How to Drink like a Rock Star

Though Schmid (How to Drink like a Mobster) doesn’t exactly deliver on the title, he does offer in this disappointing meditation on the rock star lifestyle a meandering assemblage of musician bios, each paired with a cocktail. The chapter “Rules for Drinking Cocktails like a Rock Star” is full of aspirational goals (“Live without regrets”; “Be a free bird”) but has nothing to do with imbibing. The bios, meanwhile, feature prose that is decidedly weaker than the accompanying drink recipes (“Bruce ‘the Boss’ Springsteen is known for his many songs”; “The Jackson family is a musically prolific family”). Fans of sweet, juice-laden tipples will find much to enjoy, even if ingredient lists often seem at odds with their inspirations: a concoction of Cointreau and Chambord called Purple Haze attempts to bring to mind Jimi Hendrix; similarly, a quaff called Getting Naked is a tribute to John Lennon and Yoko Ono and is a hangover-inducing blend of rum, peach schnapps, and blue curaçao. Moments of exaggeration (“Today, most major cities have a Margaritaville restaurant”) and factual errors (“The Go-Go’s were the first all-female group to have a number one album in the United States”; in fact it was the Supremes in 1966) don’t help out with credibility. The result is a rocky collection that’s tough to swallow. (Aug.)