Selective Sipping: Mark Spivak and His Iconic Spirits

Mark’s Book: A Delicious Holiday Gift Idea

I’ve always felt that you can appreciate something more when you know the story behind it. This is the premise behind my books The Riches of France:  A Shopping and Touring Guide to the French Provinces and The Riches of Paris:  A Shopping and Touring Guide. There’s always a lot of imbibing during the holiday season, so why not know the history behind some of the world’s most beloved elixirs?

I chatted with Mark Spivak, author of Iconic Spirits:  An Intoxicating History, during a Travel Fun interview which you can listen to below. He tells some fascinating tales behind the twelve spirits featured in his book. You can learn all about Chambord, gin and tequila, to name a few. He talks about Campari, a bitter concoction formulated by an Italian around 1860, considered to be one of the sexiest beverages on earth as well as the connection between Nascar and moonshine, a surprising association which has remained hidden from the general public over the years. “Most of the early (Nascar) drivers were all bootleggers…Then in 1947 they all got together and formed Nascar,” Mark explains.

Sipper Extraordinaire: Mark Spivak

Complete with cocktail recipes and old photos, Iconic Spirits:  An Intoxicating History makes for a terrific gift for yourself and the discriminating drinkers in your life .(For added emphasis, offer it with one of the fine blends showcased in the book.) It’s a fun read to digest as you sip your favorite beverage by the fire.

Check out Mark’s blog, too; there—as well as in the interview below—he reports on the difference between spirit marketing and wine marketing, the explosion of Colorado distilleries in recent years (now over forty craft distilleries in the state) and the boom of the cocktail culture in recent years. He’s super knowledgeable and I promise you that after listening to his stories (or reading about them in his book), you’ll never look nonchalantly upon a spirit, craft beer or cocktail again.

“These twelve spirits changed the world and lead to the cocktail culture,” says Mark Spivak. The history and tradition showcased in Mark’s anecdotes will warm your heart and soul and perhaps change something within you as well.

Click on the play button below to listen to my half-hour interview with Mark Spivak.

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