Free the Tipple: Kickass Cocktails Inspired by Iconic Women

Product Information

Strawberries & cream - Sugar, vegetable fats, cocoa butter, whole milk powder, skimmed milk powder, cocoa mass, lactose, milk fat, cream powder, strawberry powder, emulsifier & natural flavourings.

I approached each drink on a really individual basis. Before starting, I’d read as much as I could about the woman’s life and see what ingredients felt natural to associate with her. UK readers might not know a lot about Tanya Tagaq, but she’s an amazing, ferociously talented musician. I didn’t see Gin Buddy No.1 until the 21st December when she presented me with a belated birthday pressie, I excitedly ripped open the paper (I love opening presents) to reveal a very intriguing book.Yes, I’m amused that you noticed this. I did intentionally avoid describing the book as 'feminist; (although many of the women I profile are feminists themselves, and I describe them within the book as such). And when we were working on the cover copy, I said to my editor, 'The sales people are probably going to try to get the word ‘feminist’ in there, aren’t they.'

To their credit, they didn’t. It just seemed silly to me to claim that my fun little gift book is feminist. Yes, it promotes women and their work, but it’s not going to dismantle the patriarchy.

tipple

This is something that the Free The Tipple book sets out to do. Featuring 60 different recipes that you can make at home, each recipe is inspired by a different iconic women from history. Whether that is Frida Kahlo or even Nigella Lawson. There has also been a lot of discussion about how feminism has become mainstream to the point that the word sometimes has lost its meaning. I ’ m curious as to whether you thought about this when you came up with, and wrote, the book. I noticed that the word ' feminism' is not included in it, which made me wonder if that was a conscious decision. Was that the case? Rather than a dilution, I think this book can be a starting point: I hope it introduces readers to women they might not know and inspires further reading or observation. That could mean going off and reading Maya Angelou’s memoirs for the first time, or doing a deep-dive into Beyonce’s albums and discovering their brilliance.