The Essential Cocktail Book: A Complete Guide to Modern Drinks with 150 Recipes

by Editors of Punch, Megan Krigbaum (Editor)

An indispensable atlas of the best cocktail recipes—each fully photographed—for classic and modern drinks, whether shaken, stirred, up, or on the rocks.

How do you create the perfect daiquiri? In what type of glass should you serve a whiskey sour? What exactly is an aperitif cocktail? A compendium for both home and professional bartenders, The Essential Cocktail Book answers all of these questions and more—through recipes, lore and techniques for 150 drinks, both modern and classic.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cocktails, Reference, Food, Cooking, Nonfiction

352 pages, Hardcover

Published September 5, 2017

Reviews

[Ian Hrabe · Rating 4 out of 5]

2022 was going to be my year of reading some of those classics I've been putting off, but apparently it is the year of reading reference volumes about alcohol and mixed drinks from cover to cover. What I like about this one though is the little blurbs that explain the history of the drinks that give credit where credit is due. I didn't necessarily want to try everything in here--for instance, some of these tiki drinks gave me a hangover just reading the recipes. "1 oz 150 proof rum." Ouch--but I did enjoy reading from a historical perspective.

Update: I have been working through this the past few months and as I get deeper into it (and reading other cocktail books) I feel like there are a lot of modern cocktails here that are impractical for pretty much anyone. Like, it's fun to read about a Benton's Old Fashioned (which involves infusing whiskey with bacon) but you put that one in here over the Gold Rush? This book is still very good and a very good starting point for building out a home bar and discovering your favorite cocktails (Boulavardier has become my go-to and trying different whiskeys and vermouths has been a ton of fun) but it's a shame that it could have been even better.

[H James · Rating 2 out of 5]

I find myself in agreement with Ms Krigbaum on a number of oft-debated questions regarding ingredients and proportions (sugar rim on a Sidecar? yes; violette in an Aviation? also yes), but the absurd page layouts and drawn-by-a-sixth-grader icons makes this little book feel like a money-grab rather than a serious attempt to either entertain or educate. In more than a few instances she presents information that was accepted as fact 20 years ago but has been drawn into question or outright disproven (usually by Mr David Wondrich). That Ten Speed Press is advertising this little stocking-stuffer instead of going all-in on the vastly better researched Meehan's Bartender Manual is a shame.

[Gina Zappa · Rating 5 out of 5]

"This recipe is Beach's original from 1934, as translated by Jeff "Beachbum Berry" in his book Sippin' Safari."

Guys...there is book called "Sippin' Safari" and I can't tell you how much I love that.

I also really loved this lil blue book. It was broken in to two sections, classic recipes and modern recipes. I like that format a lot in a drink recipe book, because if I am going to spend money on a book like this I want it to really cover all the bases. This book does just that.

The photography alongside the recipes is killer, it has lists and descriptions of every alcohol, garnish and tool you could ever need, and each recipe has a key at the top of the page that shows what kind of glass and garnish you'll need for the drink. It also tells you if it is stirred, shaken, built, frozen or large format.

Possibly my favorite part about this book (other than the whole Sippin' Safari revelation) is the little history lesson on the cocktail that comes before each recipe. One of my favorites, though it was hard to pick just one, was in the story of the Corpse Reviver No. 2. It is a pre-Prohibition era drink and here's my favorite bit of the history...

"Such a cocktail is a reasonable choice for eye-opening activities if you heed the warning offered in the 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book:"Four of these taken in swift succession will un-revive the corpse again.""

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great tips and tricks. The Moscow Mule recipe was pretty good. Excited to try the other recipes.

[Miriam Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Been working my way through this book over the last year. Good intro section at the front and heaps of great cocktails to try. Critical for any budding alcoholic ;)

[Steve Horn · Rating 5 out of 5]

shoutout LIB and JVF

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent cocktails. Love the Paper plane!