Well, hello, you gorgeous, sweet-talking readers. I think I’d like to buy you a drink, just to say thank you for the unexpected and lovely outpouring of anti-troll support you laid on me last week. That was….wow. It was wow. Please know I appreciate it, and I have no intention of letting a few anonymous jerk-wads derail this blog.
Since I can’t actually buy everyone a drink, I’d like to do the next best thing. Giveaway!
If there’s anything better than a gardening book, it’s a gardening book with a drinking problem, and I’ve got one that lives up to that promise.
I happen to have two signed copies of The Drunken Botanist to give away, which is kinda cool since this book isn’t even being released for sale until March 19th.
The Drunken Botanist is the latest work of staggering genius to come from Amy Stewart, author of many books including Wicked Plants and co-founder of the fabulous blog, Garden Rant.
The story of how Amy (New York Freaking Times Bestselling Author) Stewart handed me a few copies of her book after the Northwest Flower and Garden Show isn’t nearly as flattering to my garden writer reputation as you might think – she has no idea who I am.
No, basically the extra copies were just too heavy for Amy to lug back on the plane, and I threw myself in her path as a willing book porter. I think I basically jumped up and down with my hand in the air yelling, “Oooh, pick me! Pick me!”
Did I ever claim to have a lot of shame when, after several herbal cocktails, free books were up for grabs?
No. No, I did not.
Which brings me to The Drunken Botanist.
Next time you pull a piece of silk from between your teeth while you are eating a fresh ear of corn, remember that you’ve just spat out a fallopian tube.
Summer barbecues will never be the same: “Is that a fallopian tube in your teeth, or are you just happy to see me?” Yes, this book will change the way you look at plants, even if you already think you know them pretty well.
Stewart manages to turn a seemingly random botanical collection of grains, herbs, spices, fruits and vegetables into a fascinating guidebook to anything that could end up in a cocktail glass or beer stein. She crams cocktail recipes, history, accessible science, varietal suggestions and growing tips into The Drunken Botanist, and keeps the whole jaunt really fun to read.
The only thing this book doesn’t have that you might expect is detailed instructions on how to actually make hooch. There are instructions for simple infusions and cordials, but this is not a winemaking, homebrewing or distilling how to book.
As if combining plants and booze isn’t hedonistic enough, the book itself is a joy to hold and page through. The paper feels burnished, and the color, typography and graphic flourishes are vintage-fun. This is the kind of book-lover’s book that makes you hope Kindles and Nooks never completely take over.
To enter to win one of two copies of The Drunken Botanist, leave a comment below telling me how you use the harvest in your own creative mixology (“Pineapple Sage Mojito!”) If you don’t drink booze, non-alcoholic beverage refreshment options are welcomed, too!
Contest open until Thursday, March 21st at 8 PM PDT. US residents only, please, because of shipping constraints. Two winners will be selected randomly and notified by email.
Good luck, and thanks again for being wonderful.
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I have made some of the most flavorful Bloody Mary’s from my own tomato juice (I am a canner, so the juice is available in the winter too) and sage (adds an extra savory boost). Instead of celery, I use a hot pepper from my garden as well to kick it up a notch. Friends ask me how I get it so fresh tasting and I tell them, “The secret is in the soil.”
I can’t provide much guidance as how I make a drink from my garden pickings. I usually eat anything I pick before I bring it inside. What’s left usually gets blended into a smoothie. The closest my garden gets to my drink is when I bring a beer outside after exhausting tomato picking.
The only thing that i grow specifically for drinks is the mint for mojitos!!!
I don’t have a name for it, we just call it “the drink.” Two fingers of gin, some lemonade, and a few sprigs of rosemary. Shake it all up, pour it on ice, and top with sparkling water. It’s delicious!
Well, I can’t say that I have put anything I’ve grown into a drink! Maybe this year I will have my husband mix up something with basil!
Can I bribe you to send me one of the copy of the book at a discounted price (price and s&h will be paid) ;-). Okay, jokes, apart, I am a non-alcoholic and my husband drinks. We have lots of mints in our garden. It seems like those who love to drive, as per husband, loves to drink mojito with mint and lemon!! So, pick some fresh mint leaves, crush them in your mojito.
I love putting mint in my lassi (Indian non-alcoholic beverages). So, put mint, sugar, yoghurt and water in a mixer, blend and drink. Or put mint, sugar, yughurt, water, mango slices or mango-lassi. Even, mint, lemon, water and sugar makes a refreshing lemonade during summertime.
I was just looking at this book online the other day and had put it on Mother’s Day wishlist. I use apple mint and fresh apples for apple mojitos, hot pepper infused gin for bloody mary, and I put a sprig of chocolate mint in with the coffee grounds before brewing for a lightly flavored coffee.
I haven’t made any alcoholic drinks from my garden. I use my peppermint to make a refreshing cool, summer drink–steeping black tea, peppermint and honey together. I am excited about this book–I just put it on my to read list yesterday!
I can’t say I’ve used anything from our garden in drinks as yet. They would have to be non-alcoholic as I am in recovery and my husband doesn’t drink. We could certainly put spinach or kale into our smoothies.
I’m a newcomer to your blog, and I love your style! Thanks for the chuckles along with the great info!
We put cucumbers in our Hendricks gin and tonics. Then I sit and ponder how I could become a good gardener (I currently have a black thumb). The more G&Ts with cucumber I consume, the more sure I become I could do this 🙂
Pick me, pick me! I love the concept of this book. The comments so far are great too because I would love to drink more of what I grow and you’re all giving me great ideas.
I’ve made wild blackberry infused vodka and wild cherry infused vodka. Eh. I think I need new recipes. Thanks for the giveaway!
I made ginger syrup for drinks. (No, I didn’t grow the ginger – but, it DID grow somewhere.) And, I am currently steeping fir needles for a homemade version of Eau de Vie. If nothing else, at least it’s interesting.
When I lived in a bigger place (I don’t even have a dedicated home for the vaccuum at my house these days) I used to make hard apple cider. Now I mostly stick to infusions or herby cocktails. I love basil and pinapple muddled in some rum…. I supose its like a mojito (basil being in the same family as mint).
Ai karumba! You sure know how to cheer a nearly snowbound (I have skiis and snowshoes but I don’t wanna really have to use them, again, I guess…) Minnesnowtan! Excuse me while I go make Hot Cocoa with some sugar grainy Mexican chocolate with full fat milk. WAIT I think I see some heavy whipping cream behind the milk! Might just add in some chiffonaded orange mint I swiped from the indoor window box of it that’s been sulking ever since I smuggled it back to MN in the shower of my travel trailer after being in Naples FL for 3 months) and toss in a leaf of rose geranium. I am just ravenous for anything flowery sounding! Hold the garlic, that went into the lentil( No, Not lethal!) soup with dried Napolitano Basil, celery, onion n pepper incl some enchilada sauce. It is St. Patrick’s day so I have me green eyes on the ripening Red Haven peaches I have growing up in green-room #1 of my house. Yes I know I live in north central MN. Yes that peach is growing in the LR is zone 3 technically but desires Z5. Dare I mention the Key limes I picked in the back yard of my mother-In Law’s condo while down in Naples. I also harvested some coconuts while kayaking in FL. Hmm put de lime in the coconut and drink it all up!Mayhaps a bit o coconut rum steeped in a coconut for a month? What are the implications of including rutabaga in a smoothie with sage and chervril & pink Himalayan sea salt? So much herbage, so little thyme, wait, I do have some lemon thyme growing in my zone 5 root cellar! Add some honeybell tangerine juice. Snowfront, What snowfront? W-a-a-aait I gotta go turn on the heating blanket on my hubbs’s bed so the seeded flats on it can germinate while he is on the way back from FL. They better come up quick, He is due back in 4 days. Glad he id driving not flying!
I had the most wonderful basil-flavored beer in Boulder, CO, and now I put a basil leaf in my beer – it’s hard to figure out what it is, but it really works
We made Nicino (green walnut liqueur) last year. Recipie on David Lebovitz website.
We also make thai basil martinis and strawberry mint mojitos. Thanks for the ideas everyone!
I make fresh juice using my hand crank juicer from celery, cucumber and ginger. yum.
“Cherry Buzz”…….a cherry infused vodka, raspberry margaritas and sprigs of mint in about everything.
Habanero infused rum makes excellent pineapple-mint Mojitos. I like putting basil in my screwdrivers. Bloody mary’s made from home juiced tomatoes are amazing. Should I keep going..?
I have dreams of making my own bloody mary mix from my garden this year (as a side-wish for a bumper crop of tomatoes this year. So many that I’ll have extras for drink mixes!)
Rhubarb. Definitely rhubarb. Rhubarb infused vodka, rhubarb liqueur, rhubarb slush, rhubarb beer cocktail… I haven’t met a rhubarb drink I didn’t like yet!
We have used our mint in watermelon mojitos and are starting to use more of our other herbs. Sage lemonade w/vodka… A sprig of rosemary in this or that…. Would love a book to give us more ideas!
Blood Oranges and Jack. That’s what makes my world go round (especially if you have too much Jack)!!!! Bountiful crop? Squeeze the juice into ice cube trays for later use!!!
The most creative I’ve been, is to use my Meyer Lemons for the ‘twist’ in a Campari and soda. This might be the year though, that I try making Limoncello out of them.
I have not as of yet grown a garden. This will be my first year and I am eating up all the information I can get to make my experience as productive as possible. We did for a time grow some mint in our window that we used in tea and desserts but the idea of making drinks from what I can grow in my garden had never crossed my mind. I am very intrigued by this book. I never woulda thought.
i grew pineapple mint last year that my husband and I enjoyed in mojitos, it also worked very nicely as a little herb-age in my hens nest boxes, they loved it as it helps them to relax.
We made a big batch of corncob wine last year, which is way better than it sounds like it would be!
The most creative I’ve been is some lemon balm in my iced tea. Clearly, I need this book!
Well f**k! I just went to see if you responded to my post on ‘whine,wine and weed’ and it’s not there, stupid internet! Or maybe, the Trolls ate it? I will give you a short version, “YOU ROCK”
Ok, now that that’s clear I will respond to this post.
Uhm thank you? for letting me know what body part I’m swallowing when I eat corn. Where to start with the knowledge that the silk is actually “Fallopian tubes”, well I know one thing. My friends will never forgive you for me making sure everyone of them get’s to share in THAT visual! 🙂
Ready for my Recipe!?! Water, and I pour it well! See why I need this book, and the knowledge you so willingly share. I’m a lame-o and proud of it!
Wow! I love Wicked Plants. I would probably use a few recipes for experimenting here at home. Well actually more than a few because I love infusions and cordials and I’m always experimenting to see what new flavors my son and I can enjoy. And it would give me even more things to make with all the plants in my garden.
What a lovely-sounding book! I’ve added it to my Amazon list just in case (!) I don’t win a copy.
I drink mojitos in the summer, using the peppermint that has grown from my neighbor’s yard into mine. I love that the mint is all through the grass in one corner of the yard, but this does mean that I have to remember to pick the mint *before* I mow the lawn, or I won’t have enough mint for the post-mowing libation. 😉
Rosemary Gin Fizz! Every day, all day.
I don’t make a lot of drinks from my garden. The closest anything from it gets is in my smoothies…would love this book to help teach me!
I don’t drink alcohol (my body does NOT deal with it at all), but I love spooning some fruit syrup into a big bottle of club soda or sparkling water. I usually go through two 1L bottles of water a day, and the fruit flavoring keeps it interesting! And 1 Tbsp of fruit syrup is way better for me than a can of coke. So far I’ve done spiced apple, strawberry, blueberry and plum. This year I want to try peach, raspberry (I never remember to buy raspberries!), rhubarb and maybe some citrus fruits 🙂
Can’t say I grow these ingredients, but I make a liqueur out of vodka and homemade raw cranberry sauce with cranberries, oranges and apples. Delicious!
I grow mint for Southsides…gin, lemonade concentrate, soda water and lots o’ mint. Delish! I need this book to get creative and add some drinking fun to my garden time.
As a matter of fact I was just out in the yard looking for herbs to put in my husband’s home made “vodka” that has a bit of an off taste and we need to infuse with something Ideas? Maybe fennel or anise? This is exactly the book I need!
Mojito!
I am SO glad you didn’t let some dickheads derail your blog. I keep telling folks this is my favorite blog of them all, and it’d be sad to introduce them to a defunct blog.
Anyway, I make a tomato-agave-lemon-tequila-mezcal cocktail from the pages of Imbibe magazine. I only grow the tomatoes, and sometimes not even that, but still. In summer (and summer only, turns out the puree doesn’t freeze well), the base of it makes a really brilliant summer soda for the non-drinkers.
My favorite drink from the garden is Crème de cassis made from a native current bush that mysteriously appeared in my garden. (thank you birds!). I infuse good quality vodka with the berries then sweeten with simple syrup. Great poured over crushed ice.
Overwhelmed by a profusion of lemon balm, I was determined to use it in as many ways as possible to justify the plants existence in my teeny-tiny yard. I crushed a handful of leaves using a pestle, poured some strawberry flavored vodka over them and let it all steep for a few days in the fridge in a large mason jar. Then I strained it back into the original vodka bottle and spent the next week drinking it mixed with Sierra Mist – pretty good!
THE ST-GERMAIN: elderflowers; rasberries; mint; lemons; brut champagne or club soda!
We infuse lots of different liquids with lots of different berries: blueberries, strawberries, marionberries, loganberries, raspberries, aronia berries … you get the idea-
Mint, mint and more mint for the worlds loveliest Mojitos……………..
Avocado smoothie – all the rage in Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Latin America: blend ripe avocado with milk and sweetened condensed milk (or for non-dairy use coconut or almond milk plus agave nectar) and a few ice cubes.
Juice together
1 med. sweet potato
1/2 pineapple
3 oranges
3 carrots
1 mango
Add
1/2 tbsp of ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp of ground nutmeg
6-8 ounces of coconut milk
Shake well to blend spices
Add Pussers Rum to taste
I often make tea with the herbs in our garden and hubs likes to use the mint for mojitos. We’re not uber creative with the usage, but we enjoy what we do!
I made some dilly beans last year, which went perfectly with a bloody mary. Lemon balm tea goes well with vodka or rum on a nice hot day
Wheatgrass shots are potent, added to a smoothie made from raw kale, a couple peeled oranges, a beet and an apple and they will knock the socks off any heavy drinker. I suppose I could add a shot of vodka to kick up another notch! This year I am hoping to get strawberries, blueberries and free Pacific Northwest blackberries to make awesome Sangria!
All of my plants must have whiskey in them, because that’s how I water them…usually unintentionally because I am a drunk gardener…sometimes intentionally, because my plants make the best drinking partners, and I don’t want them to miss out.