From the Washingtonian:
Columbia Room has played around with plenty of unusual ingredients, like fig leaf milk and potato water, in its cocktails. But “In Search of Time Past”—the third drink on its current tasting menu—is the most Portlandia yet.
That’s because it includes a tincture made of old books. Literally. Really literally.
Owner Derek Brown got the idea after visiting El Celler de Can Roca in Spain, where he encountered candied page fragments on the avant-garde tasting menu.
“He was morbidly fascinated by it,” says head bartender JP Fetherston. So, the team began working on a cocktail that would replicate the sensation of opening an old book or walking into an old library.
. . . .
To make the literary tincture, the bar staff collected a number of 100-year-old books. “I was trying to avoid getting anything too iconic. It probably would have been interesting to do Proust,” Fetherston says, but he felt conflicted about destroying a great piece of literature.
Link to the rest at the Washingtonian and thanks to Dave for the tip.
Well they do go on about the smell of books…print books, proper books, REAL books…I suppose the taste of books was only the natural progression!
This (for some reason) brought back to mind the execrable film “Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves,” in which Morgan Freeman says to Costner, “In my country, we talk with our women. We do not drug them.”
Rephrased to, “In my country, we read our books. We do not drink them.”
Anyone remember the fuss about 9 years ago about children’s books having lead in the ink? They kind of got caught up in the fuss about toys from China with lead paint. Congress passed a law fast about lead levels in toys and without considering all the consequences.
I assume the purveyors check the drink for anything really toxic– but still.
Someone has finally figured out a way to get people to consume literary fiction.
Can’t stop laughing….
Heh, heh, heh … bravo! You win the internets today! 😀
We have today’s winner!
Ewwww!
Paul
old paper breaks down, has mold and foxing which is mildew. ink is toxic
wth
Someone was drunk when coming up with this idea.
“To make the literary tincture, the bar staff collected a number of 100-year-old books.”
So is it the old books — or the bookworms and mold — that give it that flavor?