The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald
At the time of press, Baz Luhrmann’s epic, The Great Gatsby is showing on our silver screens in all its dramatic, alcohol-fuelled glory. While the reviews may be mixed, the novel recalls an era of epic drinking… yep, you got it, Prohibition. One notable drink (apparently one of Fitzgerald’s favourites) is the Gin Rickey. It appears in a scene set on a boiling summer’s day, when Daisy orders her husband Tom to “make us a cold drink” – using his absence to murmur to Gatsby of her love for him. When Tom returns, he carries “four gin rickeys that clicked full of ice. Gatsby took up his drink. ‘They certainly look cool,’ he said with visible tension. We drank in long, greedy swallows”. The mint julep is another quencher that features in the book, notably during an argument between Gatsby and Tom. “I’ll make you a mint julep,” Daisy tells her husband. “Then you won’t seem so stupid to yourself.” Classic stuff.
