Quotes from Wayne Curtis

the world could be wonderfully exotic when viewed through the bottom of a cocktail glass.

Their isolation was communal," he wrote. "They could escape neither their loneliness nor each other.

Captain Thomas Walduck in 1708 neatly summarized the development of the West Indies: "Upon all the new settlements the Spaniards make, the first thing they do is build a church, the first thing ye Dutch do upon a new colony is to build them a fort, but the first thing ye English do, be it in the most remote part of ye world, or amongst the most barbarous Indians, is to set up a tavern or drinking house.

I took a fresh lime, added some Curaçao from Holland, a dash of Rock Candy Syrup, and a dollop of French Orgeat, for its subtle almond flavor. A generous amount of shaved ice and vigorous shaking by hand produced the marriage I was after. Half the lime shell went in for color [and] I stuck in a branch of fresh mint…

It was a fiery spirit he called "kill-devil.

Rum makes a fine hot drink, a fine cold drink, and is not so bad from the neck of a bottle. —FORTUNE MAGAZINE, 1933