Here in the United States, mixology sort of fell behind back in the Prohibition Era, whereas in Japan it was innovated upon tremendously. My partner and I opened a bar and a restaurant seven weeks ago and Jim's advice was used from the design process through creating our steps of service. "The Bar Book" is one of my favorite foundational resources. In Spirits and Cocktails, though, youll find a deep history and evolution of spirits around the globe; covering everything from production to mixology. Connie joined Insider Reviews as an early member in 2017 and has also reported on products and services in the style, tech, fitness, travel, and e-learning spaces, with a particular interest and expertise in emerging startups. It's a vital tool for any operator. Gorgeous photography is the first thing you'll spot in it, for each of its 150 recipes; the methodology and anecdote behind each drink are also as good as a 101 lecture on prepping and serving. Affectionately referred to as the Historical Oracle, David stays up waaaay past last call to research the nitty-gritty of cocktail and spirits history. "King Cocktail" is credited with being one of the first bartenders to revive the art of vintage craft cocktails at the Rainbow Room in the late 90's, and his two books on the subject hold up as fundamental must-reads that offer practical insight into how bartenders approached cocktail-making a good 15 years ago. And when youre feeling lyrical, Joni Mitchells tunes will pair perfectly with a Santorini sunrise or Negroni. If you're serious about making a perfect Old Fashioned, or want to get into creating your own inventive cocktails, it's a good idea to pick up a few of the industry's essential books before you get behind the bar. April Wachtel, mixologist and founder of Cheeky Cocktails, "Spirits of Latin America" by Ivy Mix, $13.63, available at Amazon, Not only are there amazing recipes in this book, but it is also layered with appreciation, love, and respect for the history and culture of so many spirits that line our bars. It goes through everything from building out a home or commercial bar to the intricacies of how different spirits are produced and the histories of some of your favorite cocktails. You don't get a lot of pomp and circumstance with Jeff, just an unadulterated, elemental approach to mixing tasty cocktails. Yeah, hes got quite a resume, and he wrote this tome for classic cocktail recipes when he was at his prime as the barman of The Savoy hotel in Londonstill a mecca for mixologists to this day. When it's ready to serve, we then hook it up and dispense it from a draft tower similar to how a beer or cider is dispensed. Get fresh recipes, cooking tips, deal alerts, and more! Masahiro is an amazing mixologist, and Michael, who I've met on countless occasions, is a wealth of knowledge and an overall great guy. Ever wanted to impress your friends by knowing that the compound erroneously feared in Wormwood to cause hallucinations is called thujone? This is the cocktail bible, written by disciplesor, as we know them, the guys behind Death and Company, a famous moody bar in the East Village where cool bartenders in bow ties and suspenders can whip up some modern twists on classic cocktails like "Oaxaca Old-Fashioned" or "Naked and Famous". By clicking Accept All Cookies, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. It's a great place for beginners to start. Within, she details the Latin palate, her spins on traditional pisco sour or mojito, and her own invention like the tia mia which is a blend of mezcal, rum, and orange curacao. Honestly, this book has been a massive source of inspiration for me. Mr. Bullock is credited for teaching the world how to make the perfect Old Fashioned. Any of his works, from 3-Ingredient Cocktails, "The Old Fashioned," "The Martini Cocktail,"and others, are a fine addition to your boozy library Charles Joly, "Market-Fresh Mixology" by Bridget Albert, $28.97, available at Amazon. When I was just starting to build a home bar, Speakeasy was one of the most approachable and fun cocktail books I played around with. Tara Downs, "Meehan's Bartender Manual" by Jim Meehan, $25.99, available at Amazon, The page corners of my copy of "Meehan's Manual" are worn from turning and I have spilled more than one cocktail and coffee inside. Anthony Baker, the "Cocktail Professor" and virtual cocktail teacher, "Proof: The Science of Booze" by Adam Rogers, $10.55, available at Amazon, I love "Proof." Tomorrow we'll focus on the explosion of cocktail literature that's hit shelves in the last 18 months or so, with a special spotlight on highly anticipated 2015 releases. Esquire participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites. They are great for beginners because when combined, they establish a solid baseline of technique and recipes both modern and vintage. Meehans Manual is simply that, a wealth of bar knowledge written by the award-winning bartender himself. Be warned the measurements in David's drinks are a bit overkill in some recipes. It's a great book to that shows the way people used to drink, and how those flavors and cocktail recipes developed overseas during Prohibition. Stephanie O'Neill, head bartender at Antique Bar & Bakery in Hoboken, NJ, "The Savoy Cocktail Book" by Harry Craddock, $18.93, available at Amazon, My favorite cocktail book is the vintage book called "The Savoy" written by Harry Craddock during his tenure as the barman at the Savoy Hotel, where he goes on to document London high society of the 1930s. Renowned bartender Jeffrey Morgenthaler believes that in order to turn your drinking palate into a semi-reputable career path, start small in the pantry before finally upsizing your cabinetbecause techniques matter more than how many drinks you can stir up, especially if they're not awesome. Wilson gets a little snarky and insider-y at times, but that's part of what makes the book so engaging. Read Every Article Esquire Has Ever Published, How to Get Into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Case for Age Limits in American Politics, This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. Less is more! It's a super detailed script of how spirits are made. Regardless of whether or not rum is your spirit of choice, And a Bottle of Rum offers just the right balance of history, entertainment, and booze, making it an engaging read for all spirits lovers and history buffs. "If you're able to use books for inspiration for a foundational drink, you can always build on the experience from there," said Wael Deek, the beverage director at Alice and Osteria 57in New York City. Mad Men may have helped the Old-Fashioned become, well, fashionable againbut devotees of this classic cocktail know that it never really went out of style in the first place. Many of us are lucky enough to have learned directly from him, or from his many pupils. For this reason alone, it's still a must-read. "There have always been piles of cocktail-related books on the market, but it can be difficult to know which direction to go. Bar goals. The Bar-Tenders Guide, or How To Mix Drinks by Jerry Thomas, The Savoy Cocktail Book by Harry Craddock, The Essential Cocktail: The Art Of Mixing Perfect Drinks by Dale Degroff, The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails by David Wondrich and Noah Rothbaum, Imbibe! She has represented the team at CES and moderated panels on media business and the future of retail. And no modern edition of Thomas' book has ever even come close to capturing that, until this one." Tiki, the tropical cocktail, often demands upwards of seven hard-to-get ingredients. This leather-bound volume might look more of a collectible you'd display at the coffee table and never peruse again after your first skim, but it's really a great handbook for all mixologists. These essentials hail from notable bartending personalities responsible for helping usher in the modern cocktail revolution. It marked the end of an era, but the man behind the Nomad bar scene, Leo Robitschek, actually published a book on more than 300 recipes there, with NoMads own philosophy on cocktail making included to change the way you see and use spirits. The new edition adds updated tidbits of information, stories and colorful entertainment to the historical tales, along with a set of new recipes and information on the origins of the Mint Julep, making it a much better investment than the already wonderful James Beard Award-winning original. Nico de Soto, master mixologist at Mace in New York City, NY, "Cocktail Codex" continues to be a resource for me. Masahiro Urushido is the owner and head bartender of Katana Kitten, one of Esquire's Best Bars of 2019. Flip through long enough to find a recipe and mix yourself a drink, then sit down to read this page-turner that will leave you thirsty for more. About 100 recipes litter the chapters, culled from Thomas' book and modern bartenders alike. It's a must-read for aspiring bartenders, but also functions as a gorgeous coffee table book that any non-bartender can enjoy! Here, we've rounded up over 125 cocktail recipesincluding 13 drinks every man needs to know how to makefrom crowd-pleasing large-batched beverages to crafted single-served classics. His follow-up to "Imbibe," "Punch", was just as thorough and entertaining. Learn more. Jeff Bell, managing partner at Please Don't Tell in New York City, NY. The Drunken Botanist: The Plants That Create the Worlds Great Drinks explores the botanical history and science behind the flowers, fruits, and trees that have made their way into our beverageswhether as a production staple or a fun experiment. And the stunning art deco illustrations in the hardcover reprint shall set the 1920s mood. Whereas The Craft of the Cocktail digs into tools and techniques, The Essential Cocktail dives right into the recipes, divided by style (highballs, sours, classics, punches, innovations, etc.). Its more of an anatomy of the bar industry than it is a recipe book, covering bar design to space planning to menu development. productslearn more about, The Bartenders Guide: How to Mix Drinks, or the Bon Vivant's Companion, The Essential Cocktail: The Art Of Mixing Perfect Drinks, The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails, The Drunken Botanist: The Plants That Create the World's Great Drinks, And a Bottle of Rum: A History of the New World in Ten Cocktails, Boozehound: On the Trail of the Rare, the Obscure, and the Overrated in Spirits, Spritz: Italy's Most Iconic Aperitivo Cocktail, The Old-Fashioned: The Story of the World's First Classic Cocktail, with Recipes and Lore, Speakeasy: The Employees Only Guide to Classic Cocktails Reimagined, The PDT Cocktail Book: The Complete Bartender's Guide from the Celebrated Speakeasy, Bitters: A Spirited History of a Classic Cure-All, with Cocktails, Recipes, and Formulas. Gary Regan was one of the most influential characters in modern-day mixology. It's incredibly meticulous and thorough while being surprisingly approachable to newcomers. Research at the time was like a treasure hunt as drinkers and bar pros investigated hard-to-find vintage texts and sussed out reality from rumor. This is a great place to get started with all of the fundamentals. This former Washington Post spirits columnist brings a more journalistic style of storytelling to the table with Boozehound, a recollection of his adventures in drinks reporting. As a coffee table book, "Imbibe" also has neutral colors that could also look great on a bar cart. What makes Katana Kittenand Master Urushidospecial is the way they infuse Japanese cocktail-making art with American comfort bites that'll have you musing on the lines of "I can easily devour this" and "This needs to be savored". "The Drunken Botanist" is what I imagine a nerdy bartender retreat in the woods would be like (at least my version of one). In it, 350 drinks are classified into different families based on ingredients, with a complete breakdown of the basicstechniques, liquors, finishes, and nuances like why pomegranate pairs well with martinisso its easier to memorize and, when the time comes, reinvent. Focused on seasonality, Bridget Albert embraces the garden-to-glass approach to making great cocktails. Robert Kidd, "3-Ingredient Cocktails" by Robert Simonson, $15.99, available at Amazon, Author Robert Simonson has put in the work and researched some important categories and cocktails. Gary 'Gaz' Regan is a modern bar world legend, like Gordon Ramsey to chefs, and his compendium of recipes demystifies mixology for the newbies and the pros. In the cocktail section, there are 100 recipes from the vault as well as Meehans own walk of life, and each is broken down like a Wikipedia entry: origin, history, hacks, and recipe. Within, there are 750 of the Savoys drinks and glimpses of Londons cocktail society at the time. I won't say that this book is how I turned raiding my parents' liquor cabinet into a semi-respectable career, but I will say it was exquisitely helpful. For the rest, thankfully he's documented his place in history in this book. If you're a beginner looking to get into professional bartending or mixing great drinks at home, and you're only going to acquire one book on this list, make it Gary Regan's The Joy of Mixology. His book has a very manageable number of base-knowledge recipesa little over 60and will give you a thorough training into the technical approach to drink-making. "Liquid Intelligence" is the opposite side of the spectrum, in that it brings a scientific approach to crafting cocktails. Ivy Mixs story starts with her first taste of mezcal in Caf No S, Guatemala, where she had to pay off her tab by bartending. Maverick Li is the Assistant eCommerce Editor at Esquire, where he covers tech, home, and all things related to lifestyle. Page, $22.49, available at Amazon. Great for the home bartender who wants to dazzle their guests. John is as qualified as they come to write a nerdy cocktail book, but the tone and structure of the book are laugh-out-loud funny and approachable while sharing real and practical tricks of the trade. At 864 pages, The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails is nothing short of a tome. Baiocchi and Pariseau also study the spritzs rise in international popularity in recent years, offer tips on how to properly stock your at-home bar, andof coursethey provide plenty of recipes for spritz cocktails and snack pairings alike. He recently released an updated version of his must-have text "The New Craft of the Cocktail." Well, my friend then you are a kindred spirit and this book is for you! This requires a whole different approach to technique and "Liquid Intelligence" was the perfect resource to help us make our drink-making game stronger. In every chapter, the arts and crafts behind each cocktail template are explored, and in the end, youll get to break the rule of classic mixes and improvise your own. In addition to learning all about scotch production from grain to glass, you learn about fermentation, distillation, and the scientific processes and chemical reactions of aging bourbon in fresh charred oak barrels. Mezcal: The History, Craft and Cocktails of the World's Ultimate Artisanal Spirit, cocktail literature that's hit shelves in the last 18 months or so, story on building a vintage cocktail library, The Drunken Botanist: The Plants That Create the Worlds Great Drinks, Spritz: Italys Most Iconic Aperitivo Cocktail, The Old-Fashioned: The Story of the Worlds First Classic Cocktail, with Recipes and Lore. Charles Joly,Diageo World Class bartending champion, official bartender for the Oscars and Emmys, and founder ofCrafthouse Cocktails. You can have all of the equipment and glassware you want but if you don't have a fundamental understanding of how flavors work and interact with each other you can only go so far. It's likely that no single individual in America knows as much about the country's cocktail history than David Wondrich. It's not for beginners with a low-stocked liquor cabinet, though it may inspire you to grow your bottle collection. It can come across a bit pedantic, but in case you haven't got it already: All great mixologists are well-read folks. Some skills are needed pull off their rather innovative concoctions, like a creamy "Billion Dollar Man," so it's more of a pro's territory. We've certainly come a long way since. ["Imbibe"] reads more like a novel and takes you back to a different time and place when cocktails were just being discovered. When you want to go slow, jam out to Frank Sinatra with oldies like tuxedo or manhattan in tow. Since Mud Puddle Publishing released the first reprint of the work in 2008, Cocktail Kingdom has released a more substantial version. When you buy through our links, Insider may earn an affiliate commission. Sadly, the establishment is now permanently closed. There's also beautiful photography to boot, and the break-down of generational cocktail techniques that'll get you wonderstruck on "Oh so this is how that works". Deke Dunne, head bartender and beverage director at Allegory in Washington, D.C. "Cocktail Codex" by Alex Day, Nick Fauchald, and David Kaplan, $21.49, available at Amazon, It really goes a bit deeper into the theory of cocktail categories. as well as other partner offers and accept our, Connie Chen is a former senior reporter on the, While at Insider, she specialized in all the things that enhance life at home, from the most comfortable, When she's not changing duvet covers or washing towels twice a day for articles, she loves talking about and trying the newest. His seminal work, "Imbibe," changed the world of cocktail writing in the 21st century and unraveled what is thought to be the original cocktail guide, "The Bon Vivant's Companion" by Jerry Thomas. One of two revered books in Jeffrey Morgenthaler's repertoire, this cocktail book teaches the "Morgenthaler method." These are the books for true history buffs seeking an engaging story and in-depth details, presented in less of a "cookbook" format. Troy Ali, "Death & Co" by David Kaplan and Nick Fauchald, $21.49, available at Amazon, This one is an obvious must-have for any new bartender. Known as the world's first technique manual for cocktails, this book will break down the basics of building classics like an Old Fashioned and setting a foundation for inspiration from there. In general, the pages and creativity are captivating but it's also informative for a restaurant that features wine-based cocktails when we're always looking to push ourselves to create new techniques and presentations. Youll be hard-pressed to find a book that is more comprehensive on the subject of alcoholespecially true if you pair this one with the Oxford Companions to Wine and Beer. This massive tomepacked with over 300 cocktail recipesis really most practical for cocktail bartenders and serious drinkers with flush bars. This book was a labor of love for him and that will be immediately apparent to the reader. The restaurant hotel with a nice mahogany bar that was a mecca for happy-hour fixers and cocktail savants alike. It offers well-reported brief history, complete with a guide on how to make your own bitters at home, and comes stocked with ample recipes to play around with as well. Troy Ali, bartender at Trifecta at the Four Seasons Hotel in Boston, MA, Also recommended by Ivy Mix, co-owner and head bartender at Leyenda in Brooklyn, NY, "The Ultimate Bar Book" by Mittie Hellmich, $15.69, available at Amazon, It's literally a thousand recipes.