A blog dedicated to the culture of hospitality, as told through the lens of women’s history. Exploring hosting etiquette through the ages, forgotten books and their authors, and the odd bit of cocktail inspiration. From the desk of sociologist, writer, and entrepreneur
DR NICOLA NICE
The Sublime Sandwich
If you’ve never thought of adding rum to your sandwich before, you need to give this recipe from Amy Lyman Phillips’ 1906 guide to gentlemanly living, A Bachelor’s Cupboard, a shot!
THE COCKTAIL PARLOR
How women brought the cocktail home
Meet the hostesses who have shaped cocktail history, and learn how to make the drinks they loved.
Throughout American history, women have helped propel what we know as classic cocktails—the Martini, the Manhattan, the Old-Fashioned, and more—into popular culture. But, often excluded from private clubs, women exercised this influence from the home, in their cocktail parlors. In The Cocktail Parlor, Dr. Nicola Nice, sociologist and spirits entrepreneur, gives women their long-overdue spotlight in cocktail history and shows how they still impact cocktail culture today.