The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler

The wonderful thing about this blog is that I have been lent several books with suggestions for posting; today’s excerpt is from The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler, a man who knew a few things about alcohol.

I cold quote large parts of the book; there are copious references to drinking, all in Chandler’s deadpan prose which is a thrill to read. I’ll kick off with a cocktail recipe. My friend Rich who passed the book on to me, reported that the description of gimlets is so vivid, you can almost taste the lime.

A real gimlet is half gin and half Rose’s Lime Juice and nothing else. It beats martinis hollow.

The doomed Terry Lennox, who introduces Chandler’s PI, Phillip Marlowe, to gimlets expands on the theme of alcohol:

“Alcohol is like love,” he said. “The first kiss is magic, the second is intimate, the third is routine. After that you take the girl’s clothes off.”

There are obviously only so many gimlets you can drink...