The Craft of the Cocktail: Everything You Need to Know to Be a Master Bartender, with 500 Recipes
Dale DeGroff - 2002
The Craft of the Cocktail provides much more than merely the same old recipes: it delves into history, personalities, and anecdotes; it shows you how to set up a bar, master important techniques, and use tools correctly; and it delivers unique concoctions, many featuring Dale DeGroff’s signature use of fresh juices, as well as all the classics.Debonair, a great raconteur, and an unparalleled authority, Dale DeGroff is the epitome of Perfect Bartender, universally acknowledged as the world’s premier mixologist. From Entertainment Weekly and USA Today to the Culinary Institute of America and the nation’s best restaurants, whenever anybody wants information or training on the bar, they turn to Dale for recipes, for history, for anecdotes, for fun—for cocktail-party conversation as well as for cocktails.That’s what The Craft of the Cocktail is—the full party, conversation and all. It begins with the history of spirits, how they’re made (but without too much boring science), the development of the mixed drink, and the culture it created, all drawn from Dale’s vast library of vintage cocktail books. Then on to stocking the essential bar, choosing the right tools and ingredients, mastering key techniques—hints worthy of a pro, the same information that Dale shares with the bartenders he trains in seminars and through his videos. And then the meat of the matter: 500 recipes, including everything from tried-and-true classics to of-the-moment originals. Throughout are rich stories, vintage recipes, fast facts, and other entertaining asides. Beautiful color photographs and a striking design round out the cookbook approach to this subject, highlighting the difference between an under-the-bar handbook and a stylish, full-blown treatment. The Craft of the Cocktail is that treatment, destined to become the bible of the bar.
The Bar Book: Elements of Cocktail Technique
Jeffrey Morgenthaler - 2014
This indispensable guide breaks down bartending into bar essential techniques, and then applies them to building the best drinks.Over 60 of the best drink recipes: The Bar Book contains more than 60 cocktail recipes that employ the techniques you will learn in this craft cocktail book. Each technique is illustrated with how-to photography to provide inspiration and guidance.Bartending and mixology techniques include the best practices for:JuicingGarnishingCarbonatingStirring and shakingChoosing the correct ice for proper chilling and dilution of a drinkAnd, much moreIf you found PTD Cocktail Book, 12 Bottle Bar, The Joy of Mixology, Death and Co., and Liquid Intelligence to be helpful among bartending and mixology books, you will find Jeffrey Morgenthaler's The Bar Book to be an essential bartender book.
Bitters: A Spirited History of a Classic Cure-All, with Cocktails, Recipes, and Formulas
Brad Thomas Parsons - 2011
A cocktail renaissance has swept across the country, inspiring in bartenders and their thirsty patrons a new fascination with the ingredients, techniques, and traditions that make the American cocktail so special. And few ingredients have as rich a history or serve as fundamental a role in our beverage heritage as bitters.Author and bitters enthusiast Brad Thomas Parsons traces the history of the world's most storied elixir, from its earliest "snake oil" days to its near evaporation after Prohibition to its ascension as a beloved (and at times obsessed-over) ingredient on the contemporary bar scene. Parsons writes from the front lines of the bitters boom, where he has access to the best and boldest new brands and flavors, the most innovative artisanal producers, and insider knowledge of the bitters-making process.Whether you're a professional looking to take your game to the next level or just a DIY-type interested in homemade potables, Bitters has a dozen recipes for customized blends--ranging from Apple to Coffee-Pecan to Root Beer bitters--as well as tips on sourcing ingredients and step-by-step instructions fit for amateur and seasoned food crafters alike.Also featured are more than seventy cocktail recipes that showcase bitters' diversity and versatility: classics like the Manhattan (if you ever get one without bitters, send it back), old-guard favorites like the Martinez, contemporary drinks from Parsons's own repertoire like the Shady Lane, plus one-of-a-kind libations from the country's most pioneering bartenders. Last but not least, there is a full chapter on cooking with bitters, with a dozen recipes for sweet and savory bitters-infused dishes.Part recipe book, part project guide, part barman's manifesto, Bitters is a celebration of good cocktails made well, and of the once-forgotten but blessedly rediscovered virtues of bitters.
The Savoy Cocktail Book
Harry Craddock - 1930
During the 1920s and 1930s, Prohibition-dodging Americans visiting London for tea-dances and cocktails made the bar at the Savoy their home. Here they were entertained by legendary American barman Harry Craddock, inventor of the White Lady and popularizer of the Dry Martini. Originally published in 1930, the Savoy Cocktail Book features 750 of Harry's most popular recipes. It is a fascinating record of the cocktails that set London alight at the time—and which are just as popular today. Taking you from Slings to Smashes, Fizzes to Flips, and featuring art deco illustrations, this book is the perfect gift for any budding mixologist or fan of 1930s-style decadence and sophistication.
Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails: From the Alamagoozlum Cocktail to the Zombie {80 Rediscovered Recipes and the Stories behind Them}
Ted Haigh - 2004
This book does not repeat the timeworn cocktails of old. Instead historian, expert, and drink aficionado Dr. Cocktailhas hand-picked a superb collection of 80 drinks rarely made today, and all of them deserve revival. Some are from the nineteenth century, some from the Prohibition era, and some from just after World War II, just as the golden age of the cocktail was waning. All are retrieved from extremely uncommon sources. In fact, some of these drinks were found carefully penned into old cocktail manuals or on scraps of paper and may never have been published. They are true treasures, indeed.Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails pays homage to the great bartenders of the past and the grand beverages they created, the recipes for which were almost lost to history. Fully illustrated, it is filled with golden-age style, narrated with humorous and colorful anecdotes, chock-full of fascinating cocktail history, and brimming with delicious concoctions. If you have half the fun looking at this book and trying these recipes as the author did putting them together, a great party is about to ensue.
Speakeasy: The Employees Only Guide to Classic Cocktails Reimagined
Jason Kosmas - 2010
In those days, hard beverage options were usually made with homemade hooch and flavorings of dubious origin and quality. Thankfully, a cocktail renaissance has emerged in many of today’s bars, where inventive drinks showcase both the artistry and craft of bartending. At their moody and atmospheric West Village bar-restaurant Employees Only, master mixologists Jason Kosmas and Dushan Zaric can regale you with colorful tales of cocktail origins—or just pour you a mean drink. In Speakeasy, Kosmas and Zaric take their inspiration from traditional favorites, then use the finest spirits, the freshest ingredients, and a good measure of reverence for their craft to elevate the mixed drink to artisanal status. More than 80 imaginative libations that riff on the classics are showcased in this one-of-a-kind collection. Recipes emphasize fresh fruits and herbs, homemade syrups and infusions, and a careful balancing of flavors, with a mind toward seasonality. A Ginger Smash is offered in four different versions: kumquat, pineapple, pear, or cranberry, depending on the time of year. The Millionaire becomes the Billionaire with the addition of homemade grenadine and 107-proof bourbon. And the South Side becomes the West Side by replacing the gin with sun-kissed Meyer lemon–infused vodka. With the specter of Prohibition firmly in the past, Speakeasy shares recipes for the choicest potent potables, reimagining the finest drinks of yesterday for today’s thirsty imbibers.
The Joy of Mixology: The Consummate Guide to the Bartender's Craft
Gary Regan - 2003
Gary Regan’s The Joy of Mixology is such a gem, one whose genius lies in Regan’s breakthrough system for categorizing drinks that helps bartenders—both professionals and amateurs alike—not only to remember drink recipes but also to invent their own.For example, once you understand that the Margarita is a member of the New Orleans Sour Family, you’ll instantly see that a Kamikaze is just a vodka-based Margarita; a Cosmopolitan follows the same formula, with some cranberry juice thrown in for color. Similarly, the Manhattan and the Rob Roy, both members of the French-Italian family, are variations on the whiskey-vermouth-bitters formula. In this way Regan brings a whole new understanding to the world of cocktails and how to make them. Not only will you learn how to make standard cocktails, you’ll actually learn to feel your way through making a drink, thereby attaining the skills needed to create concoctions of your own. And as Regan explains methods for mixing drinks, how to choose bartenders’ wares and select spirits and liqueurs, and the origins of many cocktails, you’ll feel as though you’re behind the bar with him, learning from a master. Plus, his charming and detailed history of mixed drinks raises this far above the standard cocktail guide fare. With more than 350 drink recipes, The Joy of Mixology is the ultimate bar guide. Ground-breaking and authoritative, it’s a must-have for anyone interested in the craft of the cocktail.
Death & Co: Modern Classic Cocktails, with More than 500 Recipes
David Kaplan - 2014
Since its opening in 2006, Death & Co has been a must-visit destination for serious drinkers and cocktail enthusiasts, and the winner of every major industry award—including America’s Best Cocktail Bar and Best Cocktail Menu at the Tales of the Cocktail convention. Boasting a supremely talented and creative bar staff—the best in the industry—Death & Co is also the birthplace of some of the modern era’s most iconic drinks, such as the Oaxaca Old-Fashioned, Naked and Famous, and the Conference. Destined to become a definitive reference on craft cocktails, Death & Co features more than 500 of the bar’s most innovative and sought-after cocktails. But more than just a collection of recipes, Death & Co is also a complete cocktail education, with information on the theory and philosophy of drink making, a complete guide to buying and using spirits, and step-by-step instructions for mastering key bartending techniques. Filled with beautiful, evocative photography; illustrative charts and infographics; and colorful essays about the characters who fill the bar each night; Death & Co—like its namesake bar—is bold, elegant, and setting the pace for mixologists around the world.
Liquid Intelligence: The Art and Science of the Perfect Cocktail
Dave Arnold - 2014
There, Arnold and his collaborators investigate temperature, carbonation, sugar concentration, and acidity in search of ways to enhance classic cocktails and invent new ones that revolutionize your expectations about what a drink can look and taste like.Years of rigorous experimentation and study—botched attempts and inspired solutions—have yielded the recipes and techniques found in these pages. Featuring more than 120 recipes and nearly 450 color photographs, Liquid Intelligence begins with the simple—how ice forms and how to make crystal-clear cubes in your own freezer—and then progresses into advanced techniques like clarifying cloudy lime juice with enzymes, nitro-muddling fresh basil to prevent browning, and infusing vodka with coffee, orange, or peppercorns.Practical tips for preparing drinks by the pitcher, making homemade sodas, and building a specialized bar in your own home are exactly what drink enthusiasts need to know. For devotees seeking the cutting edge, chapters on liquid nitrogen, chitosan/gellan washing, and the applications of a centrifuge expand the boundaries of traditional cocktail craft.Arnold’s book is the beginning of a new method of making drinks, a problem-solving approach grounded in attentive observation and creative techniques. Readers will learn how to extract the sweet flavor of peppers without the spice, why bottling certain drinks beforehand beats shaking them at the bar, and why quinine powder and succinic acid lead to the perfect gin and tonic.Liquid Intelligence is about satisfying your curiosity and refining your technique, from red-hot pokers to the elegance of an old-fashioned. Whether you’re in search of astounding drinks or a one-of-a-kind journey into the next generation of cocktail making, Liquid Intelligence is the ultimate standard—one that no bartender or drink enthusiast should be without.
Boozehound: On the Trail of the Rare, the Obscure, and the Overrated in Spirits
Jason Wilson - 2010
(By the way, the short answer is no.) A unique blend of travelogue, spirits history, and recipe collection, Boozehound explores the origins of what we drink and the often surprising reasons behind our choices. In lieu of odorless, colorless, tasteless spirits, Wilson champions Old World liquors with hard-to-define flavors—a bitter and complex Italian amari, or the ancient, aromatic herbs of Chartreuse, as well as distinctive New World offerings like lively Peruvian pisco. With an eye for adventure, Wilson seeks out visceral experiences at the source of production—visiting fields of spiky agave in Jalisco, entering the heavily and reverently-guarded Jägermeister herb room in Wolfenbüttel, and journeying to the French Alps to determine if mustachioed men in berets really handpick blossoms to make elderflower liqueur. In addition, Boozehound offers more than fifty drink recipes, from three riffs on the Manhattan to cocktail-geek favorites like the Aviation and the Last Word. These recipes are presented alongside a host of opinionated essays that cherish the rare, uncover the obscure, dethrone the overrated, and unravel the mysteries of taste, trends, and terroir. Through his far-flung, intrepid traveling and tasting, Wilson shows us that perhaps nothing else as entwined with the history of human culture is quite as much fun as booze.From the Hardcover edition.
Craft Cocktails at Home
Kevin Liu - 2013
Think of It as Your PhD in Drinking.In Craft Cocktails at Home, you’ll embark upon a one-of-a-kind journey as you learn how to make some of the world’s most innovative, unique, and delicious cocktails.Taste scientists, engineers, and talented bartenders with decades of experience all contributed their expertise to create this must-have guide for novices and professionals alike.Ever wondered what makes water taste good? Curious about what really happens during the barrel-aging process? Interested in which “molecular” ingredients have the best texture?These questions and more, answered inside.With 250 pages and 65 recipes
Regarding Cocktails
Sasha Petraske - 2016
Ingredients, measurements, and preparations are beautifully illustrated so that readers can make professional cocktails at home. Sasha's advice for keeping the home bar, as well as his musings, are collected here to inspire a new generation of bartenders and cocktail enthusiasts.
3-Ingredient Cocktails: An Opinionated Guide to the Most Enduring Drinks in the Cocktail Canon
Robert Simonson - 2017
3-Ingredient Cocktails is a concise history of the best classic cocktails, and a curated collection of the best three-ingredient cocktails of the modern era. Organized by style of drink and variations, the book features 75 delicious recipes for cocktails both classic (Japanese Cocktail, Bee's Knees, Harvey Wallbanger) and contemporary (Remember the Alimony, Little Italy, La Perla), in addition to fun narrative asides and beautiful full-color photography.
Smuggler's Cove: Exotic Cocktails, Rum, and the Cult of Tiki
Martin Cate - 2016
Make yourself a Mai Tai, put your favorite exotica record on the hi-fi, and prepare to lose yourself in the fantastical world of tiki, one of the most alluring—and often misunderstood—movements in American cultural history. Martin and Rebecca Cate, founders and owners of Smuggler’s Cove (the most acclaimed tiki bar of the modern era) take you on a colorful journey into the lore and legend of tiki: its birth as an escapist fantasy for Depression-era Americans; how exotic cocktails were invented, stolen, and re-invented; Hollywood starlets and scandals; and tiki’s modern-day revival. Featuring more than 100 delicious recipes (original and historic), plus a groundbreaking new approach to understanding rum, Smuggler’s Cove is the magnum opus of the contemporary tiki renaissance. Whether you’re looking for a new favorite cocktail, tips on how to trick out your home tiki grotto, help stocking your bar with great rums, or inspiration for your next tiki party, Smuggler’s Cove has everything you need to transform your world into a Polynesian Pop fantasia.
Beachbum Berry's Sippin' Safari: In Search of the Great 'Lost' Tropical Drink Recipes…and the People Behind Them
Jeff Beachbum Berry - 2007
Jeff Berry (or 'Beachbum Berry', as he is better known), is America's leading authority on tropical drinks and polynesian pop culture. In this all-new book, Berry not only offers up tantilizing new drink recipes, but tells stories about some of the most famous figures of their time. The Bum applies the same dogged research to the untold stories of the people behind the drinks. Stories culled from over 100 interviews with those who actually created the mid-century tiki scene - people as colorful as the drinks they invented, or served, or simply drank. People like: Leon Lontoc, Don The Beachcomber's waiter who served Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando by night and acted in their movies by day; Henry Riddle, the Malibu Seacomber bartender who fed items about his famous customers to infamous gossip columnist Louella Parsons, till the day Howard Hughes found him out; and Duke Kamanamoku, whose manager turned him from Olympic champion into reluctant restaurateur.