Skip to content

Tom Pynchon's Liquor Cabinet

Every drink in every Pynchon novel.

  • Home
  • About
  • The List
    • V.
    • The Crying of Lot 49
    • Gravity’s Rainbow
    • Slow Learner
    • Vineland
    • Mason & Dixon
    • Against the Day
    • Inherent Vice
    • Bleeding Edge
  • Empty Bottles
  • Random Drink

Category: Against The Day

By mjhorn Posted on July 14, 2017September 15, 2017

Green Beer

Early in Against the Day, the young Franz Ferdinand is hanging out in Chicago for the World’s Fair. Greenhorn private security agent Lew Basnight is tasked with protecting the Archduke, … Continue reading Green Beer

Categories: Against The Day, BeerTags: Franz Ferdinand, Lew Basnight, Saison
By mjhorn Posted on April 23, 2017April 23, 2017

Italian Beer

On page 724 of Against the Day, we find sinister (likely orange-faced tiny-handed) plutocrat Scarsdale Vibe touring northern Italy with his faithful manservant Foley Walker hunting bargains in Renaissance art. The hunt … Continue reading Italian Beer

Categories: Against The Day, BeerTags: Foley Walker, Italy, Scarsdale Vibe
By mjhorn Posted on February 27, 2017May 6, 2017

Mavrodaphne

One spring late in Against the Day, Auberon Halfcourt and Umeki Tsurigane find Yashmeen, Reef, and baby Ljubica on the Greek island of Corfu. They dine “in a taverna down … Continue reading Mavrodaphne

Categories: Against The Day, WineTags: Auberon Halfcourt, Corfu, Greece, Reef Traverse, Umeki Tsurigane, Yashmeen Halfcourt
By mjhorn Posted on January 31, 2017January 31, 2017

Brandy and Soda

The brandy and soda is a drink that seems to exist today primarily as a P. G. Wodehouse reference. It’s a basic combination that nevertheless occurs to no-one but those imitating … Continue reading Brandy and Soda

Categories: Against The Day, Cocktail/mixedTags: Brandy, Khäutsch, Mortality and Mercy in Vienna, Neville, Nigel
By mjhorn Posted on December 17, 2016

Mâconnais

“It’s like licking a bloody piece of slate tile” quoth my father post-quaff of this Mâconnais. He seemed to intend this as a compliment. The Mâconnais is a Southern chunk of the Burgundy wine … Continue reading Mâconnais

Categories: Against The Day, WineTags: France, Yashmeen Halfcourt
By mjhorn Posted on October 16, 2016October 16, 2016

Absinthe Frappé

This here is the fiftieth drink to join our digital cabinet of liquors! And a mighty fine addition it is too. If I were asked elect an emblematic spirit for each Pynchon book, some choices would be … Continue reading Absinthe Frappé

Categories: Against The Day, Cocktail/mixedTags: Absinthe, France, Reef Traverse, USA
By mjhorn Posted on September 12, 2016September 12, 2016

Gewurztraminer

We’ve just about hit 50 Empty Bottles here at Tom Pynchon’s Liquor Cabinet, but this post marks our first occasion revisiting a passage to pull out a second drink. November last … Continue reading Gewurztraminer

Categories: Against The Day, WineTags: Alsace, France
By mjhorn Posted on July 24, 2016July 29, 2016

Home-brewed Beer

Pynchon fans can get a bit of a bad wrap—all pretentious weirdo dudes with neck-beards. Homebrewers have something of a similar reputation. In both cases of course, reality is far more capacious … Continue reading Home-brewed Beer

Categories: Against The Day, Beer, VTags: DIY, Ellmore Disco, Frank Traverse, Homebrew, Kurt Mondaugen, Willem van Wijk
By mjhorn Posted on May 4, 2016July 25, 2016

Cactus Beer

Around page 82 of Against the Day, we learn a little backstory on Viekko, Webb Traverse’s potato-spirit bootlegging buddy. He and some comrades at one point had been rounded up for … Continue reading Cactus Beer

Categories: Against The Day, BeerTags: Apache, Cactus, Pulque, Sierra Nevada, Veikko
By mjhorn Posted on March 13, 2016March 14, 2016

Dão wine

Fleetwood Vibe, most mysterious son of that sinister household, recalls on page 168 his travels in Mozambique—then a colony of Portugal: Debarking at Lourenço Marques, he spent a week in various … Continue reading Dão wine

Categories: Against The Day, WineTags: Fleetwood Vibe, Portugal
By mjhorn Posted on December 20, 2015December 20, 2015

Lambic Beer

I’d hazard a guess Pynchon’s a wine man. The books are littered with specific vintages and vineyards, many of them challenging for the budget of this blog.  (On the other hand, he … Continue reading Lambic Beer

Categories: Against The Day, BeerTags: Australia, Belgium, Kit, Lambic, Pléiade Lafrisé
By mjhorn Posted on November 16, 2015November 16, 2015

Apricot Brandy

Around page 718 of Against the Day, Cyprian and Yashmeen meet up with Ratty McHugh to discuss Yashmeen’s fear that she’s being followed, including by a “Hungarian element.” (My recollection of this … Continue reading Apricot Brandy

Categories: Against The Day, Other spiritsTags: Cyprian Latewood, Hungary, Ratty McHugh, Yashmeen Halfcourt

Posts navigation

Older posts
Newer posts

Categories

  • Against The Day (26)
  • Beer (24)
  • Bleeding Edge (11)
  • Cocktail/mixed (26)
  • Gravity's Rainbow (28)
  • Inherent Vice (7)
  • Mason & Dixon (11)
  • Other spirits (15)
  • Slow Learner (4)
  • The Crying of Lot 49 (4)
  • V (13)
  • Vineland (8)
  • Whisk(e)y (8)
  • Wine (31)

Pynstagram

Drunk Tweets

My Tweets
Blog at WordPress.com.
Scroll Up
Cancel