David Wondrich was educated—in between stints as boatyard worker, bass player, process server and a dozen other things—at New York University, where he earned a Doctorate in Comparative Literature in 1997. After a brief career as a Shakespeare professor and a briefer one as a jazz critic for the Village Voice and the New York Times, he fell into a job writing about drinks for Esquire, an occupation he has happily persevered in ever since. Dr. Wondrich is the author of countless newspaper and magazine articles and five books, including the hugely influential Imbibe!(2007), which was the first cocktail book to win a James Beard award, and Punch, which came out in late 2010 to wide acclaim. At present, he is working on the Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails, a multi-year project.
Searching for the Modern-Day Jerry Thomas
Equal parts swagger and hammer—with the "soul of a poet" and the fashion sense of a sailor—Tom Vaught is the modern-day embodiment of the legendary 19th-century bartender Jerry Thomas.
- story: David Wondrich
- photo: Doron Gild