyone to go toe-to-toe (or elbow-to-elbow) with Dashiell Hammett, but Hellman certainly gave it her best. Hungover and facing the Broadway opening of
The Children’s Hour,
Hellman got blind drunk on brandy. Waking early the next morning and hungover yet again, she got herself a cold beer and telephoned Hammett, who was living in Los Angeles. She reached his secretary. Two days later Hellman would realize: (1) at the time she called it was three A.M. in California, and (2) Hammett had no secretary. She took the first plane out, got drunk en route, and went directly to Hammett’s house. She smashed his bar to pieces and flew back to New York. Hellman knew where to kick a man.
..........
1905–1984. Playwright, memoirist, and screenwriter. Hellman received instant recognition with her first play,
The Children’s Hour.
Her best-known work,
The Little Foxes,
was adapted to screen and nominated for nine Academy Awards.
An Unfinished Woman,
part of her memoir trilogy, won a National Book Award.
DAIQUIRI
Invented in Cuba, the Daiquiri comes from the small village of Daiquiri, just outside of Santiago, where the Bacardi rum distillery was founded. Nothing to do with the frozen concoctions now trumpeted, the traditional cocktail was simple and not too sweet. Hemingway liked his doubled. His good pal Hellman, who often critiqued his writing, surely took his advice when it came to cocktails.
2 oz. light rum
1 oz. lime juice
¾ oz. simple syrup
Lime wheel
Pour all ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice cubes. Shake well. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with lime wheel.
Maybe: A Story,
1980
I
N THOSE DAYS THERE WAS ONLY ONE
standard remedy for a hangover. My hangover had, by this time, on the wet grass, turned to shivers. I stumbled, half crawled back to my room, managed a shower, and sent for the remedy: a raw egg, a double sherry and two teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce. Then I slept for a few hours, heard the phone ringing and, several times, loud knocks on the door. When I woke up, I vomited, which is what the remedy was supposed to do if you were in good health. After you were sick the custom was to wait a while and then you drank a few beers which tasted fine and you could move for a few hours until it was time for a regular drink.
“A man does not exist until he is drunk.”
Hemingway was not one for pretension, literary or otherwise. In a famous incident at Costello’s, a New York writers’ haunt, he found just the opportunity to make those feelings known. After drinking in back with friends, he passed John O’Hara at the bar. O’Hara was carrying an Irish blackthorn walking stick (shillelagh) and Hemingway began to mock him for it. Defensively, O’Hara claimed that it was “the best piece of blackthorn in New York.” Hemingway immediately bet him fifty dollars that he could break it with his bare hands. Then in one swift move he smashed the walking stick against his own head, snapping it in half. The broken pieces hung over Costello’s bar for many years.
..........
1899–1961. Novelist and short-story writer. Hemingway was one of the principal figures of the Lost Generation. As a cub reporter for the
Kansas City Star,
he developed a minimalist style. With his second novel,
The Sun Also Rises,
he immediately became a literary star. In 1954 Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
MOJITO
Hemingway is associated with any number of cocktails, but perhaps none more so than the Mojito. The drink was invented at La Bodeguita del Medio in Havana, Cuba, where Hemingway drank them. So did Brigitte Bardot, Nat King Cole, Jimmy Durante, Erroll Flynn, and countless others.
6 fresh mint sprigs
1 oz. lime juice
¾ oz. simple syrup
2 oz. light rum
Lime wedge
Crush 5 mint sprigs into the bottom of a chilled highball glass. Pour in lime juice, simple syrup, and rum. Fill glass with crushed ice. Garnish with lime wedge and remaining mint sprig. Sometimes a splash of club soda is added.
“I’
M A LITTLE DRUNK NOW
,” Nick said.
“You aren’t drunk,” Bill said. . . . Bill poured the glass half full of whiskey.
“Put in your own water,” he said. “There’s just one more shot.”
“Got any more?” Nick asked.
“There’s plenty more, but Dad only likes me to drink what’s open.”
“Sure,” said Nick.
“He says opening bottles is what makes drunkards,” Bill explained.
“That’s right,” said Nick. He was impressed. He had never thought of that before. He always thought it was solitary drinking that made drunkards.
“Lock up a white woman and a black man in an apartment in the United States with a bottle of whiskey, and what you’ll get is a violent, tragicomic story.”
Newly arrived in Paris and thirsty from his travels, Himes and his friend Richard Wright were en route to a cocktail party when they were interrupted by a call from James Baldwin. Apparently, Baldwin, who had been publicly criticizing Wright’s work, now wanted to borrow money from him. It would be a famous showdown. At Café Deux Magots, the two authors went at each other while Himes went at the bottle. After hours at the table, drunk and bored, Himes finally wobbled off. Much more interested in a piss and a pillow, he left the two greatest living African American writers to work it out on their own.
..........
1909–1984. Novelist. Considered on a par with Hammett and Chandler, Himes’s black detective series featuring Gravedigger Jones and Coffin Ed strongly influenced American crime writing. Largely unrecognized by American readers, he became a permanent expatriate based in Paris.
Cotton Comes to Harlem
is his most famous work.
TOM COLLINS
It may be strange for a southern writer in Paris to be drinking gin, but then Himes liked a Tom Collins. Essentially a Gin Fizz, it is a cool drink whoever and wherever you are.
2 oz. gin
¾ oz. lemon juice
¾ oz. simple syrup
Top with club soda
Orange slice
Maraschino cherry
Pour gin, lemon juice, and simple syrup into a cocktail shaker filled with ice cubes. Shake briefly. Strain into a chilled Collins glass filled with ice cubes. Top with club soda and stir gently. Garnish with orange slice and cherry. Serve with two straws.
A Rage in Harlem,
1965
“I’
M GOIN’ TO HELP YOU FIND YOUR GAL
, B
RUZZ
,” he whispered confidentially. “After all, you is my twin brother.”
He took a small bottle from his gown and handed it to Jackson. “Have a little taste.”
Jackson shook his head.
“Go ahead and take a taste,” Goldy urged irritably. “If the dead ain’t already got your soul after all you done last night, you is saved. Take a good taste. We’re going out and look for that stud and your gal, and you is goin’ to need all the courage you can get.”