I would call Sinclair Lewis’ Arrowsmith a “pretty serious book”, but one of my favorite things about it is its setting within the Prohibition Era. We see the protaganist, Martin Arrowsmith, going into speakeasies with his friends and sneaking into the back rooms of warehouses alongside the general public warnings on the dangers of drinking and gambling. I think this especially stood out to me as the other Pulitzer winners set in this era have all shied away from any mentions of drinking. Without further adieu, I invite you to The Ice House in the West Indies to join Martin Arrowsmith for his signature “rum swizzler.”
This is Barrio 47, but I imagine The Ice House is similar to this
The Ice House, that dimmest and most peaceful among saloons, with its cool marble tables, its gilt-touched white walls, had not been closed, though only the oldest topers and the youngest bravos, fresh out from Home and agonizingly lonely… were desperate enough to go there, and of the attendants there remained only one big Jamaica barman. By chance he was among them all the most divine mixer of the planter’s punch, the New Orleans fizz, and the rum swizzle.
Recipe courtesy of Liquor.com
Bermuda Rum Swizzle Cocktail:
- 4 oz. Gold Rum
- 4 oz. Black Rum
- 8 oz. Pineapple Juice
- 8 oz. Orange Juice
- 3/4 oz. Grenadine
- 6 dashes of Angostura Bitters
Shake vigorously with crushed ice, and then garnish with pineapple, oranges, maraschino cherries, and any other tropical fruit that catch your eye.
Although I’m glad we no longer have this law, it’s a period of time that I don’t know much about and am intrigued by. I suppose finding a book on the Prohibition should be added to my to-do list!
Additional Reading:
- Font courtesy of Manfred Klein
- Curious about the difference between gold and black rum? Apparently there are four types of rum.
- Check out our first Literary Cocktail Party post here, featuring Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman, Lev Grossman’s The Magicians, and Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall.
- Arrowsmith was the 1926 Pulitzer winner, and Sinclair Lewis was the first (and only) writer to refuse the prize. Read more about it here.
- Fun fact: 1926 was also the year The Great Gatsby was published. Some people would say that Gatsby deserved the Pulitzer much more than Arrowsmith did.
This sounds great! My personal favourite prohibition novel is Lewis’s ‘Babbit,’ so ‘Arrowsmith’ definitely needs to go straight onto the reading list!
Oh I’ve never read anything else by Lewis – I’ll have to add Babbit to my list!
Nice, it is wrong to fancy a drink now at just gone half nine in the morning. Arrowsmith sounds interesting, another one for the wishlist.
As my dad always says, you can’t drink all day… if you don’t start in the morning!
We’ll have to organize some sort of book swap one day – I have added just about all the books you write about to my list!
wise words from your dad which I will remind myself off of on my next day off. I like to get slightly tipsy when book hunting, then I can claim it isn’t my fault I ended up buying a shedload of books.
I made a list years ago of my favourite books, my top 100 which came to 105 of course but that will be outdated now owing to all the awesome books I have read since. Having just checked it out though, I only did it in 2013 so here is the link as a starter, special mentions that I haven’t blogged on yet would be A Pound of Paper and Measuring the World. https://bookmust.wordpress.com/2013/05/17/my-favourite-100-books/#more-3633
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