Drinking in America, One Distinctive Cocktail at a Time

Back in 2019, when a person didn’t have to quarantine for two weeks each time he crossed a state border, the author and bar owner Brian Bartels cashed in all his vacation time and spent a few months visiting 44 of the 50 states. On some long weekends, he’d hit three or four. His goal? To find out where people drank, what they drank and why.

The result is “The United States of Cocktails,” a new book that enumerates, explores and celebrates hundreds of regional bars, drinking traditions, spirits, quaffs and quirks.

For a small-town boy from the Midwest whose father was a traveling salesman, the book was the natural outgrowth of a curious mind. “As an 8-year-old kid, the local library was my favorite place,” Mr. Bartels said. “I loved finding out fun facts and tidbits about the world.”

The 8-year-old boy grew into a 44-year-old man who, after more than a decade of running bars in New York City, opened the Settle Down Tavern in Madison, Wis., in May. So any exploration of America he undertook would necessarily incorporate the country’s watering holes. Mr. Bartels visited more than 700 of them, from fancy cocktail dens to timeworn dives.