Covid-19 turned the world upside down in a matter of weeks. Shelter-in-place, quaranting, staying-at-home left many of us not even knowing what day of the week it was. We needed something to add structure to the shapeless hours, a daily reminder that there is always a reason to celebrate. Why not welcome the evenings with Cocktail Hour?

Borne from a Facebook challenge to concoct a different cocktail each day, Jeremy Cooper and Andy Klausner turned the early 50 days of their lockdown into this light-hearted journal. “Cocktail Hour Meets…a Pandemic” offers a back-of-the-napkin account of 50 cocktail recipes, some new and some edited classics (and some definitely better than others), alongside stories about their love of all things Drink, Eat, Travel, and Entertainment. (There is a lot of tequila…plus a spoiled cat.) While frequent get-togethers hosted in pre-Covid times were replaced with Zoom cocktail hours, and travel came from reminiscince, old photo albums and attempts to re-create some of the global cocktail and dining adventures that they have enjoyed since 1997, this work re-counts their journey.

Andy and Jeremy are not mixologists, nor do they aspire to be. They prefer that this book — as well as their perfectly imperfect cocktails and photos — reflect the reality of the situation. Some days kind of sucked. Some days brought true joy. Many drinks brought back fond memories of once-in-a-lifetime adventures. But one thing was always certain: cocktail hour gave a reason to raise a glass during those seemingly endless days.

If you buy the book (and you really should buy the book), you will laugh a bit and hopefully take away a recipe or two that you can make your own. Andy and Jeremy will even share food recipes upon request! Please note: a portion of all sales will be donated to CORE-a national non-profit that provides financial relief to food and beverage industry employees with children impacted by a health crisis, death or natural disaster. Learn more at coregives.org.

Jeremy Cooper

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