In this time-traveling, globetrotting conversation with Amanda Schuster, author of Signature Cocktails, some of the topics we discuss include:

• How Amanda went about sourcing 200 signature recipes from all corners of the globe and spanning over 500 years of history.

• What distinguishes signature cocktails from their more generic counterparts like Old Fashioneds, Manhattans, and Martinis - specifically, the roles of people, places, and events.

• An examination of certain important historical trends, from milk punches, to private clubs, to luxury travel, all of which yielded cohorts of era-defining signature cocktails we still enjoy today.

• The importance of menu attribution in spreading contemporary signature cocktail recipes across the digital and physical world.

• And tips for designing a signature cocktail for your own bar or home cocktail lounge.

• Along the way, we explore the bedeviling properties of chocolate and gin, when a Margarita isn’t a Margarita, how to defeat an invading army by spiking the drinking well with whiskey, and much, much more.