A review of Doctors and Distillers: The Remarkable Medicinal History of Beer, Wine, Spirits, and Cocktail by Campber English

I read (audiobook) this book over the course of a couple of days on my walks to the park and out about town. Review follows.

At first one was quite skeptical about the book, as somebody who 1) never drinks, and 2) drinks even fewer cocktails. But the book is a lot more than a dry description of cocktails and their history. It's a history of alchemy and transmutation, a history of medicine, a history of spices, and a history of liquors. I loved very much that it was so comprehensive, and connected the dots of other aspects of human history with that of cocktails. And ice, and industrialization. And so forth.

I now know the relationship between syphillis, malaria, and how it relates to modern cocktails. I understand why Americans go gaga over ice on their drinks compared to the rest of the world. I have a much better understanding of how cocktails came about to be, and why they're such an important part of America.

The book also has at least a hundred cocktail recipes, that I didn't care for.

I give this book a solid 8 out of ten, which is not a lot, I know, but this book wasn't really for me, as for pages and pages and chapters it would go in depth about this bitter or other, this specific drink or other, I didn't really care for that. For anybody who's into drinks, or cocktails, this book is worth its gold in precious metals!