Paul Feig's cocktail book features drinks inspired by Bridesmaids , Henry Golding, and more
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We're here to do you a simple favor.
Paul Feig's Cocktail Time! The Ultimate Guide to Grown-Up Fun hits shelves today, bursting with cocktail recipes, including the 100 recipes he featured during his Quarantine Cocktail Time! videos on Instagram, as well as others that he's gathered from friends in the entertainment industry.
The director first hinted to EW he was planning to turn his pandemic cocktail sessions into a recipe book back in 2020.
"We have 100-plus recipes," Feig said. "I invented like four or five cocktails during the time. It felt nice to have a little time capsule of this — to get all those recipes out there, to be able to list all those charities and also the songs that we did and give advice and some of my dumb stories."
Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic; HarperCollins Paul Feig's book 'Cocktail Time!'
"Here's the thing," he added. "I am not a cocktail expert by any stretch of the imagination. My expertise is so limited. Anything that people love, there are people who are expert aficionados who try to intimidate the outsiders with a lot of jargon and information. I wanted to take that out of it because I love cocktails and I hate when fun things become intimidating and become like a private club. I want everybody to enjoy this. I want to bring back cocktail culture. I want to bring back the fun and glamour of all this in a way that's accessible to everybody."
The book, which begins with suggestions on glassware, cocktail accessories, and how to throw a perfect cocktail party (from attire to music), is exactly what Feig described then, an amateur connoisseur's guide to the art of cocktail shaking and making.
Cocktail Time! also features Feig's original recipes that he concocted himself, as well as recipes from many of his famous friends. EW can exclusively share three of those (and their accompanying stories) here — Feig's creation, the Squeaky Door; a trio of cocktails inspired by his hit comedy Bridesmaids; and a recipe shared by his frequent collaborator, actor Henry Golding (A Simple Favor, Last Christmas).
Check out the recipes below.
Harper 360 Paul Feig
The Squeaky Door
Another Paul Feig Original
The song – "Katmandu" by Bob Seger
Makes 1 serving
I couldn't be prouder of this drink I invented. The story behind it is this:
When I was doing my Quarantine Cocktail Time! shows, Tipsy would always come in toward the end to say hi and try whatever cocktail I made. My home bar is in the guesthouse we have in our backyard, and the door to it hasn't been oiled in years, so whenever it opens or closes, it squeaks like crazy. Like "in a haunted house" crazy. And so our loyal viewers always knew when Laurie was coming in because they'd hear this long, loud squeak. I started referring to the sound of "the squeaky door" to announce her arrival, and soon people began writing in the comments that I should invent a drink called the Squeaky Door. I thought it was such a good idea, and I loved the thought of honoring my wife of twenty-nine-plus years with her very own cocktail.
And thus the Squeaky Door was invented.
I started with ingredients I knew she liked from other drinks I had made and figured out the best way to combine them. Since the drink features several liqueurs that are on the sweeter side, I knew I needed to add lemon and club soda to cut back on the sweetness. The result is a drink I'm not only proud of and love to drink, but one that has actually gotten a bit of a following. Redbird, great restaurant and bar in downtown Los Angeles, even partnered with Artingstall's to put out a bottled version of it for people to drink at home, along with whatever delicious takeout they ordered from this amazing restaurant.
So here it is, my boozy ode to my tipsy wife, for your bartending enjoyment. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you... the Squeaky Door!
Ice
1 ½ ounces gin
½ ounce cherry liqueur (preferably Cherry Heering)
½ ounce orange Curaçao
½ ounce St. Germain elderflower liqueur
2 dashes of cherry bitters
Juice from half a lemon
Club soda
Cocktail cherry
Lemon twist
FILL a cocktail shaker with ice and add the gin, cherry liqueur, Curaçao, St. Germain, bitters, and lemon juice. Shake and strain into an ice-filled Tom Collins glass. Top with club soda and garnish with a cherry and a lemon twist. The perfect way to grease your squeaky wheel!
From Cocktail Time! by Paul Feig. Copyright © 2022 by Paul Feig. Reprinted by permission of William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
The Bridesmaids Cocktails
Yes, I directed Bridesmaids. I'm very proud of the film and am thrilled with its enduring popularity. It was a great script written by Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo and featured one of the most talented casts of all time. We had tons of fun making it, and it ended up doing very well at the box office. And it definitely saved my career.
I had made Freaks and Geeks ten years earlier, and while things had gone well overall in my TV career, my movie career was in the toilet. I Am David, the movie I made right after Freaks and Geeks, had bombed horribly. I followed that up with a family Christmas film called Unaccompanied Minors that had also cratered at the box office. So I was firmly in what is known in the industry as movie jail, which basically means no one else is going to let you make another movie.
It was very depressing because all I've ever wanted to do in life is make movies. When you realize that you're never going to be allowed to follow your dreams again, it's a bitter pill to swallow. I was very lucky to be working on several great TV series, like The Office, Arrested Development, and Nurse Jackie, while also directing episodes of Mad Men, 30 Rock, and others. But all I really wanted to do was make movies.
So when I got a call out of the blue from my agent that a wedding comedy script I had attended the reading of several years earlier was going to get made and that my friend Judd Apatow wanted me to direct it, I was thrilled. I met with Kristen to make sure she wanted me to do it, too, and she was kind enough to agree. And the rest is history.
Nine years after the film came out, I did a watch-along event over Zoom to raise money for a great charity called Family Promise (which supports families experiencing homelessness), as well as in honor of all the people who had to cancel their wedding plans because of the COVID quarantine. I created three drinks for the event, which we made during breaks in the watch-along. They are all Bridesmaids-themed drinks, and if you're a fan of the movie, you'll understand what each is in reference to.
Beyond that, I just think they're really good drinks. But you be the judge. Mix up one or all of these—and hold on for one more day!
Cake Baby Spritz
Makes 1 serving
Ice
1 ½ ounces gin
1 ounce cranberry juice
Club soda
FILL a wineglass with ice and add the gin and cranberry juice. Top with club soda. Let them drink cake!
Fritz Bernaise (AKA Shittin' in the Street)
Makes 1 serving
Ice
1 ounce gin
1 ounce Midori melon liqueur
1 ounce fresh lime juice
Cocktail cherry
FILL a cocktail shaker with ice and add the gin, Midori, and lime juice. Shake until cold, then strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Drop in a cherry. Drink away!
Jordan Almond
Makes 1 serving
1 ½ ounces amaretto
1 ounce gin
½ ounce pure maple syrup (or honey or agave syrup)
1 ounce heavy cream
Ice
POUR the amaretto, gin, and maple syrup into an empty cocktail shaker. Stir until the syrup is dissolved. Add the heavy cream and ice to the shaker and shake vigorously until the drink is very cold. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. It's happening!
From Cocktail Time! by Paul Feig. Copyright © 2022 by Paul Feig. Reprinted by permission of William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
Henry Golding!
Henry's Honey Plum G&T
Makes 1 serving
Henry Golding is the nicest man in the world. He's kind, patient, funny, fun, and a great friend. He's also an amazing actor. I worked with Henry for the first time on my film A Simple Favor and we had so much fun together, both on and off the set. We would meet up for cigars and drinks at his rental house in Toronto once a week to relax and take a break from the sometimes stressful and high-pressure (but ultimately always satisfying) demands of making a movie. We would try a new libation every week and worked our way through several types of whiskeys, wines, and other spirits over the course of making the film. But we never really made any mixed drinks.
So when I asked Henry what his favorite cocktail was for this book, he surprised me with this recipe. It's made with ingredients you may have to conduct a bit of a search to find, but the resulting concoction is well worth your time and effort.
Henry was born in Singapore and raised in London, then moved back to Singapore to host and produce his own travel show before becoming an actor. I really love that this drink brings together his British and Asian sensibilities. So mix one up and have a Golding good time!
2 Hachimitsu umeboshi (sweet honey-soaked pickled plums)
1 teaspoon honey or pure maple syrup
Ice
2 ounces gin
1 ounce umeshu (sweet plum liqueur)
4 ounces tonic water
COMBINE the plums and honey or maple syrup in a highball glass and muddle with a wooden muddler. Fill the glass with ice and stir in the rest of the ingredients. It's plum good!
From Cocktail Time! by Paul Feig. Copyright © 2022 by Paul Feig. Reprinted by permission of William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
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