My Pandemic Liver
By Clay Konnor
60 delicious craft cocktails you can make at home without a roomful of bottles or specialty ingredients, each with a movie recommendation.
Let’s face it. For the most part the pandemic of 2019 onward sucked. We weren’t able to go out to restaurants and bars. We couldn’t see our friends. All social living came to a halt. Somewhere in there though something valuable was imposed on us. Life slowed down. We were able to concentrate on a very specific relationship. We had the time to hone a skill.
Over time I learned to savor the slower pace. Most significantly, because neither of us was commuting my wife and I were available for happy hour every day at around the same time. Charcuterie boards, cocktails and conversation became a daily, sacrosanct ritual.
Moreover, the cost of craft cocktails has escalated to absurd levels. For the cost of one crafty drink out, you can make about ten at home. I started to develop my own drink recipes. Some were based on drinks I’d had; others were experimental. The object was to have a catalog of great drinks that didn’t require a lot of specialty ingredients. Too many of the cocktail books out there focus on obscure ingredients and bottles.
So, here it is, the “My Pandemic Liver” book is available as a high-quality spiral bound softcover or as a PDF download. It contains 60 of the best drink recipes I came up with. I hope you enjoy these drinks as much as we do. Please share them and a conversation with your loved ones.
Oh, and we also watched a lot of movies during this time, so each drink is named for a piece of movie dialog. The movie is identified at the bottom of each recipe so that the book also serves as a catalog of movie recommendations.
Advance Praise for “My Pandemic Liver”
“I’ve drunk every one of these drinks and so should you. Just not all at once.”
HERE’S A SAMPLE
I’m the Winner
2 oz. rye whiskey (or bourbon)
1½ oz. club soda
1 oz. ginger simple syrup
3/4 lemon juice
4 dashes orange bitters
One ½ inch thick wheel of orange cut in quarters
======
Muddle orange with bitters, juice and syrups in a shaker.
Add whiskey.
Shake with ice.
Strain over fresh ice in tall glass.
Top with club soda.
Garnish with flamed orange peel.
“Bad Words ”
2013
About the Author
Benjamin Franklin once said, “There can be no good living where there is no good drinking.” Sound advice. “Hey, I love a good cocktail as much as the next guy, especially when the next guy is Ben Franklin. Cocktailing is avocation for me. I’ve always felt a good cocktail leads to great times with great friends and family,” says Konnor.
“The pandemic really locked us away from the places where we would go to meet up with our best friends, so I turned my attention to creating some great cocktails at home. I bought several books but quickly realized that most of them rely on exotic bottles and ingredients. So I set my sights on how average folks could make great drinks at home without a roomful of bottles and ingredients. The result is ‘My Pandemic Liver’ which started out as my wife and I enjoying happy hour during the lockdown and turned into a book full of drink recipes and movie recommendations. I hope you enjoy these drinks as much as we do. I encourage you to share them over conversation with your friends and family.”
Clay Konnor is a creative director, digital product designer, musician and artist currently residing in Las Vegas where he performs with The Docksiders, a Yacht Rock tribute.