I’m a founding co-editor of a new drinks magazine, Alderman Lushington. It’s only a sideline, but it’s an enjoyable one. Why Alderman Lushington? It’s something like this:
LUSH: to drink; speaking of a person who is drunk, they say, Alderman Lushington is concerned, or, he has been voting for the Alderman.1
The idea is to cover drink, drinkers and drinking with ‘educated gusto’. My two co-editors are beer writer and forager Andy Hamilton (editor at large), and publisher and experimental drinkonaut Jeff Lewandowski (US/Americas editor). You can read about them and about the Alderman’s editorial principles (such as they are) here.
We launched this week with a dozen new articles.
Summer drinking, part 1: refreshment
The three editors write about what they might drink this summer. ‘As for all the seasonal drinking pieces, this summer one is as much about an idea of the season as its actual character, meteorological and otherwise.’ There will two more summer instalments, and the same again for autumn and winter, with a Christmas/New Year special.
Berlin bars—a photographic essay
Artist Chloe Brooks has been drinking in and photographing Berlin bars.
A different kind of bitter: cool, smoky Campari
‘I’m making cocktails. They’ll be ready in three weeks.’ Alderman editor Jeff Lewandowski has been using a machete, a blowtorch, some cedar wood and a lot of pluck and ingenuity to make a Negroni variation.
Interview: Asterley Bros, amaro and Anglo-Italian booze. Cocktail recipes included
Alderman editor Andy Hamilton talked to Asterley Bros, drinks pioneers based in London.
Don’t forget the animal spirits. A short history of drinking for enjoyment
I challenge an exclusively scientific/rational view of binge drinking. It’s a comment piece, with a bit of historical (and literary) perspective.
The practical drunkard—pub etiquette
Andy Hamilton and I look at right conduct in the pub and the great tradition of the round.
American bar etiquette for international travellers
Rob Vetere has nearly 20 years’ experience in the US food and beverage industry and here he writes about how to get along in American bars with pleasure and profit for everyone involved.
From Bohemia to brave new world, a wine-drinking odyssey
Retired Anglo-Czech hotelier and restaurateur Alena Pergl-Wilson talks about her early experiences with granny’s homemade wine in Prague, building wine lists, and simple enjoyment.
Out of my crystal skull with Dan Aykroyd
Owen Williams travelled to New York to interview Dan Aykroyd about Ghostbusters. He returned with a crystal skull of vodka. This is what happened. Ghostbusters sightseeing tour sort of included.
Lost horizon
A ennui-raddled international businessman and drinker writes under a pseudonym about being in Beijing, drinking gin, taking conference calls and needling the barman.
The Gindex: a gin buyer’s companion
‘Lionheart’ ranks fourteen gins with brief tasting notes in Gindex 1.0. Gindex 2.0 will follow shortly. You can vote on your favourite.
What, exactly, was I starting? A drinking life
Robert Pedder took his first drink at the age of five—some medium sweet sherry snatched from his grandmother. Where did it go right and wrong from there?
Have a look around, if it sounds appealing, and let us know what you think. The Alderman is on Twitter (@aldermanlush) and Facebook (facebook.com/aldermanlushington), while you can also follow via Word Press and by e-mail at the site.
Here’s to the Alderman!
Paul Fishman (Bristol, July 2015)
1. James Hardy Vaux 1812 A New and Comprehensive Vocabulary of the Flash Language ↩
Image credits
Header image: Dschungel, Freidelstraße. From ‘Berlin bars—a photographic essay‘ by Chloe Brooks in Alderman Lushington. © 2015 Chloe Brooks.
Paul Fishman 