It's no secret that many iconic writers regularly enjoyed a drink (or ten). The relationship between the book and the bottle is age-old and wide-spread. This, of course, has not always ended up well for the writers in question or the people around them, and we wouldn't suggest following in their footsteps full-time. If, however, you'd like to pay tribute to your favorite author by spending a night in their wobbly shoes, here's what to drink and how to drink it.
William Faulkner
Faulkner was one of the few writers who actually liked to drink while he was writing. Drink at hand, he'd work through hot Mississippi nights, and always maintained that getting a buzz on helped the ideas come and the verse flow.
What to Drink: Mint Julep. A true Southern boy at heart, Faulkner created his own standby recipe for the refreshing cocktail, mixing a liberal pour of whiskey together with 1 tsp of sugar, ice, and fresh mint in a metal cup.
How to Drink It: Preferably south of the Mason-Dixon line, in a small, decaying town. Wind your way tangentially through memories of the people in said town between sips.
Dorothy Parker
Charles Bukowski
If there was anything Bukowski was known for more than his writing, it was his legendary drinking. The "laureate of American lowlife" drank his way all over L.A., and his sublimely sleazy, booze-soaked poems still resonate today.
What to Drink: Boilermakers. Bukowski, who was of the opinion that the best thing to go with a drink is another drink, liked to order this dive bar staple of a shot and a beer. Though he wasn't picky about what type of beer and what type of shot, he preferred whiskey or rye chased with lager.
How to Drink It: Arrive at the filthiest dive bar in town, already three to ten drinks in. Order, proceed to pound, and order again. Make sure to get as handsy as possible. Chain smoke to taste.
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde, on whom all standards of fabulousness would later be based, liked the finer things, especially when it came to drinking. Champagne was his standard staple (to the point where he demanded to have it brought to him in prison), but he was also a fan of absinthe and other eccentric (and high-proof) spirits.
What to Drink: Death in the Afternoon. Though this Champagne and absinthe cocktail was allegedly invented by Ernest Hemingway (more on him later), it's certainly feasible that Oscar Wilde figured out how to combine his two favorite forms of alcohol during his long and illustrious drinking career. And if he didn't, he should have.
How to Drink It: Make sure to be lounging, preferably on something upholstered with velvet. Surround yourself with hot young men, and dispense highly quotable phrases and inversions that you secretly thought of in advance, but which will still be witty enough for people to make Facebook memes about 100 years after you die. Escort all haters directly to the left.
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Naturally, one of the premiere voices of the gin-soaked Jazz Age was a drinker. The raucous parties and rampant boozing that are so centrally featured in Fitzgerald's fiction were mirrored by events in his real life, especially during his time as an ex-pat in Paris.
What to Drink: Gin Rickey. Fitzgerald loved the classic combination of gin, lime juice, and soda. He was said to prefer gin over other spirits because he thought it couldn't be detected on his breath. Amazingly, despite the frequency with which he drank, Fitzgerald was a light-weight, and would often miscalculate how much liquor he could hold at a given time. Two or three rickeys in, it's probable that the gin became pretty detectable.
How to Drink It: Be at a party. Quickly drink down two consecutive Rickeys and get wobbly, talking loudly and slightly too close to peoples' faces about "your craft". Continue drinking and get in massive blow-out fight with your equally drunk wife. Once she storms out, take a moment to be insecure about the size of your junk before chasing after her. Repeat nightly.
Dylan Thomas
Drinking often doesn't turn out pretty, and Dylan Thomas is testament to that fact. He might not have advocated going gentle into that good night, but he certainly was down to go face-first into a bottle of whiskey. Though the rumor that he died at a tavern from drinking over 18 whiskeys isn't 100% correct (he died around shortly afterward, of pneumonia), they definitely didn't help. Still, a tribute is a tribute, and Thomas certainly loved to drink.
What to Drink: Whiskey, straight. While living in New York, Thomas could often be found, whiskey-in-hand, at the White Horse Tavern in Greenwich Village, or weaving through the hallways of the Chelsea Hotel. Don't mess around with any of that "chaser" or "mixer" nonsense: this is some serious drinking business.
How to Drink It: At local watering hole, keep ordering and drinking steadily until you are physically unable to continue. Proceed to order and drink three more. Stagger back to crashpad and miraculously arrive intact. Wake up the next morning and write brilliantly despite a hangover that would make Satan wince.
Carson McCullers
Author of "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" and other works of Southern Gothic brilliance, Carson McCullers was also a heavy drinker. Her main co-drinker was her husband, James Reeves McCullers, Jr. ("drinking buddy" would be inaccurate, since they spent the vast majority of their time drunkenly fighting), but she also drank with the likes of James Baldwin and Anais Nin.
What to Drink: Hot Tea and Sherry. McCullers would mix tea and sherry, a concoction she called a "Sonnie Boy", and drink it throughout the day from a large thermos.
How to Drink It: Similar to the Faulkner method, but garnish with a heavy dollop of domestic unhappiness.
Hunter S. Thompson
Though drinking was hardly his only vice, Hunter S. Thompson did drink, and often. Many of his Gonzo adventures were undertaken drink-in-hand, "I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone," he famously wrote, "but they've always worked for me."
What to Drink: Wild Turkey Bourbon. A connection to his home state, the overproofed Kentucky bourbon was Thompson's drink of choice for much of his life. His most famous work, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, features copious amounts of Wild Turkey, as does most of his writing. His love for WT ran deep: whenever a journalist wanted to interview him, Thompson would refuse to participate if they wouldn't drink Wild Turkey with him.
How to Drink It: Over the course of a night (or a day, ideally you should not be able to tell which), wander manically around a desert city meeting very strange, sometimes interesting people. Chase continually refilled glass of Wild Turkey with the entire contents of a police evidence room, a pharmacy, or both.
Ian Flemming
Fleming, the creator of James Bond, was actually more similar to his debonair character than might initially meet the eye. Like Bond, he was also a spy. Personally recruited by the British Navy, he devised and commanded many complicated, risky spy operations during WWII. Fleming also shared Bond's two favorite hobbies: womanizing and drinking.
What to Drink: Vesper Martini. Invented by Fleming, his favorite cocktail (3 measures gin, 1 measure vodka, 1/2 a measure Kina Lillet) was also James Bond's favorite cocktail in the books--shaken, not stirred.
How to Drink It: Arrive in swanky drinking establishment, dressed impeccably. Insist on telling the bartender how to make your drink, while eyeing an attractive woman across the bar (preferably with a name that's a double entendre, but only if available). Proceed to hit on said women while taking deep and deliberate sip from your glass. Wonder briefly where the line between reality and fiction blur and if any of this is actually happening. Take deeper sip.
Ernest Hemingway
If you're familiar with Hemingway, you know that one of his favorite things to do was to drink and get blustery. From the bootleg hooch he drank in his youth to the wine and absinthe in Paris and the rum in Havana, Hemingway was all about the liquor.
What to Drink: Mojito. After severing bonds and burning bridges with many of his fellow ex-pats in Europe, Hemingway spent his later years being a lush in Cuba, where one of his favorite watering holes was La Bodeguita del Medio (formerly called Casa Martinez, after the owner, Angel Martinez). Though one might not associate someone who was so self-consciously macho with a drink that could easily sport an umbrella, Hemingway was ultra-fond of Martinez's mojitos.
How to Drink It: Be at a bar, regardless of what continent you're on. Check that your shirt is unbuttoned, revealing copious chest hair, which the ladies totally dig, amirite? Get black-out as quickly as possible and make sure to say something sexist, racist, anti-Semitic, and/or homophobic (preferably all at once) at least once per drink. Throughout the course of the evening, insult at least one close friend or companion while flexing your chubby biceps, shooting an endangered animal in the face, and generally letting everybody at the bar know that you've got the biggest dick in the room, because of course you do--what, are you doubting it? Wanna fight about it?
Bottoms up!
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