eGullet Q&A with Gary and Mardee Regan

[Jason Perlow]

Mardee and Gary Regan are very highly regarded cocktail connoisseurs, spirit experts, and authors, as well as bartending and restaurant consultants.

Ardent Spirits

After more than twenty years in Manhattan, Gary and Mardee moved to Cornwall-on-Hudson, about 50 miles north of the city, in 1995 and started to acquire animals. Their household now includes Winnie the Poodle, who is currently insisting that they send her to a Swiss finishing school; Sylvia the Silver Poodle, who has her very own Siamese cat, Mavis; Judy the Toy Poodle; Janet, another Siamese cat who stays with them during the colder months but goes to stay with various neighbors as soon as spring arrives; and Alice, an abandoned Siamese cat rescued by their vet, who wisely gave her to the Regans.

Between them, they have some half-dozen books to their credit. Gary's latest, The Joy of Mixology: The Consummate Guide to the Bartender's Craft, has been called "a definitive and entertaining guide to the bartender' trade" (Publishers' Weekly). Mardee's most recent book is The Bartender's Best Friend: A Complete Guide to Cocktails, Martinis, and Mixed Drinks. They have generously offered to give away a copy of each book in a drawing to be held after the Q&A.

Their other books include New Classic Cocktails; The Martini Companion: A Connoisseur's Guide; The Book of Bourbon; and The Bourbon Companion.

They have also written for publications such as Food & Wine, Playboy, Wine Spectator, Martha Stewart Living, All About Beer, Wine & Spirits, Cheers, Food Arts, and Wine & Spirit International. They consult for liquor companies and have lectured at The Smithsonian Institute, The Culinary Institute of America and The International Wine Center, New York.

Their cocktail course, Cocktails in the Country, is an intensive, two-day course in all aspects of what it takes to be a bartender, which has been praised by professional and amateur bartenders alike. Anyone who signs up for the course and mentions eGullet in the application will receive a free copy of The Joy of Mixology.