‘I’m going to say this and you can hate me for it. You can take me out to the back of the bins and beat me up, because I’m about to use this word: it’s about mindful drinking,’ Tim Hayward says of his latest project. The writer and restaurateur, best known as the FT’s former food critic and a panelist on BBC Radio 4’s The Kitchen Cabinet, joins host David Kermode to discuss The Cocktail Hour, a love letter to the 6’o’clock ‘attitude adjuster’ and his eighth book which, along with 50 classic and modern drinks recipes, is an exploration of the history and culture around the stiff drink.
The conversation moves from Hayward’s inspirations – including ‘gentleman amateurs’ of yore like quirky Gilded Age bon vivant Charles H. Baker Jr. – to his change of attitude towards the Vodka Martini; a drink he believed for many years existed solely to give proper Martini drinkers something to be rude about. Plus, the pair discuss the unlikely parallels between drinking cocktails and doing yoga and the science behind serving a drink shaken versus stirred.
Discover more episodes of The Drinking Hour with David Kermode here.
