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.
2
What a great idea for a contest, there are a lot of drink ideas here! I don’t currently make drinks from the plants I grow — which is why I find this book so interesting. I do love to mix home-grown herbs into my cooking in unusual ways — like fresh bay infused into my pumpkin tart.
I come from the humid tropical part of Australia, where refreshing drinks are always sought!
I love the sound of this book, The Drunken Botanist, I’ll buy it if I can’t win it 😉
We use the trailing mint, from our garden, to make the most divinely refreshing sweet mint tea.
Wow, where to start? Just about every edible herb makes it into tea or coolers at some point, sometimes alone sometimes in combinations. I love to take fresh mint, sliced cucumbers, grated fresh ginger, and sliced lemons and add them to a pitcher of water for a refreshing anytime flavored water. We drink a lot of lemon grass tea around here too (boil pot of water, remove from heat, add fresh lemon grass, cover and let rest until cool *** unless I am impatient) served over ice. LG tea is pretty sweet without adding anything but some like a little honey to sweeten it. Sour orange aide, yum and so easy. Also add whatever fresh fruit we have to wine to make sangria. Make our own Muscadine Grape wine too. The list goes on…..
Fresh mint mojitos, strawberry basil daiquiris and this year I WILL find a way to make rhubarb alcoholic.
I love using my basil for basil gimlets and of course our peppermint for mojitos. I made plum and peach wine last year. This year I hope to make elderberry and dandelion wine. I also am infusing blackberries in rum to make cordial.
So far the only thing I have grown specifically for drinks is Stevia, as a sweetener. I’m just now starting an herbal apprenticeship through Morningsun Herb Farm so I am looking forward to a lot of herbal teas and such. One of the instructors told us about using Mugwort for some beer she made once and Morningsun will be selling three kinds of Hops this year.
For my wedding I infused vodka with cilantro, juniper berries, lemon grass, chillies, and a whole host of other things to make the best bloody marys for the morning after.
I made a dandelion chai that is fantastic with fireball whiskey to to mull red wine.
Basil blueberry spiked lemonade, an idea borrowed from Little Ones Beverage Co. in Bellingham. A true oasis camped out at a summer music festival….
Truth is though, I’d really benefit from knowing more about the produce in my yard so that I can come up with even MORE creations!
Muah ah hahahaha
Im very impatiently waiting for my mint to come back. Im pregnant and all i want is a virgin mojito with my pineapple mint.
Waiting for my new 2oo+ cider apple trees start bearing we are sipping blackberry syrup in white wine.
I love rhubarb so I always make assorted rhubarb syrups that go great with booze.
Mint and strawberry mojitos!
I make liqueur out of rhubarb. It has to age about 18 months to get really mellow, but we love it.
I’m not a big drinker so I make a sparkling water with foraged blackberries and fresh sage from my tiny herb garden on the balcony of my apartment. It’s really refreshing.
Oh, where to begin? I’ve been a little obsessed with this for over a year now:
– thyme & cucumber infused gin
– lemongrass infused tequila
– rose-petal infused gin
– hibiscus & goji berry infused gin
– violet liqueur
– ginger liqueur
– my “amaro scuro,” with angelica, cardamom, bitter orange peel, cinnamon, star anise, wormwood, wintergreen and cacao nibs steeped in brandy. It’s an acquired taste.
– herbal syrups, especially cinnamon syrups and rosemary, which do wonders in cocktails.
– bitters! angostura-style, orange, grapefruit, chocolate mole, more to come.
In other words, don’t get me started.
We currently grow box herb gardens for cooking and I make non-alcoholic mint juleps with our overzealous mint plant. Would be fund to grow others for the loaded kind 🙂
I used lemon zest and juice from Meyer lemons, along with some local honey, to make a homemade version of Korean lemon tea. Good with hot water for tea, seltzer for an iced drink, and with vodka for a version of a lemon drop.
We like juicing the pomegranates from our trees, adding to sparkling water (or champagne), and a few sprigs of mint over ice…Also recently tried making Nocino, a liqueur made from unripe green walnuts & vodka…
We take the mint and lavender from around our back porch and infuse it into lemonade. It’s the best refreshing summer drink!
So far I haven’t used anything from my garden for drinks (I just put the garden and tiny orchard in last spring ). I have provided friends and relatives with tons of mint for their drinks though. I am hoping to eventually get enough of a fruit orchard for apple juice, as well a good crop of strawberries this year for smoothies!
I make Fresh lavender into lavender simple syrup. Mixes well with an herbal gin! Refreshing and slightly sweet. 🙂
My favorite lately has been spirits of Artemesia with pure cranberry juice, a splash of aloe vera juice and sparkling water!
Green smoothie with mint and chard! As for alcohol, hubby does homebrew and we made a beer last year with our first homegrown hops. Very fun!
Rumtopf with backyard and farmers market berries and stone fruit. And I also canned up some rhubeena to make cocktails with, but have yet to get around to it!
I married a brewer/distiller/general fermenter. If he can get his hands on anything containing fermentable sugars before I can dry it, can it, freeze it or cook it then it ends up in a liquid form. I’m happy to hand over excess fruit bits for vinegar however.
Ooh, this book looks amazing! Thanks for the giveaway opportunity. 🙂 The main herb in our yard is mint–some previous tenant was innocent enough to actually plant in the ground, and now it’s all over the place. So I tend to just dry lots and lots of leaves and use them for brewing the most refreshing iced tea in the land. Not very creative, but certainly delicious.
We love home-brewing. Among the wonderful concoctions we have created in our kitchen from our harvests are: black raspberry wine, lavendar mead (from our own honey), spruce beer (a very strong brew), wild-harvested apple cider/wine, and pine beer.
We love experimenting with fermenting and are always looking for new inspiration for our brews ; ).
Oooooooooo lavender mead!! I am jealous!! Was it hard to do?
I love feijoa lager and feijoa wine. I am making rosehip syrup to go with anything light.
I have an exquisite scented spearmint plant that needs appreciation in a summer drink.
Pepino has a lovely summer cucumbery taste to add to summer drinks. My garden is a mass of possibilities from elderflower, to yacon, passionfruit, pear,peach,manderin,tamarind, and on and on.
Every summer we host a kraftskiva (Swedish crayfish party) and Hubby likes to make infused akavits to share. He picks up some good vodka and we add mint or fennel or lemon verbena to create different flavors. We’ve also tried rosemary, juniper, and different sages with ok to great results.
Last fall we planted a lime and a lemon tree-I can’t wait to make limeade and lemonade!
I make my own liqueurs–herbal and fruit. Yum!
uh uh uh pick me pick me pick me!
sugared rose petal sangria, hot mulled wine with plum segments, rosemary/ hot pepper/ fresh lime margaritas. shots of homemade apple brandy with a cinnamon-twig-impaled cherry.
just dreaming aloud here as i’m between GARDENS. UGH
I’m hoping to craft a hyper-local variant of a classic Aviation using Bing cherry liqueur made with cherries harvested from our neighbors tree, another neighbor’s violet infusion, Veracity gin, and muddled sorrel in place of the lemon. Nothing, including the infusion bases, has or will come from more than roughly two miles away.
I use brandy or bourbon in my blackberry jams, amaretto in any peachy spread, and ginger liqueur in my spiced pear butter. Can you say yummmmmmmmmm hiccup !?
I make elderflower cordial when our bushes are in bloom every year. We enjoy it with gin or lemonade for the kiddos.
WOW just found your site FUN
I grow spearmint for summer mojitos and have used my cucs and rosemary syrup in gin
Our house came with a bit of a mint problem in the side yard–mint everywhere, invading the personal space of all the other nearby plants. But, I turned that invasive frown upside down by muddling mint all summer long in many fun and tasty mojitos–mango black pepper mojitos being my favorite.
Pickled vegetables (cucumbers, beans, jalapenos, peppers and carrots) and canned tomato juice make great “home grown” Bloody Marys. Mint and other herbs for crushing into mojitos, and flavored vodkas. Just finishing a new garden with 500 sq ft of raised beds and room for berries, fruit trees. Jams, jellies spiked with liqueurs. Love your blog.
Cilantro in Margaritas…yummmm…always have to find a way to use that extra cilantro!
I once finished off a swig of beer that had been unintentionally left in the garden overnight, figuring it would still be good after a cool summer night, and forgetting the most common garden use for leftover beer. The slugs added a distinct sliminess to the brew, but not a lot of flavor. Can’t recommend it.
I second, third and fourth adding a rosemary sprig to any gin-based concoction. Asparagus is great in place of or in addition to celery in Bloody Marys. Nasturtiums make a nice martini garnish.
I make a blackberry-rosemary simple syrup. It’s great with sparkling water, champagne, vodka, or a combination!
Well, Erica, another sign of my misspent youth:
“Bloody Mary is the girl we love!”
Over ice cubes pour…
Vodka (Finlandia)
Erica’s canned Tomatoes (Juiced)
add dash Chilula Hot Sauce (or two dashes)
stir with one Pickled Asparagus spear
add sprig of fresh Dill
“Everyone should have something to believe in…
I believe I’ll have another drink.” W.C. Fields
I made a gallon of dandelion wine last year. It turned out a bit over sweet, but I’d never tried it before. Really neat experiment!
I admit I’m not that creative yet, though I’d like to be! This is where the book would come in 😉
I do love muddling basil in drinks, and am of the opinion that it goes well with most things, often in copious quantities. Drives my boyfriend crazy.
I make a strawberry mojito by mashing up my own mint and fresh berries with stevia, lime and club soda. I bet black berries would taste nice too!
BEET VODKA!
Holy Smokers! There’s a lot of great ideas on here-but I don’t think I saw my fave-beet infused vodka. It’s crazy good! A tradition at our thanksgiving, winter solstice, new years’ eve and Easter (aka Polish Fest) celebrations. Peel and slice a healthy bunch of beets, and put them in a 2 quart mason jar, cover with 750 monopolova or other fine vodky, put in a cool dark place for 3 days, and strain back into the original jar. Store in the fridge (freezer makes it weird) for moths. Drink it straight–mmm.
Love using fresh herbs in my drinks! One of my favorites is summer stone fruit, basil, vodka and a bit of sugar, muddled together and let it sit. Serve chilled one part fruit mixture, one part Prosecco. Yum, yum! Can’t wait for summer!
We are planning on planting hops to do a little homebrew! Otherwise, it’s limes and tequila. Cheers!
it’d be great to soak some ginger into rum, and make a dark and stormy with even more gingery kick!
ps glad you aren’t swayed by a few trolls, keep on writing to good fight!
sigh pick me pick me pick me hop hop 🙂
strawberry margaritas with little berry leaf brollies from summer patch, and coconut/ chili chi chi’s served in the nut (from when i lived in the islands). gosh, i miss those.
Mint anything… I grow 4 types of mint. Love me a cuke mint yogurt smoothie or mint lemonade, or fresh mint tea. I have plans for mohitos too.
Oh, and pick me- shipping will be cheap.
I have a teeny garden on the balcony – where I grow herbs, tomatoes, curry leaves and chillies (apart from some flowering and ornamental plants). I usually use the produce in my cooking and for salads, but using mint is our fav. way to flavor drinks (both, alcoholic and otherwise). A sprig of mint and a slice of lemon helps me get my daily quota of water.