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Required Reading for Serious Cocktail Enthusiasts - a list by carolineoncrack

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About this list:

The cocktail culture is back along with bar chefs and bar etiquette. And if you take your drinking as seriously as all that, this is the reading list for you -- filled with vintage cocktail recipes and fascinating history.

Qualifications:

I drink whiskey smashes, not white chocolate martinis.

For people who like:

bartending
cocktail history
cocktails
drinking
drink recipes
drinks
imbibing
libations
liquor
vintage cocktails

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Viewing 1-10 of 17 Items

Spirits & Liqueurs for Cooking: A Practical Kitchen Handbook: A definitive guide to alcohol-based drinks and how to use them wit

First to recommend

Description

Forget finding the right wine to complement your dinner, what about the right cocktail? This cool book shows you have to pair alcohol-based drinks with food, something I think restaurants should look into.

Updated Dec 2, 2008

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Ultimate Guide to Spirits & Cocktails

First to recommend

Description

Like the title says this is the ultimate guide for cocktail fans. It features over 1,500 illustrations and photographs to go with the recipes so you know how your drink is supposed to look. Plus there's even the history behind the drinks.

Updated Dec 2, 2008

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The Joy of Mixology: The Consummate Guide to the Bartender's Craft

First to recommend

Description

This book offers not only a solid history of mixed cocktails but an instruction manual for bartenders, with everything from bartender etiquette (how to treat a customer who doesn't tip, how to tell someone he's had enough) to the brass tacks of tending bar (how to arrange liquor bottles, how to rim a glass and how to pour out precise measurements).

Updated Dec 26, 2007

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The Art of the Bar: Cocktails Inspired by the Classics

2 people recommended this item

Description

From Tokyo to New York, a cocktail renaissance is happening as "bar chefs" create delicious elixirs worthy of their kitchen counterparts. An epicenter of this barroom artistry can be found at the Absinthe Brasserie & Bar in San Francisco (a city that spends more money per capita on alcohol than any other in the country). Bartenders Jeff Hollinger and Bob Schwartz share their artisan approach for stunning creations that unveil a new spectrum of flavors. Fresh herbs and even aromatic lavender are deftly used to augment classic and new cocktail recipes. Syrups and mixes are carefully crafted from scratch, ensuring small-batch perfection and a harmony of flavors.

Updated Dec 26, 2007

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The Craft of the Cocktail: Everything You Need to Know to Be a Master Bartender, with 500 Recipes

First to recommend

Description

This is the first real cookbook for cocktails, covering the entire breadth of this rich subject. 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,

Updated Dec 26, 2007

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The Cocktails of the Ritz Paris

First to recommend

Description

The former bartender at the Ritz Paris's legendary Bar Hemingway reveals the intoxicating secrets for concocting the world's greatest cocktails--with more than fifty drink recipes and full-color illustrations throughout.

Updated Dec 26, 2007

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The Stork Club Bar Book

First to recommend

Description

This is a must have for anyone who collects bar items. It also provides a great taste of history for anyone who likes New York and the trendiest bar (The Stork Club, owned and operated by Sherman Billingsley) of yesteryear.

Updated Dec 26, 2007

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Straight Up or On the Rocks: The Story of the American Cocktail

First to recommend

Description

"The story of the cocktail itself is long overdue. In Straight Up Or on The Rocks, William Grimes does an expert job--mixing classic-drink recipes with wonderful accounts that will leave cocktail connoisseurs happy." --Paul Engleman, Playboy magazine

Updated Dec 26, 2007

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Esquire Drinks: An Opinionated & Irreverent Guide to Drinking With 250 Drink Recipes

First to recommend

Description

Anyone can lift a glass—but drinking with class, taste, and wisdom is a completely different matter. David Wondrich, Esquire magazine’s renowned “drink pundit,” is here to remedy that sad situation and restore a tradition of intelligent, sophisticated drinking. Wondrich simply provides the liveliest history of drinks imaginable, serving up wit and wisdom that will help you sort out the classic from the crass and master the fundamentals of mixology.

Updated Dec 26, 2007

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Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails: From the Alamagoozlum Cocktail to the Zombie

First to recommend

Description

Here, historian, expert, and drink aficionado Dr. Cocktail has hand-picked 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, 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.

Updated Dec 26, 2007