Everyone is wildly familiar with the series of events that started in early March of 2020 with the devastating tornado that touched down in multiple Nashville neighborhoods that was quickly followed on by the onset of the COVID quarantine; which continues even now, six months later. As former head bartender at Husk and one of the key players in opening tiki bar Chopper, Mike Wolf was keenly aware of the impact a few weeks away from work would have on service industry workers, much less half a year.
He quickly set out to find a novel way to benefit those hurting in his industry and simultaneously provide a little boost to the awareness of Nashville’s wonderful cocktail scene by compiling Lost Spring: How We Cocktailed Through Crisis; a new book featuring a wide range of interviews, recipes and ruminations by some of Music City’s finest bartenders and sommeliers.
Proceeds from the book go to TN Action for Hospitality, a coalition of restaurant owners and workers pushing for protection and relief for those in the hospitality industry across the state. With bars and restaurants at limited capacity dependent on the current Phase of re-opening, these hospitality workers need assistance at the state and federal level that the organization advocates for on their behalf.
The book is available via Turner Publishing on Amazon and Barnes & Noble as an eBook, with a physical version slated for next Spring. It also comes coupled with a Spotify playlist put together by mixologist Patrick Goodspeed (embedded below).
Wolf is also one of the hosts of WOTT podcast Liquid Gold, where he and co-host Kenneth Dedmond regularly share insights on cocktail ingredients, history and Booze Newsâ„¢. Recently they’ve been inviting contributors from Lost Spring to read their pieces on the show.
There’s no way of knowing when the hospitality industry will return to a “normal” state, so picking up a copy of Lost Spring will help to keep those workers afloat and give you a few topics of discussion for when you can return to visiting with your favorite bartender more regularly.