Tag: Italy
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Grappa
In-between my drinking this grappa and my writing about it here, a wondrous new window opened in the world: we are getting a new Thomas Pynchon novel! I struggle to overstate my excitement at this tremendous, improbable news. It felt like—feels like—the Christmas of childhood. No doubt you’ve read the blurb, clearly penned by the…
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Gentian Brandy in Tea
Proverbs for Paranoids, 3: If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don’t have to worry about answers. Gravity’s Rainbow, p. 251. I am pleased to inform you all I have meditated on Lt .Tyrone’s Third Proverb and concluded that “Ooh what’s this they’re drinking then?” is in fact exactly the right question.…
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Broglio
Chapter seven of V. opens with some very fancy dentistry, as New York dentist Dudley Eigenvalue admires his treasured set of dentures, “each tooth a different precious metal”. Not too many pages later, we’re in front of a wine shop on the Ponte Vecchio, Florence, with a gem of a bottle. Signor Mantissa is on…
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Italian Gin
We return now after an interregnum of two years to the Ballad of Tantivy Mucker-Maffick, Slothrop’s ode to his drunkard mate. Last time we came for the French beer, nowhere near as septic as our lieutenant would have it. Hopefully he’s misjudged Italian gin too. The Ballad of Tantivy Mucker-Maffick Oh Italian gin is a…
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Tignanello
Bleeding Edge doesn’t see to be many people’s favourite Pynchon. A bit too narrow in its concerns maybe, or a little too careful with its tone; not grand enough to compete with the bigger books, not zany enough to stand up to Lot 49 or Inherent Vice. Not saying I dislike it though. The tender…
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Some vermouth concoction
Often here, I’ll pluck a drink from a page of Pynchon based primarily on my ignorance of it. Tommy boy has introduced me to a vast array of new favourites thusly. (Hell, back when I started this, I don’t think I even really liked whisky). Sometimes though, it’s more like I’ll find the exact liquid…
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Brunello di Montalcino
Around here, we’re pretty religiously devoted to the Drinks as they are laid down in the Books. (Nevermind that business a few weeks back drinking water from the wrong creek). If it weren’t for one loophole in this strict originalist dedication to Pynchon’s word though, not much of anything would get drank at all. That…
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Nebbiolo
Right near the end of Against the Day, we witness Dally and Kit reunite with Reef and Yashmeen in Turin. There’s a little wife-with-ex-lover tension, but the whole thing basically seems to go very nicely. Page 1073: To celebrate they all went out to dinner at the Ristorante del Cambio, known locally as “the old lady.”…
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Chianti Rufina
We’ve been at this long enough now that some branches once heavy with low-hanging fruit are looking a little sparse. Lots of wine remains undrunk, but more and more of it is challengingly obscure and/or pricey. But never fear! I’m resourceful enough in hunting down obscurities and sufficiently irresponsibly profligate with my funds that the…
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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 involves regular humiliation for Foley, not a day going by that he doesn’t “find himself carrying out some chore better left to a performing monkey.” Page…
Tom Pynchon's Liquor Cabinet 