Welcome to Hardcovers and Highballs, where we pair cocktails with books that the Plague Sisters Book Club is reading each month. The book club came together in the early days of the pandemic when we were looking for ways to stay connected with our oldest and dearest college friends. Four years later, the book club lives on, and our cocktails have evolved from martinis described in Amor Towles’ Rules of Civility to custom cocktails inspired by the themes, characters, and settings of our monthly reads. 

Our resident mixologist, Erin, is a book lover and recent cocktail convert. Before this foray, she mostly drank wine or the occasional old-fashioned. When she started to pair drinks with books and share the recipes with the Plague Sisters, we encouraged her to start posting her many pairings - and Hardcovers and Highballs was born. To get some practical knowledge, she completed a FANTASTIC program at the Cocktail Camp to run through the basic structure of making cocktails and gain confidence to publish her suggested pairings and tweaks. What began as a pandemic pastime has become a passion. Erin is a mom of three and a survivor of setbacks, believing deeply in the power of stories and spirits. 

Our blog writer, Lisa, has been obsessed with books and creative writing since childhood. Her bona fides include proudly winning a reading contest among her coworkers many years ago, publishing a single short story, and completing a hot mess of a first draft of a novel. Books and friendship fill her soul, and she’s thrilled to collaborate with Erin to showcase her discoveries and learn about cocktails along the way.

As recipe curators and lovers of learning, we tweak drinks to match tales. Join our literary drinking journey, share your thoughts, and sip along as we explore cocktails and critiques on our blog. Cheers to many more pages and pours! #BookClubConcoctions #ReadDrinkRepeat