Local Event
Join Us for an Evening of Literature and Libations!
Boston Harbor Distillery invites you to a book signing event with author Nicola Nice to celebrate her latest release, The Cocktail Parlor.
Dr. Nicola Nice will be on hand to sign copies of her new book, The Cocktail Parlor, a delightful exploration of cocktails and the art of entertaining.
Your ticket options includes:
Don't miss this chance to mingle with Nicola Nice, get your book signed, and savor a unique cocktail experience. Grab your tickets now and join us for a night of storytelling and spirited enjoyment!
About The Cocktail Parlor: Meet the hostesses who have shaped cocktail history and learn how to make the drinks they loved.
Throughout American history, women have helped propel what we know as classic cocktails—the Martini, the Manhattan, the Old-Fashioned, and more—into popular culture. But, often excluded from private clubs, women exercised this influence from the home, in their cocktail parlors. In The Cocktail Parlor, Dr. Nicola Nice, sociologist and spirits entrepreneur, gives women their long-overdue spotlight in cocktail history and shows how they still impact cocktail culture today.
Journeying through the decades, this book profiles a diverse array of influential hostesses. With each historic era comes iconic recipes, featuring a total of 40 main cocktails and more than 100 variations that readers can make at home. Whether it's happy hour punch à la Martha Washington or a Harlem Renaissance–inspired Green Skirt, readers will find that many of the ingredients and drinks they’re familiar with today wouldn’t be here without the hostesses who served them first.
Dr. Nicola Nice is a sociologist, spirits entrepreneur and author of The Cocktail Parlor: How women brought the cocktail home, the untold history of women’s influence on the cocktail. Nicola has worked in product innovation for more than 20 years advising some of the largest wine and spirits producers from around the globe through her strategy and insights agency, THINK Conservatory, as well as founding the award-winning gin company, Pomp & Whimsy. Her dedication to writing women back into cocktail history has been widely praised and featured in the New York Times, Vogue, and more. In 2019, she was recognized by Forbes as one of the top women running the liquor world, and in 2022, by Wine Enthusiast as one of the Future 40 leaders of the wine and spirits industry.
Endlessly passionate and dedicated to documenting the stories of women and hospitality, Nicola’s blog, The Hostess Diaries, explores the culture of hospitality through the lens of women’s history. A sought-after speaker on alcohol beverage culture and history, she presents regularly to sold out crowds including Tales of the Cocktail, Bar Convent Brooklyn, Les Dames d’Escoffier, and the Culinary Historians of New York, among many others. She holds a BA in Human Sciences from the University of Oxford and a PhD in Sociology from Imperial College London.
She lives with her family in Westchester County, New York, where she can usually be found with a cup of tea or cocktail in hand, and a spaniel at foot.