Read all about it!
March 22, 2010 - 9:40pm | by Daniel Priseman
The Craft of the Cocktail – by Dale DeGroff
Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails – Ted Haigh
Imbibe – David Wondrich
The Savoy Cocktail Book – Harry Craddock
Around the World with Jigger, Beaker and Flask – Charles H Baker Jr
The Bon Vivant’s Companion, or How to Mix Drinks – Jerry Thomas
I’ve just realised that I am probably (no probably about it!) a fully-fledged cocktail geek (a suspicion I’ve had for some time actually!). Having taken a look at my bookcase it seems to be rather overloaded with cocktail books, with very few books on any other subject. That’s ok though, taking a look at them, I realise that they chart my journey from ‘casually interested in drinks’ to ‘make my own bitters’. A journey any fellow cocktail geek will recognise!
As I browse my collection, I realise that as my knowledge of cocktails has grown, the type of books I look for have changed. I started with books that demonstrated tequniques and had lots of pictures, and now I find myself buying books from pre-prohibition that are stacked full of obscure names, measuring units and illustrations! Seeing the range of books on my shelves has got me thinking that maybe it’s time that bitters&twisted did its first book review.
Hopefully there is something for everyone here, whether you are a drinker who fancies having a go at making cocktails at home or a full time bartender looking to expand your knowledge. One thing’s for sure, there are enough cocktail books out there to keep you busy for a lifetime, but we’ve chosen a range that hopefully offer enough to get you started.
I plan on making book reviews a feature of the b&t website when it launches, but in the meantime here are some personal favourites:
The Craft of the Cocktail – by Dale DeGroffThis was one of the first cocktail books I ever bought and frankly it’s a must-have for the interested amateur or any bartender just starting out in this industry. Dale covers everything from methods, garnishing and drink history as well as recipes and the occasional story from his past.
Craft of the Cocktail is beautifully designed and easy to read as well as being crammed full of recipes. Perhaps more importantly it’s written in layman’s terms so you don’t have to be a bartender to understand it!
With both a US and a UK edition available you won’t even have to convert the measurements from ounces to ml. One note though, many of the recipes Dale has listed seem to be aimed at American taste; sweeter than ours over here in the UK so experiment with them to find just the right balance for your taste buds.
As Dale is famous for his connections with the Cosmopolitan it would be remiss not to include his recipe while we’re here!
COSMOPOLITAN
40 ml citrus vodka
15 ml Cointreau
10 ml fresh lime juice
20 ml cranberry juice
shake all ingredients with cubed ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a flamed orange peel.
Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails – Ted HaighI think this is without a doubt the best cocktail book to accommodate both the home cocktail maker and the professional bartender. I would say that no matter how serious your interest in cocktails, this is a ‘must-have’ book.
Ted Haigh (or Dr Cocktail as he is sometimes known) has dusted off many an old cocktail book to seek out recipes that have fallen into obscurity but deserve to be resurrected. The recipes come complete with descriptions, a bit of social history and the occasional note from The Dr, where slight changes to the original formula might make for a more balanced drink.
Personally I have worked my way through this great book from cover to cover making every drink he lists. There’s not a bad drink in the entire book! In an era where rediscovering ‘classic’ cocktails seems to be the fashion, Ted has done all the hard work for you!
It’s hard to pick a favourite from this book as they are all rather good, but here’s one that we particularly like:
ALGONQUIN COCKTAIL
45 ml rye
20 ml dry vermouth
20 ml pineapple juice
(add 2 dashes of peach bitters and it becomes a Queen Anne)
Shake all ingredients with cubed or cracked ice and strain into a chilled coupe, leaving the drink as Ted says ‘ungarnished and unvarnished’
Imbibe – David WondrichThis is one of the ultimate drinks books for any cocktail geek! Mr Wondrich has somehow managed to create a book that delves into the history of American mixed drinks while still holding the interest of the reader. Imbibe is a tribute to Jerry Thomas, who wrote the first published cocktail book back in 1862.
Dave paints a vivid picture of America in the mid to late 1800’s and gives us an insight into the world in which many classic drinks were created. All the way through, the book is dotted with the original recipes for 100 drinks as well as notes on serving suggestions.
If you take your drinking seriously and wonder where all these modern cocktails come from, then this is the book for you! Here’s one of the handful of modern drinks from the book, made in honor of the ‘Professor’ Jerry Thomas by Dave Wondrich himself:
TOMBSTONE
60 ml 100+ proof rye (50% abv or greater)
1 barspoon Demerara syrup
2 dashes Angostura bitters
Shake well with cubed ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass, finishing it off with a thin swatch of lemon peel,
The Savoy Cocktail Book – Harry CraddockProbably the best known cocktail book and held in high regard by many a bartender; The Savoy is not such a consumer friendly book as some of the more modern books. The recipes are all listed in proportions instead of the more familiar ounces or ml that many of us are now used to.
This is one of two books that for me, marks one of the most important transition points in cocktail history. During prohibition many American bartenders moved to London and Paris to continue their art and the drinks of the 1930s clearly show their roots in the American style of mixing drinks. That being said, the European bartenders of the era stamped their own style on the drinks being made, using ingredients that were less familiar in the US as well as creating drinks that appealed to a different palette.
The Savoy Cocktail Book along with The Café Royal Cocktail Book show the heights to which European bartenders took the art of mixing drinks during the golden era of the cocktail.
Around the World with Jigger, Beaker and Flask – Charles H Baker JrI think this is my favourite cocktail book of all time. Not necessarily because the drinks are great (there are some amazing drinks but also many that miss the mark) but more because the tone of voice it’s written in.
Charles H Baker Jr appears to have found the US during Prohibition so distasteful that he left and went travelling the world instead. He wrote this wonderful two-volume set (book one is Knife, Fork and Spoon… obviously the food geeks equivalent) charting his progress one drink at a time!
The book is a real insight into a bygone era when those with wealth lived a life of true luxury. Baker uses the most delightful turns of phrase and really whets the appetite!
REMEMBER THE MAINE
“a hazy memory of a night in Havana during the unpleastantnesses of 1933, when each swallow was punctuated with bombs going off on the Prado, or of 3” shells being fired at the Hotel Nacional, then haven for certain anti-revolutionary officers.
Treat this one with the respect it deserves, gentlemen. Take a tall bar glass and toss in 3 lumps of ice. Onto this foundation donate the following in order given: 1 jigger of good rye whiskey, ½ jigger Italian vermouth, 1 to 2 tsp cherry brandy, ½ tsp absinthe or Pernod veritas. Stir briskly in a clockwise fashion – this makes it sea-going presumably! – turn into a big chilled saucer champagne glass, twisting a curl of green lime or lemon peel over the top”
We prefer to use the absinthe as a rinse for the glass and would definitely suggest the lemon peel!
The Bon Vivant’s Companion, or How to Mix Drinks – Jerry ThomasThis was the first cocktail book ever published way back in 1862 and as such it’s a vital read for any serious bartender. Reading it gives real insight into the origin of many drinks that are still popular today as well as highlighting many drinking styles that have fallen by the way over the years.
Not all the drinks are great but there are some real treasures here, if you go looking for them, and ‘the professor’ Jerry Thomas is widely regarded as the grandfather of modern drinking with good reason. I still use his hot rum flip and ale flip recipes everytime the weather turns cold and his Manhattan is a classic!
Keep checking back with us from time-to-time as we will be reviewing a few more books here soon. We are especially looking forward to Anastatia Miller and Jared Brown’s new book which is on order - just what I needed, yet another book for the shelves!
Comments
what about trader vic’s
what about trader vic’s bartenders guide?
another old favourite
H, you know I love Trader Vic’s Bartenders guide but I couldn’t put all my favourites on this little blog! It will definitely have a spot on the b&t bookshelf when the full site goes live!
Books
Dan, for me you have to include Dave Wonrich’s “Killer Cocktails”. Everyone talks about Imbibe as it covers Jerry Thomas and it’s all about retro and the moment, but Killer Cocktails is a must have in my opinion. Some really excellent drinks in there and brilliant subtitles! There’s a reason why there’s a section of the Montgomery Place cocktail list entitled “Songs of Citrus”. My personal fav (well, one of them) is The Rose, a serious cocktail with a feminine slant.
The Rose
50ml Noilly Rouge
25ml kirschwasser
5ml raspberry syrup
Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with a cherry & lemon twist
good recommendation
Thanks for that Nidal, I have just ordered a copy and am looking forward to seeing what it holds!
DeGroff
Dale’s drinks are sweet even by our standards. I think part of his converting crappy mixed drink drinkers to more classic cocktail drinkers during the 80s was making things sweeter and he has never adjusted his palate to what the rest of the world is doing today. Unfortunately, his overly sweet recipes were included in BarSmarts and taught as Gospel (at least for the taking and passing of the tests).
Thanks for your comment
Thanks for your comment Frederic. I have to say that I totally admire what Dale has done for the industry but you are probably right about the need to adjust to the modern palette. I know there are some great bartenders on the other side of the pond who make fantasticly balanced drinks too!
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