” At last, a celebration of women’s roles in the invention and evolution of the cocktail! In The Cocktail Parlor, Nicola Nice looks beyond the male-dominated cocktail cannon to find the women who were there all along, brewing cordials and filling punch bowls. She uncovers a treasure trove of inventive and witty cocktail writing and recipes, by women whose names deserve to be much better known. The Cocktail Parlor is an essential contribution to the history of mixology, and a lively and entertaining conversation-starter.”
― Amy Stewart, author of The Drunken Botanist
“The Cocktail Parlor is an absolute must-buy for every cocktail enthusiast, from the curious novice to the seasoned hostess. Come for the recipes, stay for the essential women’s history. As delightful and restoring as a freshly mixed spritz.”
― Mallory O’Meara, James Beard Award–winning author of Girly Drinks
Meet the hostesses who have shaped cocktail history, and learn how to make the drinks they loved.
Throughout American history, women have helped propel what we know as classic cocktails―the
Martini, the Manhattan, the Old-Fashioned, and more―into popular culture. But, often excluded from private clubs, women exercised this influence from the home, in their cocktail parlors. In The Cocktail Parlor: How Women Brought the Cocktail Home (Countryman Press/WW Norton, April 2024), Dr. Nicola Nice, sociologist and spirits entrepreneur, gives women their long-overdue spotlight in cocktail history and shows how they still impact cocktail culture today. Robert Simonson provides the Foreword.
Journeying through the decades, this book profiles a diverse array of influential hostesses. With each historic era comes iconic recipes, featuring a total of 40 main cocktails and more than 100 variations that readers can make at home. Whether its happy hour punch a la Martha Washington or a Harlem Renaissance–inspired Green Skirt, readers will find that many of the ingredients and drinks they’re familiar with today wouldn’t be here without the hostesses who served them first.
40 line illustrations, 40 Recipes for timeless drinks