Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge by Paul Krueger Read Free Book Online

immediately triaged by a bartender. Whenthat happens, there are rules to follow.”
    “Triaged?” She didn’t like the sound of that. “Rules?”
    “I have to bring you before the Cupbearers Court. You—”
    “Whoa,” she said, putting up her hands. “I don’t want to go to court. I’ve never even gotten a parking ticket.”
    “It’s not that kind of court, Bailey,” he said. “If I don’t, I could be disbarred for not following procedure.”
    “Procedure,” she repeated.
    “Yeah,” he said. “You know my uncle Garrett? He’s not just the owner of the Nightshade. He’s a Tribune in our bartender government. I can’t just—” He chewed his lip. “I wasn’t even supposed to tell you all that,” he said softly. “But I couldn’t lie to my friend.”
    Bailey’s stomach twisted queasily, but she threw Zane a smile that was more confident than she felt. “Sure,” she said. “Whatever you say.” She eyed her pajamas. “But please tell me I can change first.”

THE DEVIL’S WATER DICTIONARY.
The Martini
    A libation to lend the drinker a glasslike disposition

    1
. Fill a shaker with ice
.
    2
. Pour in two ounces of gin and one-half ounce of dry vermouth and stir vigorously
.
    3
. Strain mixture into a chilled cocktail glass
.
    4
. Garnish with a single green olive and serve
.
    T he martini’s utility for fieldwork is not readily apparent. Bartenders’ role as the world’s sword and shield is decidedly at odds with a potion that makes its drinker difficult to find.
    However, to assess it as such is to sell short the martini’s potential. Because tremens rely entirely on sight, a bartender thusly equipped is a most dangerous foe.
    G IN .
    While America largely spent the Great Hangover acquainting itself with the power of whiskey, across the Atlantic, gin (from the French
genièvre
, “juniper”) became the chief spirit of England’s fascination. Quality varied historically; much gin was privately produced in residential homes, often flavored with turpentine and other additives unsuitable for spellcraft. During Prohibition, cheap bootlegger products occasionally contaminated sanctioned bartending stockpiles. For this reason, gin-based cocktails have lost some popularity in favor of the more direct power offered by drinks made of vodka, whiskey, or rum.
    The botanical nature of gin, flavored with juniper berries and originally used as herbal medicine, renders it both versatile and dangerous. Nonetheless, gin has its supporters. The American bartender Philip Barnes was a particularly tireless advocate of its use; most famously at the fifth National Symposium of Cupbearers Courts in 1913, he was reported to have used a gin-based drink to stretch his arm so that he could flick his rival, Amos C. Stubbs of Skokie, Illinois, on the nose.

    D RY V ERMOUTH .
    A fortified wine that, like the gin paired with it, has gained little traction for fieldwork. Its origins can be traced to ancient China, where healers added herbs to wine to make it medicinal.
    The innovation of mixing vermouth with gin is credited to the nineteenth-century bartender Bertram Fish, whose bar was left stocked with only those two ingredients and a jar of olives (see below) as an April Fool’s prank played by his brothers. Fish spent the next month invisible, successfully convincing both his brothers that their houses were being haunted by a ghost with a curious affinity for their wives’ undergarments.

    O LIVE .
    Once famously criticized by the French bartending legend Hortense LaRue for “tasting like rotten seawater,” the humble olive has nonetheless distinguished itself as the proper garnish for a martini. The light brine flavor of this pickled fruit counteracts the floral perfume of liquors. LaRue spent many years attempting to find a replacement garnish. Her failure was said to be her greatest regret.

CHAPTER THREE
    The Nightshade Lounge, as might be expected, looked different during the day. For one thing, it was way