I should preface this by saying I do not consider myself a Swiftie (a Taylor Swift fan). I only know the songs that have become hits. But a dear friend of mine is a fan, and so I thought I’d check this out, and then make her a gift of it.
Shake It Up: Cocktails Inspired by the Music of Taylor Swift contains 65 drink recipes, all given pun-nish names based on her songs and accompanied by a brief description of the song suggestion. The recipes are mostly classics: martini, old fashioned, whiskey sour, mint julep, etc. Best name: “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Tequila”.
There’s no author credited here. A small line on the copyright page says “cocktail recipes in this book originally appeared in The Complete Bartender’s Guide by Dave Broom, first published in 2003.” The drink illustrations and a handful of drawn images of Taylor are by Laurène Boglio.
I’m a bit disappointed that there’s no drink for my fave Taylor track, “22”. But my biggest gripe is that several recipes, including the first, reference “gomme syrup”. I’ve read a variety of cocktail cookbooks and haven’t heard that one before, nor is it explained anywhere here that I could find. Turns out it’s a variant on simple syrup that uses gum arabic. That’s not the only specialist or obscure ingredient, either.
I suspect that this shows that most of this book’s audience aren’t expected to actually make the recipes. It’s a neat idea, but more likely to be an impulse purchase or a gift, as with my intent. For those familiar with each and every track, it’s a volume of shared memories. (The publisher provided a review copy.)
English (US) · 