For Boston-area bartender and creator Thea Engst, 39, “Sex and the City” wasn’t only a present, it was an schooling in glamour, friendship, and, after all, cocktails.
“I’ve been a big fan of the show since I was young and my parents had no idea I was watching it,” she laughs. “When I was asked if I was available to write this book, I immediately jumped at the opportunity. I know this is such a cliche, but in a way, these women raised me.”
Her new e-book, “Sex and the City Cocktails” (Perception Editions, distributed by means of Simon & Schuster), out now, is a love letter to each the present’s iconic nightlife and the evolution of cocktail tradition itself. Engst, who has helmed bars throughout Somerville and past — from The Impartial to River Bar — brings greater than a decade of recipe growth expertise to this glowing tribute.
The inspiration got here naturally. “A big part of ‘Sex and the City’ is enjoying the restaurant and bar scene and sharing food and drinks with your best friends,” she says. “It had never been done before, so I couldn’t resist.”
After all, no dialogue of “Sex and the City” cocktails may begin wherever however with the Cosmopolitan. The drink turned a fifth fundamental character: pink, flirty, and ever-present. However Engst didn’t wish to simply recreate the traditional; she wished to reimagine it. “I wanted each Cosmo for each leading lady to link to their character,” she explains. “For Carrie, I thought of the image of her on the bus — that iconic dress Charlotte calls the ‘naked’ dress. Carrie’s feelings are so transparent, she wears her heart on her sleeve. How can I tell that story with liquid?” The end result? A clarified Cosmo with only a trace of blush as a substitute of the drink’s signature fuchsia hue.
Every of the present’s heroines will get her personal suite of drinks, evolving because the characters themselves do. Miranda’s choices shift from sharp and cynical to extra grounded — together with a Brooklyn-inspired cocktail for her later seasons — whereas Charlotte’s are elegant and floral. Samantha’s? Daring, unapologetic, and typically a bit of harmful. “It depends on the day,” Engst says. “That’s what I love about it. The drinks move with the progression of the characters over time.”
However whereas “Sex and the City Cocktails” leans closely into the present’s glam aesthetic, it’s not only for seasoned mixologists or followers with an overflowing bar cart. “I really wanted it to be approachable,” Engst says. “Something the average person could open and make at home, but also something that an experienced drinker would find exciting.”
She describes her course of as equal components artistic and exacting. “The hardest part is when you have a vision and it just doesn’t work out,” she admits. “I’ll work for hours on one drink because I get stuck on one detail. Sometimes I have to walk away and come back to it. Maybe it doesn’t need to be purple, maybe it doesn’t need to be on fire.”
Nonetheless, there are a number of standouts she’s particularly pleased with. “I really like Flirtinis on the Roof,” she says, referencing the episode the place the ladies toast in Samantha’s new condo within the Meatpacking District. “It’s a great summery drink for people who like tequila and want something a little different. That one made me proud because it’s not normally in my wheelhouse.”
One other favourite: The Jerry Jerrod, a mocktail honoring Samantha’s actor boyfriend and his sobriety. “When I first started writing cocktail books, publications really pushed against mocktails. This was the first recipe book where I was asked to include low-ABV and alcohol-free recipes. A drink doesn’t have to have alcohol to be fancy, delicious, and celebratory,” Engst says.
That steadiness between sophistication and inclusivity mirrors how cocktail tradition itself has advanced since “Sex and the City” first aired. “It’s so different now,” Engst says. “Gen Z isn’t as into alcohol, which is totally great, and the current economy makes it harder for people to go out like these fictional characters did. But people still want to share a meal, to ‘cheers’ over their apps. It’s the same language, different font.”
Engst says her strategy to bartending has all the time been about accessibility. “I really try not to gatekeep,” she says. “Bars can be intimidating. There’s a lot of jargon, a lot of pressure to ‘know’ things you don’t need to know because you’re not in the industry. But guess who does know? Me. So my goal is to educate, not intimidate.”
For readers trying to channel their inside Carrie or Samantha, Engst has one piece of recommendation: don’t overthink it. “When you’re making a syrup or infusion, think of it like baking: Time and temperature matter. But when you’re mixing, it’s more like cooking. You can add a little more of what you like. Once you learn your flavor preferences, you’ll start to see how things come together naturally.”
As for benefit from the e-book, Engst insists there’s no mistaken manner. “It can be a girls’ night in, or you’re rewatching ‘Sex and the City’ from the beginning, or even just cleaning your apartment. Just enjoy it.”
Wanting again, Engst nonetheless appears delighted, and a bit of incredulous, that her title now sits beside a franchise that outlined a lot of recent popular culture. “It’s been almost 30 years,” she says. “All these years later, I still remember my sister bringing the DVDs home and us watching them on her laptop. To think now that I’m part of this story, it’s surreal. I’m so grateful and excited, and I hope other ‘Sex and the City’ lovers, or even people new to the show, will love this book as much as I do.”
