Hello from the middle of my book tour for Let’s Make Cocktails! I am tired but very happy, and having a marvelous time meeting people and signing books and talking about comics. I am always happy to talk about comics.

Since I’m traveling a bit and still have cocktails on the brain, here’s another cocktail recipe that didn’t quite make it into the book’s page count. I am honestly astonished that this ended up being the first time I drew Gary Regan for this project. He was a legend; so influential, such a huge part of the Craft Cocktail Renaissance, and his books were such an enormous part of my research. His writing and his analysis of the history and culture of cocktails was invaluable, but he didn’t create any of the recipes that ended up in my final recipe list. He wrote over a dozen books! He also looked really cool, and was very fun to draw here.

Regan died fairly recently, just in 2019, and he was only 68. By all the accounts I can find, he was kind, generous, hospitable and considerate. His work, knowledge, and research impacted so much of my book. So maybe pour one out for him tonight – or mix up a Rosita in his honor.

Upcoming Things:

Monday, April 20th (the same day this newsletter goes out) I’ll be at Big Grove Brewery in Des Moines to talk about the book, and to do a little drink demonstration and signing!

Saturday, April 25th I’ll be at Left Bank Books in St. Louis with author Lyssa Fairbanks for Independent Bookstore Day! (I’ll also be stopping by Betty’s Books earlier that afternoon if you want to try to catch me there.)

More tour dates can be found here.

Shameless Self Promotion:

I added a new print to my online shop! You can purchase this 11×14” cocktails print from me at shows or online here. You can also order Let’s Make Cocktails from me directly if you’d like!

What I’m Into Lately:

In my ongoing experiment where I’ve been asking my favorite people to recommend me their favorite books, this week I read Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar, recommended by Fabi, one of my oldest friends. It took my breath away! It’s a beautifully written novel about a young Iranian man, a poet and recovering alcoholic, wrestling with his feelings about family and belonging. It’s about his search for a meaningful life, but maybe more importantly to him, a meaningful death. It’s filled with poetry and heartbreak and grief and joy and I found it very touching. There’s a fair amount of discussion of (passive) suicidal ideation and death, if that’s something you want to steer clear of, but it’s a remarkable book.

What Toki’s Into Lately:

Tugging on those heartstrings!