Available November 1! From the dark ambiance and revolutionary camaraderie of the Colonial tavern to the great saloon era of the turn of the century; from Prohibition—a period rife with class politics, opportunism, and social reform—to a trail of nightclub neon so vast it was called the “Conga Belt,” Drinking Boston is a tribute to the fascinating role alcohol has played throughout the city’s history.
Teasing out the curious relationship the city has with alcohol—in particular, the push and pull between a constrained Puritan morality (which still lingers like a hangover today) and a raucous revolutionary spirit of personal expression, Drinking Boston introduces readers to the cast of characters who championed or vilified drinking and the places where they imbibed—legally and otherwise.
Bringing us to present day, this literary pub crawl visits some of Boston’s most beloved and enduring neighborhood barrooms, ending with an examination of Boston’s very own recipe for the current cocktail renaissance sweeping the nation—the innovators, the hotspots, and the uncompromising dedication to craft. Stephanie Schorow serves up a remarkable cocktail representative of Boston’s unique and intoxicating story: its spirit of invention, its hardscrabble politics, its mythology, and the city’s never-ending battle between personal freedom and civic reform.
