Pairing Potent Potables with your Perusals of Prose

I was kicking myself last evening for forgetting to get some Tullamore Dew to go with my reading of the last of the Iron Druid Chronicles, Scourged. I’ve been meaning to try the stuff ever since the Widow MacDonagh kept going on about it in the first couple of books, and it seemed like a fitting companion as I bid farewell to the series.

It got me thinking: what other books/series have an obvious beverage paring?

Harry Dresden’s a big Coke guy, well, that and Mac’s ale — which is sadly, fictional, or it’d be my go-to. Zaphod Beeblebrox’s Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster, and the Ol’ Janx Spirit used to make them are likewise fictional. Ditto for Nero Wolfe’s favorite beer, Remmers. Just about everything that Atticus drinks after book three is fictional — and borderline supernatural, no?

On the whole, I have different tastes than Robert B. Parker’s characters (and can’t afford Hawk’s preferences). Spenser has guided me toward a beer or two that I liked, but there’s no drink you can point at and say — that’s Spenser (or Jesse Stone). Tres Navarre was a big Shiner Bock drinker, and at least one of his books contained a recipe for a (supposedly) fantastic margarita (which was tasty, but not really better than any other one). Just about everything that John Rebus drinks is local for him, which makes it impossible for me. Harry Bosch and Elvis Cole don’t have a signature drink that I can recall.

On the less intoxicating side, there’s Archie Goodwin’s milk, Jack Reacher’s coffee (although, who needs caffeine while you’re reading Lee Child at his best?), and Jane Yellowrock’s tea (I don’t think I could drink it the way she does).

When I started writing this, I figured I’d be able to come up with a decent list of drinks to go with various series, but I seem to be coming up pretty short. Sure, there’s James Bond with his “cold water with a dash of gin and dry vermouth. . . [he’s] is ordering a weak martini and being snooty about it.” But that’s too easy (and I haven’t read anything about him since high school). How about you all?

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3 Comments

  1. Bang energy drinks go pretty much with everything ? Except a late hour, but that is what the caffeine free versions are for!

    • had never heard of those drinks — and typically avoid energy drinks, but I’m intrigued. Not sure what it’d work with thematically either, but it could be interesting to find out.

      • It is not a brand sold in grocery stores. It is sold in places like GNC, the VitaminShoppe, etc. There are about 10 different flavors, so you’d have to deal with flavor more than anything for a paring…

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