Left Coast Libations began as a way for author Ted Munat to write a love letter to his favorite bartenders as any good bar-fly would. From Vancouver to Los Angeles, the book succeeds in capturing the spirit of the Wild Cocktail West. Over 100 original recipes fill the pages, along with gushing profiles of over 50 bartenders. While many of the barmen and women featured in Left Coast Libations have moved on to other projects and cities, their contribution and legacy to developing the bar scene is lovingly captured in the book.
Within the frame of reference of the Cocktail Renaissance, LCL accurately portrays Los Angeles as enjoying a true Renaissance. Cocktail culture is in this city’s DNA, though years of slinging vodka-crans and vodka-sodas will stunt anyone’s development. Left Coast Libations catches the city as it awoke out of its slumber.
Here’s a snippet of the profile of John Coltharp, currently tending bar at The Tasting Kitchen on Abbot Kinney in Venice:
When telling people about this book, you can be damn sure I’ll be prattling on about amino-acid-infused-demiglace-prickly-pear-and-hibiscus-jam. Or some lunatic ingredient like that. It gets people’s attention. John doesn’t seem to need the attention. He’s one of those fringe types that take pleasure in the simple craft of bartending and the extension of hospitality to his guests.
In addition to Los Angeles, Left Coast Libations portrays the whole West Coast as a mixture of classic sophistication with bold experimentation. The recipes range from the subtle but delicious Saffron Sandalwood Sour by Anu Apte to the Kelley Swenson’s big and bold Toto. The profiles of the bartenders, too, range from irreverent (Andrew Bohrer) to thoroughly reverent (Murray Stenson).
During the Left Coast Libations seminar at the recent Portland Cocktail Week, Ted offered quite the treatise on the differences between West Coast and East Coast bars and bartenders. On the West Coast, there’s a mutual admiration and respect among the bartending community. On the East Coast, Jim Meehan wields a sword and will decapitate Sammy Ross. Ted Munat even had the photos to prove it. Above, for example, is his photo of Don Lee with a flame thrower which made that bunny very sad.
Of course, there were plenty of New Yorkers in attendance as well as half a dozen bartenders profiled in the book. In that setting, Munat’s humor, which can be found throughout Left Coast Libations, was amplified to mth, nth and oth degree. Such humor really could only come from familiarity, not only between the author and his subject, but the subjects among each other. The craft bartending community, in the end, is just one big family. There are some very talented cousins here on the Left.
Left Coast Libations: The Art of West Coast Bartending, by Ted Munat with Michael Lazar [amazon.com]
