Episode 271 - Signature Cocktails with Amanda Schuster

In this time-traveling, globetrotting conversation with Amanda Schuster, author of Signature Cocktails, some of the topics we discuss include: How Amanda went about sourcing 200 signature recipes from all corners of the globe and spanning over 500 years of history. What distinguishes signature cocktails from their more generic counterparts like Old Fashioneds, Manhattans, and Martinis - specifically, the roles of people, places, and events. An examination of certain important historical trends, from milk punches, to private clubs, to luxury travel, all of which yielded cohorts of era-defining signature cocktails we still enjoy today.  The importance of menu attribution in spreading contemporary signature cocktail recipes across the digital and physical world. And tips for designing a signature cocktail for your own bar or home cocktail lounge. Along the way, we explore the bedeviling properties of chocolate and gin, when a Margarita isn't a Margarita, how to defeat an invading army by spiking the drinking well with whiskey, and much, much more.