Back in the ČSSR: New book celebrates ersatz cocktails

It’s not just the names of classic Czech mixed drinks like the “spitball,” “water sprite’s sperm,” “mailman covered in puke” and “magic eye” that are quite inventive. The concoctions themselves originated from a spirit of do-it-yourself, as an ersatz answer to the lack of fancy cocktail ingredients and foreign spirits on the Czechoslovak market during the long decades of communism.

Now Alexandr Guha, a recent graduate of Charles University’s Philosophical faculty, has published a book devoted to this uniquely local art of mixing. Under the title “Pravé české míchačky” (Real Czech Cocktails), Guha pays tribute to local libations that are at more at home in down-to-earth pubs rather than in flashy cocktail bars.