Are You Ready for Everyday Drinking?

DRINKING
Every Day Drinking: A Preview
(Dwight Garner: New York Times)
When you imagine a man who consumes a lot of liquor, you might imagine a sloppy mess of a man who talks a lot but doesn’t say anything that makes sense and falls over a lot before kneeling over a toilet to pay for his overindulgence. A literary classic about the virtues and charm of regular drinking might seem counter intuitive…how can a drunk stay awake enough to write a book? The only way you can find out is by reading Everyday Drinking by Kingsley Amis.

Sir Amis (1922-1995) was a British poet and novelist. He was also obviously well versed in the art of drinking. He was so enthusiastic about liquor that he wrote not one but three books on the subject; On Drink (1972), Everyday Drinking (1983) and How’s Your Glass? (1984). The out of print books have recently been compiled and re-released as Everyday Drinking. The new work is part practical guide (“Serving good drinks, like producing anything worth while, is troublesome and expensive”) part recipe book (it includes, among other things, instructions for a tequila based Bloody Mary that serves as a “pick-me-up, throw-me-down, and jump-on-me” kind of drink) and part philosophical treatise (“humor and drinking are connected in a profoundly human, peculiarly intimate way”)

In a city of $20 cocktails, bottle service and a “liquor brand as a status symbol” culture it might be nice to take a step back now and then to enjoy drinking for its own sake. Instead of elbow wrestling 200 people at the bar to get that shot of Cuervo down your throat as fast as possible, maybe its time to gather good friends and sit down to some quality liquor. Maybe then we can have a few more nights of enjoying our drinks and a few less nights kneeling in front of the toilet.

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