'Drunken Botanist' Explores DIY Cocktails

'Drunken Botanist' explores DIY cocktails - San Francisco Chronicle
6/30/13 10:59 AM
Home & Garden
'Drunken Botanist' explores DIY cocktails

Author's lush yard and patio are outgrowths of book research
Amy Stewart
Amy Stewart's cocktail garden
http://www.sfchronicle.com/homeandgarden/article/Drunken-Botanist-explores-DIY-cocktails-4355476.php
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Sophia Markoulakis
March 19, 2013
Before Amy Stewart could plant Cuban 'Mojito' mint, she had to remove the poisonous plants lingering in her garden. True to their reputation, these toxic botanicals, left over from her research for "Wicked Plants," were too hardy. "I didn't want a house guest to go outside and think she was picking parsley when she was actually picking poison hemlock," says Stewart. Such is the life of an intrepid writer and conscientious host. Stewart, 43, is best known for her infectious enthusiasm for the botanical world and her dedication to firsthand research. "It's weird for me to write about plants that I haven't grown or don't have personal experience with," she says. Fast forward three years and her lethal specimens have been replaced with small shrub blueberries, Mexican sour gherkins and Johnny jump-ups, among the plants featured in "The Drunken Botanist: The Plants That Create the World's Great Drinks" (Algonquin; $19.95), in stores Tuesday. Stewart's latest book profiles more than 150 plants used to create or infuse some of the world's most intoxicating spirits, along with growing tips and more than 50 garden-friendly recipes. Stewart, who has had close encounters with giant insects ("Wicked Bugs"), earthworms ("The Earth Moved") and the underbelly of the flower industry ("Flower Confidential"), stumbled on the idea for a book on booze and botany while chatting with a colleague. "A fellow horticulture writer had been given a bottle of gin and - as I was talking about all the plants that go in to making it - I thought, 'This should be a book,' " she says. The publisher of all six of her titles, Algonquin, was immediately on board. And given widespread current interest in gardening, preserving, fermenting and brewing, the book is timely.
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"Backyard bartending, garden-to-glass and cocktail gardening are topics that people are really excited about, and it is the next frontier beyond edible gardening," she says. As much as Stewart enjoys a properly prepared botanically infused drink, her interest and coverage of the plants that create alcohol go far beyond the typical garnishes of fruits and leaves. "Everything is a botanical cocktail, even a glass of whiskey," says Stewart. "My interest for writing the book was much broader. I wanted to cover the plants from around the world that we make alcohol out of and the plants that have been used to flavor alcohol through the centuries." Stewart's cocktail garden was installed steps from the kitchen door of her 1905 Victorian in Humboldt County. Coincidentally, many of the plants she profiles in the book, such as black currant and sloe, were perfect fits for her cool Northern California climate. "Here in Eureka, we have a very specific climate, and I tried to pick plants that would have success," says Stewart. The overhaul of the Stewart's side yard required some hardscape, something she hadn't previously tackled. After all, she says, "if I am going to plant a cocktail garden, it needs to be a place where you would want to sit and have a drink." She enlisted the help of Concord landscape designer Susan Morrison, owner of Creative Exteriors Landscape Design, to come up with a lowmaintenance space that could serve as a garden, entertaining area and primary pathway between the front and back of the house.
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Delightful Eye Photography
Amy Stewart added a patio and cocktail garden to her Humboldt County home as she wrote her book "The Drunken Botanist: The Plants That Create the World's Great Drinks."
Morrison met the challenges of working with a narrow space that doubles as a walkway by using containers, installing vertical features such as art and shelving and repurposing items such as hanging cabinets potted with plants like everbearing strawberries. She varied shapes and heights
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to create visual interest and blurred the linear lines between the growing and entertaining space. All of the wooden planters were custom built by a local carpenter, and many scrap pieces bearing architectural details (this is lumber country, after all) were added for period integrity. "Many of the wood planters that sit on the ground are bottomless so that they drain completely," says Stewart. She painted all the wood features, selecting bold colors inspired by her growing collection of spirit bottles. "I really wanted the garden (to) fit in; the entire neighborhood is painted wood," she says. Stewart collaborated with Log House Plants, an Oregon wholesaler, to produce the Drunken Botanist Plant Collection. The offerings take the guesswork out of what to plant, depending on your favorite drink, and include plants selected to grow in a wide range of climates - among them interesting varieties like 'Redventure' celery, 'Fireball' pepper and lemongrass. The resulting jumbo six-packs include Old Havana Rum Garden, Farmer's Market Vodka Garden, Heart of Agave Tequila Garden, Old Tom Gin Garden and Southern Belle Whiskey Garden. A Mixologist's Simple Syrups Collection is available, too, featuring cocktail-friendly herbs. Contemplate the drink you'd like to re-create in your own yard and use Stewart's book as your guide. "Don't make yourself miserable trying to grow things that won't grow for you," says Stewart. As a garden writer, Stewart says, "I'm lucky that I've been able to follow my curiosity where it leads me." Now that she has a garden full of specimens with ties to the bottles of spirits that line her shelves, she can sit back and enjoy truly knowing what she's drinking. That is, until her curiosity gets the better of her again.
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Amy Stewart
Amy Stewart added a patio and cocktail garden to her Humboldt County home as she wrote her book "The Drunken Botanist: The Plants That Create the World's Great Drinks."
Book tour Amy Stewart's national book tour kicks off in the Bay Area. Scheduled events include: -- Today: 4 p.m. Mrs. Dalloway's, 2904 College Ave., Berkeley. (510) 704-8222. www.mrsdalloways.com -- Wednesday: 7 p.m. Copperfield's Books at h2hotel, 219 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg. (707) 433-9270. ttp://copperfieldsbooks.com/stores/healdsburg -- Friday: 7 p.m. Rakestraw Books, 550 Hartz Ave., Danville. (925) 837-7337. www.rakestrawbooks.com
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-- Saturday: 10:45 a.m. San Francisco Flower & Garden Show, 2495 S. Delaware St., San Mateo. (415) 684-7278. www.sfgardenshow.com For more events: go to www.amystewart.com/events. Drunken Botanist Plant Collection: www.territorialseed.com/category/Drunken_Botanist_Plant_Collection Sophia Markoulakis is a freelance writer. E-mail: home@sfchronicle.com
2013 Hearst Communications Inc.
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'Drunken Botanist' Explores DIY Cocktails - San Francisco Chronicle

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Home & Garden

Amy Stewart's cocktail garden