Alcademics

I recently read Juke Joints, Jazz Clubs, and Juice: A Cocktail Recipe Book: Cocktails from Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks by Toni Tipton-Martin. [amazon] [bookshop] 

Below is my review.

Tipton-Martin has a big library of cookbooks by Black American writers, and they're put to good use here. As far as I know there are only two cocktail books written by African American bartenders before the last decade or so: The Ideal Bartender by Tom Bullock from 1917, and Julian's Recipes by Julian Anderson from 1919. But there are a lot of other books by Black authors in which cocktail recipes can be found - books by caterers and cookbook authors.

This is primarily a cocktail, rather than a history book, so Tipton-Martin often cites three or more authors and their works in reference to a certain drink recipe, then provides either one of the versions from these older texts, or a spinoff of the recipe. Sometimes her choice of drinks are due to cultural traditions and flavor preferences with the Black community (a preference for the sweeter drinks, red drinks of all kinds) moreso than specific recipes from 100 years ago. 

I have far too many cocktail books (now over 1000, which is absurd) so I don't read cocktail books for the recipes, but for the information about the recipes. I also try to read articles about Black bartenders and cocktail history from many sources - David Wondrich did a bunch of research and writing about the authors cited above and other famous Black bartenders of old - and Tipton-Martin cites his work as well in Juke Joints.

So I have encountered a lot of the historical cocktails and references to bartenders before, but in this book learned a lot more about the cooks, hosts, and caterers who may have written down only a few recipes. (The same is true for The Cocktail Parlor, a book about the role of women in cocktail history, which comes out next year.)

The value I will get out of Juke Joints, Jazz Clubs, and Juice is

1. Having a lot of information about Black American cocktails, bartenders, and cooks all in one place rather than scattered all over the internet.
2. Having the book's index at my disposal, including dozens of books I've never seen nor heard of, for future research.

Speaking of the index, the index of Juke Joints, Jazz Clubs, and Juice include photos of many of the covers- a super nice touch. 

Buy the book: [amazon] [bookshop]