From golden ice cubes to crepuscular charcoal dust: sunset-inspired
cocktail recipes to enliven that special hour
This book is an invitation to transform the simple contemplation of a
well-mixed cocktail into a sensory experience of "drinking the
sunset."
In 2020, French artist and architect Guillaume Aubry (born 1982) asked
the celebrated Paris-based American mixologist Sterling Hudson to
translate his artistic research on sunsets into cocktail recipes. Based
on Aubry's research and Hudson's expertise, Sunset Cocktails presents
12 cocktails inspired by the beauty of a sunset, from the dazzling
"Regulus," whose saffron ice cube glows gold once submerged in vermouth,
to the "Grand Soir," a liquid sunset that infuses a dusting of charcoal
into a crisp glass of vodka.
With luxurious full-color photographs of the cocktails and the sunsets
that inspired them, this volume encourages readers to consider mixology
as a creative form of expression in the larger context of art history;
in addition to Aubry's own writing on the subject, Japanese poet Ryoko
Sekiguchi provides a luminous afterword to prepare readers' imaginations
for an aesthetic and gustatory experience. A small-format, easily
accessible volume, Sunset Cocktails presents Aubry and Hudson's
collaboration with a uniquely poetic flair, encouraging readers to
reflect upon society's relationship with sunsets and our collective
aesthetic experience of quotidian moments of beauty, whether those
manifest as a sunset, a fancy cocktail, or both.
