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 make wine from my grapes, cider from my apple and tomatoes juice for Bloody Marys from my tomatoes. Cheers!
Smoothies. Good for all kinds of fruits and veggies 🙂
We love sangria, and lots of cominations are great lavendar with plums and a rose’ or sweet white, basil with peaches and burgundy, think flavor and scent and mix it up…you can’t go wrong.
Sounds like a great read – I’d love a copy…
I haven’t used anything terribly oddball in my brewing but maybe this will give me some new ideas of things to try…
Matt Jarvis
Eugene, Oregon
I have used lemon balm muddled with Rum, and infused Vodka with lavender.
The lavender infused Vodka sounds interesting. I am growing some lavender in an aquaponics setup, will have to give that a try.
oooo pick me pick me pick me!
i lurk and love, rarely post but here i have to say something (though i am somewhat intimidated by all your lovely readers – wow).
so – limoncello from meyers, pepper vodka (black pepper yet to be grown by me), basil martinis, creme brûlée martinis (goat milk also not grown by me but sourced locally), bloody maria’s, cucumber caipirinhas, squash toddies for fall, gin and beet tonics, anything with ginger – beer spiked, martinis, sangria, the lot – and i know i’m missing about 19 others just from being distracted by my heart pounding and the droplets of sweat forming on my brow at 8.50am.
really – it’s the thought of this very necessary book, not withdrawal or some such.
I use borage and mint & strawberries for my Pimm’s cup!
I sense a drink “cookbook” coming! I love mint in everything! I also love all of Amy’s books especially her first (with slug tossing).
Last summer we made raspberry gin by soaking a quantity of our homegrown raspberries in a bottle of gin with a bit of sugar. Let it sit for 3 months or so. We opened it on Solstice day eve, with candles all around, with the neighbors who had helped us pick the raspberries. Liquid summer on Winter Solstice with neighbors — what could be finer? I am now inspired to try infusing the wild elderberries and blackberries that grow on the property, the herbs in my garden, and whatever else I can get my hands on.
Berry infused Vodka!
I love throwing a few handfuls of fresh strawberries into the blender along with about two fingers of rum, some sweetsour mix and sugar-syrup for a yummy daiquiri. 🙂
I haven’t made any drinks with what I grow, but I have certainly gotten several ideas reading all these comments. Happy gardening to all.
We are juice enthusiasts! Almost willing to try anything -we are going to expand our garden this year so who knows what we’ll end up with. Think Spring and garden fresh!
I was obsessed with Thyme Ice Tea last summer; just some fresh thyme and black tea simmered in the sun. I didn’t add alcohol to it yet, but I think a little Pendleton Whiskey would be a nice touch….
Right now, I’m obsessed with cucumber water with either fresh basil or fresh mint. It’s so refreshing and light. It’s like spring in a glass.
Erica, I think you should randomly select only one recipient. For the second one, you should have a survey and let us pick the best one of these responses.
Mm, well, my favourites are infusions, and the best of them all, I think, is rose brandy. Take 2 large handfuls of fragrant wild rose petals, soak in brandy for a month. The taste is truly heavenly, and leaves your breath smelling like roses! I like making fruit syrups when I have a glut of something, that can go in booze, or with club soda, or over dessert, or whatever. Of course, winemaking from whatever’s seasonal and plentiful is also a good use of fruit! Here we have no end of wild blackberries, so there’s always a blackberry wine to be made in late summer.
I have only a balcony (north facing at that!) but i managed to find space for two little raspberry bushes 🙂 Three raspberries in a glass of champagne, and you’ll think you are just the fanciest person who ever fancied ;). I have a couple pots of herbs too, hadn’t thought about using them before, but now am thinking about rosemary infused spirits.
Well, little chance I can compete will all of the above, but I make elderflower cordial from foraged elderberry trees and have finally coaxed an elegant black elderberry in my front yard that produces lovely, fragrant pink-white panicles of citrus-honey scented blossoms. I have found that the resulting cordial (made of course with organic raw cane sugar) pairs favorably with vodka or even gin when I feel like cutting that beautiful sweet-floral-citrus flavor with a little bitterness. This reminds me of an interesting study I heard about on NPR years ago… about a parfumier who approached people on the street with two scent samples: one of just pure jasmine oil and the other of jasmine oil very slightly befouled with a stinky musky scent… something horrible unto itself. Nearly everyone preferred the mixture over the cloying jasmine alone. Hmmmn. Interesting….
Well, your shamelessness is much appreciated! 🙂 I have yet to get very creative with my garden booze infusing. I’ve done a few flavored vodkas with berries and I’ve done a second ferment with my Kombucha using garden fruit too. The jam-garita you posted a while back was definitely a fun way to “use up” the jam before a new batch. In fact it might be time to try that out again…. I’ve also been meaning to make some tomato juice out of the frozen tomato skins I saved to make a bloody mary mix and use up some of my pickled veggies too.
Always have mint on hand for garnishes and, of course, mojitos. But I also use thyme and rosemary in cocktails. 🙂
ooh. Stewart rocks! so far I haven’t ventured into herbs for more than Tea, but if my mint comes back, we’ll be looking at Mojitos, and of course mint lemonade. oh, and berry margaritas.
1. Homemade grape juice was very refreshing to my daughter during chemo for Ovarian Cancer(please get checked) it is a simple blood test).
2. In the South tea requires mint.
Oh dear Mary I send healing light to your daughter for her situation. Remember sugar feeds cancer. Try bicarbonate of baking soda – destroys tumors.
I have grown a variety of mints for mixing in cocktails- lime mint being my favorite. Pineapple sage is also great for tequila or rum drinks. My husband is a Kentucky boy, and always watches the Derby in May, for which we *have* to have mint juleps. We use homegrown mint for that now, of course! Much easier than remembering to buy some. I’ve heard that cilantro is good in a margarita, but I don’t want to try it.
On a healthier note, I have added fresh-picked kale leaves to smoothies, for a superfood boost!
Catmint mojito!
They told me I couldn’t grow watermelons in western Oregon, but I did. Yellow-fleshed, top-notch. Had so many, in fact, that I had to start using it in weird ways. Lightly blended (read: still chunky) and mixed 50/50 with Malibu (ah, maybe 25/75, it’s hard to say now…cause if you’re gonna drink Malibu, might as well make it stiff). The birds also left me a couple strawberries — how thoughtful of them — which I used as garnish. Yellow drink, red accent. Turns out fresh tropical is possible in OR. Haters gonna hate.
I mostly use herbs from the garden for mojitos and grown-up lemonades and limeades. I”ll also make fruit syrups for mixing with vodka and soda water.
We bit of mint, or basil, or herb of any kind in a glass of whatever liquor I have available. Oh and maybe some fruit or home made bloody mary mix (got Tomatoes?!)
Our garden provides beverages most often in the form of greens for smoothies–chard being our favorite!
We have made cider from our two apple trees which was surprisingly easy and good! I like to use mint, lavender and other herbs to make simply syrups to add to drinks as well. There is a great cocktail called a honey sage gin fizz that I use our own sage for!
mint juleps!!
With a meadow full of Achillea millefolium I make a deliciously fizzy “Yarrow Brew” in the summer! It’s a great addition to a garden party!
Fresh strawberries crushed, agave, lemon water and captain morgan.
Basil lemonade is a favorite. And herbs to make simple syrups for the cocktails (sage and rosemary simple syrups are the most common around here).
I look forward to Nj’s annual watermelon harvest and make big pitchers of watermelon-lime juice. It’s divine on its own or mixes well with tequila, vodka, rum, white wine or even a light wheaty beer. The versatility is great for entertaining families and a variety of tastes. I also freeze a few mason jars full for a sip of July in January.
Mints and lemon verbena get good mileage in mojitos and juleps in my house as well.
Try the verbena in a mojito – trust me on this one !
Winter brings us kumquats and Meyer lemons from indoor dwarf trees that are usually too small in quantity to do much baking with but perfect to garnish a tonic.
My pride and joy, as a hobby bee keeper, is the mead I made with honey, cherries and herbs all from my yard (50×100 semi-urban lot)…looking forward to making a honey-wheat beer this year if “the girls” can spare it!
Now you’ve done it…another book on the must-acquire list. LOL!
I’m very fond of tinctures, and was just thinking already this morning that I really need get a considerable quantity of decent 100 proof vodka in the house. Yeah, okay, not just for medicinal tinctures. 🙂
I made new housemate very happy recently by whipping up a fairly large pot of from scratch hot cocoa (involving fresh Kinder goat milk and a lump of real butter, shocked in the cup with heavy cream)…then adding a friendly portion of orange mint tincture that I put by a couple of years ago and never got around to making into liqueur.
Said housemate and I are now exploring the make-a-small-still-from-a-pressure-cooker concept easily found on YouTube. It’s kind of at the top of the list of things to pursue if we ever get ahead of stuff here.
This book looks like all kinds of trouble.
😀
My downstairs neighbor makes the most delicious lavender kombucha, and I intend to hound him to teach me how…
post directions when you get them!
Well, I just found this site and it looks amazingly enticing. I have to say on the drink front it’s just been the mint for mojitos….so far. I’ll have to put my thinking cap on. Cheers!
Homegrown hops of course for homebrew, but chocolate mint and homegrown limes makes for a very interesting mojito (or margarita depending on our mood).
Last year we made mojitos with our own limes and mint! This year my botanical offerings are multiplied abundantly, as we were able to pull up a huge deck with the landlord’s blessings. The herbs and veggies are already going in the ground! I can’t wait to see what concoctions we can come up with! If our darn orange tree would produce more than flowers we could do more! Gonna try to can bloody Marys and some boozy jam with herbs this year! I’m so stoked, I can’t wait for produce! 😉
We use home canned pickled asparagus (some of the brine as well) to make a fabulous bloody mary. Perfect summer (or winter…or spring….or fall) drink!!! For our children (ok…and sometimes us adults enjoy it too) we use fresh strawberries from our garden to make smoothies and strawberry lemonade. We also use watermelon for a refreshing aqua fresca. So many possibilities!!!!
Just started my own garden in Portland this year thanks to your inspiration and advice, which has been truly indispensable! I adore that your posts are full of incredible knowledge and simultaneous irreverence, and man, this book seems to be in the same fantastic anti-hoity-toity vein! So great!
That said, I did plan my garden mostly so that it could source a killer Mezcal Bloody Mary. We’ve got tomatoes, jalepenos, and lots of things that will be pickled and presented on a skewer in the drink for flavor and entertainment: carrots, radishes, beets, onions and pole beans, to name a few. Things are sprouting now – I can’t wait! Your blog has seriously guided the way!
Mint in sun tea :p
I was addicted to chocolate mint martinis the summer before I was pregnant. We infused the vodka with chocolate mint and marley mint (mint from a plant in Bob Marleys yard apparently and oh so yummy!) and then added a fresh sprig to the drink. So good I dreamt about them while I was pregnant! So glad the baby is out now! 🙂
Rye Whiskey and Sage Spritzer! Or perhaps a whiskey sage mojito !
I have more pears and apples than I can use fresh, and I am not a big apple or pear sauce eater, so I can a LOT of them, then end up using the stored fruit rather than the canned. I was trying to figure out what to do with the canned fruit before I canned even more and invented this drink, or I think I did, who knows? I take a jar of pears, apples or a combination of both, pour the juice and fruit in a blender in batches so I don’t end up wearing it (from personal experiance) and blend til smooth. Pour into a container and chill well. Before serving, I blend a bunch of mint into about 1/4 of the puree.. I love mint, so I use lots, but some people like less. To serve it, if you are being fancy, mix club soda, lemon lime soda, or gin (one of my faves) over a glass of the puree, stiring well, then drizzle the green mint puree over the top and serve with a straw, using the straw to swirl in the mint. If you just want a refreshing drink in the afternoon, steep a pot of mint leaves nice and strong, strain and add to the puree, then store in the fridge, just pour a glass, add the liquid of choice if it is too thick (or if you like gin) and go sit in the shade!
I do a couple infusions here and there, but my favorite so far has been transforming my raspberry liqueur into raspberry brandy cream liqueur.
Watermelon, crushed. Good vodka. Blender.
Summertime in a martini glass.
Hops for the homebrew! But I also have been doing a bunch of infusions over the last year. Cucumber, basil, and pepper vodka, and I have some lemoncello in process as we speak!
My latest concoction is quince-infused tequila. It is absolutely fabulous. No need to make a cocktail, it’s sipped, very slowly.