Book Review: Hauntingly Good Spirits
By Richard Thomas
Rating: B+
As a horror fan and a whiskey author, I’m slightly disappointed every year when autumn never brings together my two interests, this despite the two being firmly rooted in the season. As it happens, Halloween lands in the middle of the time of year when all the most ardently sought annual limited edition whiskeys come out. Disappointed until now.
Mother-daughter team and New Orleans residents Sharon Keating and Christi Keating Sumich have addressed that longing with Hauntingly Good Spirits. A cocktail guide that is rooted in the lore of America’s most macabre city, the cover itself speaks to a book that should be left perched on the front of the bar cart as soon as the Halloween decor goes up. It looks that much as part of the spooky season.
I have only had the book long enough to spin up one whiskey cocktail to accompany my Halloween season (that starts as soon as the haunted houses and forests open at my house, and that was this week) thus far, but I was already pleased: The Spooky Smoked Sazerac. I had all the ingredients on hand, and was especially pleased to use some fresh rosemary cut from my own garden.
Perusing the books contents offers me some gin ideas that I may apply this weekend (it promises to be steamy and calls for something chilled or on the rocks), as well as encourages me to up my absinthe game. The latter has been on my to-do list for some time. But this is a whiskey website, so here are some other ghastly whiskey-based cocktails from the book: the Soggy Grave, the Cemetery Angel, the hybridized City of the Dead (Scotch and Irish in that one!), and the Night Tripper. There are many more. I’m looking forward to trying out some more as my horror movie season marches on, either this year or the next.
The book also makes good reading, delving into a surface-level exploration of New Orleans’ haunted history, as well as offering a primer on the city’s craft spirits. It’s a solid book for anyone who finds October brings them to a moonlit crossroads of loving a good drink while waiting for the devil.
