Having a Drink with a Famous Writer

While doing a bit of research on the Internet recently, I came across a list of the favorite drinks of famous writers. As one who admires the works of several of the authors on the list, and one who likes a good drink now and then, I couldn’t resist the distraction from my intended research. This post is my attempt to assuage the guilt of interrupting an afternoon of productive research by amusing myself with unrelated web-surfing. Here, then, are a few writers I would have liked to have shared drinks with.

Ernest Hemingway – a Mojito at Bedeguita del Media in Havana, Cuba: The Mojito is my favorite hot-weather drink and Havana one of those tropical places I’ve always wanted to travel to. Throw in an afternoon chumming with Papa and, well, it just couldn’t get much better than that.

Jack Kerouac – a jug of cheap red wine at City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco: Though Kerouac’s favorite drink was Tequila, I’m going here with the more traditional Beat Generation beverage-of-choice. The ideal event for this wild camaraderie would, of course, be a poetry reading by Allen Ginsburg.

W. Somerset Maugham – a Gin Gimlet at a Colonial outpost in Burma: Steamy jungle evening... rattan ceiling fan stirring the thick air… the refreshing lime and gin concoction… sharing stories of our adventures in Asia and the South Seas before the days of jet planes and pricey tourist resorts.

Oscar Wilde – Absinthe at an outdoor café in Paris: The author of The Picture Dorian Grey and The Importance of Being Earnest was known for his eccentric character and his love for this potent, anise-flavored spirit. Very bohemian in a Toulouse Lautrec kind of a way. Wilde, incidentally, is given credit for the quote, “Work is the curse of the drinking class.”

Hunter S. Thompson – Chivas Regal at his cabin in Colorado: Though I swore off Scotch many years ago, the entertainment value alone of drinking with Mr. Thompson would be well worth the temporary relapse.

Dorothy Parker – a Gin Martini at the Algonquin Hotel in New York City: I haven’t read a whole lot of Ms. Parker’s stuff, but how can you not want to have a Martini with the woman who penned this famous poem: “I love to drink Martinis, / Two at the very most, / Three I’m under the table, / Four I’m under the host.”

Cheers.