Everyday Drinking: The Distilled Kingsley Amis »

Kingsley Amis was one of the best-loved British novelists of the twentieth century. He was the author of more than twenty books, including the classic Lucky Jim. He died in 1995 at the age of seventy-three.

A gift for anyone who loves good liquor and high-proof prose: a collection of hilarious and deeply informed writings about drink from one of the all-time authorities.

Kingsley Amis was one of the great masters of comic prose, and no subject was dearer to him than the art and practice of imbibing. This new volume brings together the best of his three out-of-print works on the subject. Along with a series of well-tested recipes (including a cocktail called the Lucky Jim) the book includes Amis’s musings on The Hangover, The Boozing Man’s Diet, What to Drink with What, and (presumably as a matter of speculation) How Not to Get Drunk—all leavened with fun quizzes on the making and drinking of alcohol all over the world. Mixing practical know-how and hilarious opinionation, this is a delightful cocktail of wry humor and distilled knowledge, served by one of our great gimlet wits.

The New York Times - Dwight Garner

Amis published three books about the judicious but enthusiastic consumption of alcohol: On Drink, Everyday Drinking in 1983 and How's Your Glass? in 1984. Long out of print, these volumes have finally been gathered together and reissued under a single cover, topped off with a fizzy introduction by Christopher Hitchens. These books are so delicious they impart a kind of contact high; they make you feel as if you've just had the first sip of the planet's coldest, driest martini.

Introduction: The Muse of Booze Christopher Hitchens Hitchens, Christopher

I On Drink

Introduction

Drinking Literature

Actual Drinks

Tools of the Trade

The Store Cupboard

First Thoughts on Wine

Further Thoughts on Wine

Wine Shopper's Guide

What to Drink with What

Abroad

Mean Sod's Guide (Incorporating Mean Slag's Guide)

The Hangover

The Boozing Man's Diet

How Not to Get Drunk

II Every Day Drinking

III How's Your Glass?

Introduction

List of Abbreviations

Quizzes

Wine - Elementary

Wine - Intermediate

Wine - Advanced

Wine - France

Wine - Germany

Wine - Italy, Spain, Portugal

Wines - Others

Beer in General

Beer in Particular

Vodka

Aperitifs and Such

Gin

Liqueurs

Rum

Cognac and Armagnac

Brandy (One Step Down)

Distillation

Minor Spirits

Scotch Whiskey I

Scotch Whiskey II

Whiskies and Whiskeys

Port

Sherry

Madeira, Marsala and Others

Cocktails and Mixed Drinks

Inventors and Inventions

Pousse - Cafe I

Pousse - Cafe II

Pousse - Cafe III

Alcohol and Your Interior

Answers

Index