¡Viva Tequila! Cocktails, Cooking, and Other Agave Adventures

by Lucinda Hutson
University of Texas Press, 288 pp., $34.95

Anyone who has attended the dozens of annual food/wine/liquor events in Austin has surely met Lucinda Hutson. She sweeps into a room, all excitement and drama, finds someone interesting, and then launches into a rarefied discussion of whatever is on her mind at the moment. She is charming and humorous, in a quirky way. Take a look at the photo on the inside back cover of her latest book and you’ll see a perfect representation of her personality. She is also one of the most knowledgeable tequila fanatics in the United States.

¡Viva Tequila! Cocktails, Cooking, and Other Agave Adventures is her new book, and please don’t mistake this for merely a reprint of her previous book ¡Tequila! Cooking With the Spirit of Mexico (Ten Speed Press, out of print). In this new work, Hutson and her publisher pull out all the stops to create a gorgeous and informative book which will be every bit as much at home on an upscale cocktail table as it will be in the bar area. The few folks who haven’t fallen under the spell of fine tequila might wonder how the author could fill 288 pages on her chosen subject. The answer is, Hutson is not only a well-traveled tequila expert, she is also a very talented gardener, cocktail designer, and cook. Her book is filled with everything you might want to know about how tequila is made, how to best drink it, and what foods and herbs it is most likely to complement. Lucinda’s sangrita recipe alone is worth the price of admission, but it’s just one of the hidden treasures you’ll find on almost every page of this entrancing book.

This article appears in July 5 • 2013.

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Wes Marshall is the author of What's a Wine Lover To Do? (Artisan) and The Wine Roads of Texas (Maverick), as well as the Executive Producer of the PBS television series of the same name. Wes has written for The Austin Chronicle since 1999, covering wine, cocktails, food, and travel.