Dirty shots, Paul Alexandre Walpen and Ali Reza Perroud, the authors, couldn’t find a better name for their book. If you’ve ever had shots at the shot bar they used to manage in Geneva, the Café de La Pointe, you’ll know what I mean!

La Pointe was famous for its delicious and often dirty named shots (it maybe still is but I haven’t gone in over two years and definitely not since Alex and Ali have gone). To give a few examples of the original shot names, there was la Couille de panda (the Panda’s Nut), le Téton qui pointe (the Pointing Nipple) and Ô le Clit (no need to translate this one, or?) My personal favourite was the Mini Me (white rum, mango syrup and triple sec) with its penis candy garnish.

I spent many drunken nights at La Pointe when I was a student and I will always cherish these memories. Thus I can’t begin to explain how happy I was when I saw Alex and Ali were publishing a book with the recipes of some of their best shots.

The book launch was today at the Café Slatkine, Geneva’s first literary bar founded by Slatkine, Dirty Shots’ publishing house. While I didn’t go to the party I couldn’t wait to grab a copy. Here I am now happily flipping through the pages of Dirty Shots, looking forward to my next Mini Me because, you know, size doesn’t matter when it’s that good!

Written in French, the book starts with an introduction by the two authors and a quick word about the definition and origins of the shot and about the bartender. It then lists 85 shots with the steps to reproduce them at home.

Besides the fact Dirty Shots evokes so many good memories of my early party days, the book is truly beautiful and original. Instead of a traditional recipe book filled with photographs for each shot, it is a book of art. See, what I didn’t know is that Alex is an artist and he’s illustrated the whole book, except for one page which was the work of Ali and Kevin Masson, a tattoo artist from Geneva. Some illustrations are inspired by the shots’ names or history. According to Alex and Ali, they represent the “shot attitude”. One thing’s for sure: I’ll make sure to catch Alex’s next exhibition!

The self made illustrations, the boisterous legends beneath the shots’ names, and the light-hearted explanations translate the authors’ personality and make of Dirty Shots a true testament, a really personal book, one written by shot enthusiasts for other shot enthusiasts. So, when at the end of the introduction Alex and Ali say “Our most sincere wish is to pass on to you the taste for sharing the things we like”, I say “Mission accomplished, guys!”