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How to Cocktail: Recipes and Techniques for Building the Best Drinks

America's Test Kitchen (Editor)

4.11 · Rating details · 90 ratings · 7 reviews

All the kitchen secrets, techniques, recipes, and inspiration you need to craft transcendent cocktails, from essential, canonical classics to imaginative all-new creations from America's Test Kitchen.

Cocktail making is part art and part science--just like cooking. The first-ever cocktail book from America's Test Kitchen brings our objective, kitchen-tested and -perfected a ...more

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Kindle Edition, 272 pages

Published October 8th 2019 by America's Test Kitchen

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Feb 04, 2020 Patty rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I loved this! It was created with the home cook/entertainer in mind. It has recipes for just over 100 cocktails - a far from complete list. Across from each recipe in a full-page, color photo of the garnished cocktail, and it's the photos that really make this book work. Though there are several close seconds, my absolute favorite picture was of the Ramos Gin Fizz.

But it's not just a picture book. Each recipe has a section of "Why this recipe works," which offers tips on making the cocktail, as ...more

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Jan 19, 2020 Dani added it · review of another edition

Shelves: cookbooks-and-food

America's Test Kitchen is known for their recipes for cooking and baking, but now they took on cocktails, too! As always, their books aren't meant to turn you into a paid professional--in other words, this book won't make you a big-time bartender. But the trade-off is that it *can* make you a pretty spiffy mixologist and party host in your own home. As ATK says,
"We always kept the home cook in mind, solving practical challenges like how to make an array of cocktails without having to purchas America's Test Kitchen is known for their recipes for cooking and baking, but now they took on cocktails, too! As always, their books aren't meant to turn you into a paid professional--in other words, this book won't make you a big-time bartender. But the trade-off is that it *can* make you a pretty spiffy mixologist and party host in your own home. As ATK says,
"We always kept the home cook in mind, solving practical challenges like how to make an array of cocktails without having to purchase lots of expensive bottles, what tools you really need (and how to wield them like a pro), how to make big batches for entertaining, and so much more."

Since this book is about learning how to craft cocktails, it makes sense that it is organized around craft and technique. The chapters are:
Built
Stirred
Shaken
Muddled
Blended
Big Batch
Syrups, Shrubs, Bitters, And Garnishes
Homemade Liqueurs and Vermouths
Snacks

If you're looking for a drink but don't know the technique behind how its made, there is also a helpful list in the beginning separating drinks by categories such as type of alcohol, one-bottle cocktails, three-ingredient cocktails, low-alcohol cocktails, non-alcoholic cocktails, and spirit-only cocktails.

There is an introduction complete with tips and basics, including an explanation "of the fundamental categories of spirits and liqueurs" as well as recommendations for what the ATK team considers "essential versus optional in order to have a versatile home bar." Again, this book doesn't assume you're a fully-stocked professional bartender--it helps you prioritize, find what you like, and teach you how to make things at home, even going as far as to have recipes for some of the ingredients in the cocktails, such as how to make your own liqueurs, bitters, and flavored rim salts.

In addition, there is a guide to the different kinds of glasses cocktails are served in, along with a guide as to what the ATK team sees as most important to least essential for making and serving cocktails. Then, there is a small picture above each recipe showing which glass is needed for the cocktail (or if more than kind of glass can be used).

I appreciated that this book was well-rounded. As I've mentioned, it gives options, and talks about what is most essential--not just to make things in the book, but based on the types of cocktails you enjoy. It has recipes for making your own liqueurs, but also reminds you that you can use store-bought as well. At the very end of the book is a small section for snacks that would go well at a party or during a cocktail hour. Again, this isn't an appetizer cookbook, so it's only a few pages, but those few pages really round the book.

Also, it was great to see some non-alcoholic recipes! I most appreciated that they put the same attention to crafting a drink deliciously even when it didn't' have alcohol. "Calling them 'mocktails' does them a disservice. Spirit-free cocktails should be as attractive, thoughtfully balance, and indulgent as any carefully crafted alcoholic cocktail. We developed our original nonalcoholic cocktail recipes as meticulously as we did our spirited cocktails, with the hope that they become part of your regular cocktail rotation." As I said before, I feel it is a well-rounded book. ...more

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Jan 22, 2020 Juli Anna rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: cookbooks

A really great little volume! ATK is very hit-or-miss for me, but I thought this book was a hit. This is a great application for ATK's scientific-ish approach to food prep, and the emphasis on technique here was helpful. The cocktail recipes feel classic, but fresh, and I really appreciated all the recipes for homemade bar basics like vermouths and bitters. In addition, I thought the various non-alcoholic cocktails were well considered. ...more

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Jun 29, 2020 Sherri rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: cooking, non-fiction-general

Drinks are broken down into your main alcohol categories: gin, brandy, whiskey, etc. Each page has a great photo.

Each drink starts off with a "Why this drink works" section that includes some history and the pros and cons in the Test Kitchen, the recipe, and helpful tips or suggested edits.

A fairly decent handheld bar reference in which perhaps you'll find an old classic or a new favorite! ...more

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Dec 03, 2019 Holly rated it it was amazing

Great recipes for drinks and for the building blocks of drinks such as tonic syrup.

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Oct 20, 2020 Little rated it liked it

Shelves: perused, cooking-and-food

Gorgeous and inspiring. I haven't actually made a single drink from it, but I bet if I did, they'd be good. ...more

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Jan 03, 2020 Julie rated it liked it

A little too much make-it-yourself for my needs. I wanted to learn how to craft cool cocktails, not how to make tonic from scratch. Interesting though.

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About America's Test Kitchen

America's Test Kitchen

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America's Test Kitchen, based in a brand new state-of-the-art 60,000 sq. ft. facility with over 15,000 sq. ft. of test kitchens and studio space, in Boston's Seaport District, is dedicated to finding the very best recipes for home cooks. Over 50 full-time (admittedly obsessive) test cooks spend their days testing recipes 30, 40, up to 100 times, tweaking every variable until they understand how an ...more