Introducing #JaneWithATwist

Wine, port, negus, spruce beer, porter – these are a few of the alcoholic beverages mentioned in Jane Austen’s novels. If you include her minor works and letters, add even more to the list. It’s true, people drank a lot of alcohol back then, partly because it was safer to drink than water, and partly because, hey, alcohol!

Meryton Press authors thought this a subject worthy of more exploration. They hardly needed any convincing, to be honest. Thus we present #JaneWithATwist. Join us starting this week for a buzzy blog hop that will include posts about:

• drinking traditions in the Regency for history buffs
• alcoholic drinks in Jane’s books and Jane’s life
• not-necessarily-historical cocktails and mocktails inspired by Austen characters
• bits of fiction about those same characters under the influence
• even a spruce beer home-brewing experiment

The party starts this week with a focus on Northanger Abbey:

Oct. 28 – KC Kahler: Cider in Northanger Abbey country; the Henry Tilney

Oct. 29 – Linda Gonschior: General Tilney’s Order

Oct. 30 – KC Kahler: Simply horrid cocktails for Catherine Morland and Isabella Thorpe

#JaneWithATwist continues in late November to celebrate the Netherfield Ball, where we imagine a few beloved characters were quite “in their cups.” And we’ll keep right on imbibing with Jane through the holidays and the new year. Stay tuned for schedule updates.

We hope you’ll join us for the fun. Here’s to Jane with a twist!

***In consideration of those who might wish to avoid posts about alcohol, all posts in this series will be tagged #JaneWithATwist. Please take this as your trigger warning and screen your clicks accordingly.***