Reddit reviews Imbibe!: From Absinthe Cocktail to Whiskey Smash, a Salute in Stories and Drinks to "Professor" Jerry Thomas, Pioneer of the American Bar Featuring the Original Formulae
We found 27 Reddit comments about Imbibe!: From Absinthe Cocktail to Whiskey Smash, a Salute in Stories and Drinks to "Professor" Jerry Thomas, Pioneer of the American Bar Featuring the Original Formulae. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Dude, that's fantastic news. This comment immediately got me subscribed for updates.
Some other source recommendations off the top of my head...
Tiki drinks:
General cocktails:
...that's... not a bad list to get started. Good luck! I'll be interested to follow along with development.
IMBIBE!
Imbibe!
David Wondrich's Imbibe! is one of my favorites. Not only does it go into a lot of detail about the cocktails but there is also a really nice chunk of history, legend, and anecdotes. Definitely an entertaining read and some great recipes.
If you enjoy reading and history, check out Imbibe. It's basically a history of cocktails in the US along with recipes, etc. even if you have no intention of making the drinks, the history and evolution is really neat.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0399532870?pc_redir=1408718170&robot_redir=1
Okay, you've caught me; there's beer and wine books, too. Here's what you're looking at:
I run a cocktail bar, and I've been meaning to share my library for some time, but I have a knack for lending my books out to friends and colleagues so I keep waiting for it to be complete. Then I realized my collection keeps growing and will never be complete, so I may as well just share a snapshot of it.
Top row:
Sippin' Safari: In Search of the Great "Lost" Tropical Drink Recipes... and the People Behind Them by Jeff "Beachbum" Berry
Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails: From the Alamagoozlum to the Zombie 100 Rediscovered Recipes and the Stories Behind Them by Ted "Dr. Cocktail" Haigh
The Joy of Mixology: The Consummate Guide to the Bartender's Craft by Gary "Gaz" Regan
The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America's Most Imaginative Chefs by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg
The World Encyclopedia of Beer by Brian Glover
How to Brew: Everything You Need to Know to Brew Beer Right the First Time by John J. Palmer
Jigger, Beaker and Glass: Drinking Around the World by Charles H. Baker, Jr. (aka The Gentleman's Companion Volume II)
Tasting Beer: An Insider's Guide to the World's Greatest Drink by Randy Mosher
Michael Jackson's Complete Guide to Single Malt Scotch by Michael Jackson
The Ultimate Guide to Spirits & Cocktails by Andre Domine
New Classic Cocktails by Mardee Haidin Regan and Gary "Gaz" Regan
The Book of Garnishes by June Budgen
World's Best Cocktails: 500 Signature Drinks from the World's Best Bars and Bartenders by Tom Sandham
The Complete Book of Spirits: A Guide to Their History, Production, and Enjoyment by Anthony Dias Blue
Cocktails & Amuse-Bouches for Her & For Him by Daniel Boulud and Xavier Herit
Imbibe!: From Absinthe Cocktail to Whiskey Smash, a Salute in Stories and Drinks to "Professor" Jerry Thomas, Pioneer of the American Bar by David Wondrich
Middle Row:
Hemingway & Bailey's Bartending Guide to Great American Writers
The New and Improved Illustrated Bartenders' Manual; or: How to Mix Drinks of the Present Style by Harry Johnson (Espresso Book Machine Reprint)
Michael Jackson's Bar & Cocktail Companion: The Connoisseur's Handbook by Michael Jackson
The Craft of Stone Brewing Co.: Liquid Lore, Epic Recipes, and Unabashed Arrogance by Greg Koch, Steve Wagner & Randy Clemens
The PDT Cocktail Book: The Complete Bartender's Guide from the Celebrated Speakeasy by Jim Meehan
Bitters: A Spirited History of a Classic Cure-All, with Cocktails, Recipes, and Formulas by Brad Thomas Parsons
A Taste for Absinthe: 65 Recipes for Classic and Contemporary Cocktails by R. Winston Guthrie & James F. Thompson
The Bartender's Guide to IBA Official Cocktails by Jenny Reese (Espresso Book Machine Printing)
Punch: The Delights (and Dangers) of the Flowing Bowl by David Wondrich
The Home Distiller's Handbook: Make Your Own Whiskey & Bourbon Blends, Infused Spirits and Cordials by Matt Teacher
A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage
The Decorative Art of Japanese Food Carving: Elegant Garnishes for All Occasions by Hiroshi Nagashima
What to Drink with What You Eat: The Difinitive Guide to Pairing Food with Wine, Beer, Spirits, Coffee, Tea - Even Water - Based on Expert Advice from America's Best Sommeliers by Andrew Dornenburg & Karen Page
The American Cocktail: 50 Recipes that Celebrate the Craft of Mixing Drinks from Coast to Coast by The Editors of Imbibe Magazine
The ABC of Cocktails by Peter Pauper Press
How to Make Your Own Drinks: Create Your Own Alcoholic and Non-Alcoholic Drinks from Fruit Cordials to After-Dinner Liqueurs by Susy Atkins
How to Make a World of Liqueurs by Heather Kibbey & Cheryl Long
With these elements in place, plus some groceries like fresh fruit (limes, lemons, orange, etc), sugar (remember simple syrup is 1 part water 1 part sugar), and soda water, you'll be able to make old fashioneds, rickeys, collinses, manhattans, and dozens of other cocktails.
It all depends on what you're looking for. If I had to go for one general book to start out with it'd probably be The Essential Bartender's Guide - great intro with some history, as well as discussion on what different types of drinks are, etc. Good Jack-of-all-trades book. As you get a little deeper, the standouts for me are Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails, Bitters, Imbibe!, and Punch. Vintage is a great resource to get an idea of what's been done (and lost) over the years, and is a great place to learn about what types of flavors work well together, plus there's a great blurb about the history of the drink with each recipe. Bitters is pretty self explanatory, but it has a nice intro to cocktail history, and s ton of great recipes, both new and old. Really interesting to see how slight tweaks in the bitters used (Fourth Regiment vs a Manhattan, for example) makes a huge difference in the ultimate product. Imbibe and Punch are simply brilliant history lessons, with a few recipes thrown in for good measure. Cheers!
[This] (http://www.amazon.com/Imbibe-Professor-Featuringthe-Selection-Contributed/dp/0399532870/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408553910&sr=8-1&keywords=imbibe) book has an amazing and entertaining history of just how rough spirits were back then, and how that shaped our drinking culture today.
Imbibe is a good history lesson.
The American Cocktail from Imbibe! magazine is great and just came out. A lot of stuff from the current movement.
A gift subscription to Imbibe itself would also be very welcomed.
DeGroff's The Essential Cocktail is a beautiful book.
Ted Haigh's Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails is one of the early books of the cocktail revival. Still essential.
Might be a bit obvious for this sub but Dave Wondrich's book Imbibe! is a fascinating look into the history of American bars, cocktails, and the Professor Jerry Thomas. Highly recommended reading!
This book has a recipe for it.
City Tavern would be your best bet but looking on the website now, it doesn't seem to have it.
Also ask the folks at Art in the Age this book is recent from them and they might know more.
> I'm not sure what the distinction is between say, brandy and "Brandy Cocktail", but it is so-listed in the manifest.
A brandy/gin/bourbon whiskey cocktail in the 1860s likely would have been alcohol, water, sugar, and bitters, and maybe a twist of lemon or orange.
Source: Imbibe! by David Wondrich.
I am 100% all for the pursuit of knowledge behind the bar. I believe it's a great way to show initiative to get behind a craft bar, elevate your cocktail game, and just to learn something cool. Feel free to message me if you have questions on where to get started, what to do after you've read some of these books, what to expect when you're working your way up, etc. I'd be more than happy to lend some helpful advice!
Here are some of the books I'd recommend:
"The Bar Book" by Jeffrey Morgenthaler
I'd start here if you're interested in and are brand new to craft cocktails. Morgenthaler's Bar Book is threaded with great insight on what and why certain techniques are used behind the bar and is riddled with beautiful photography.
"Imbibe!" by Dave Wondrich
Hands down, the first book you should read if you want to get into the lore behind craft drinks. It opens up with the story of our great forefather, Jeffrey Thomas, and then continues to discuss the various eras of bartending and what they represent, as well as the drinks within those eras.
"Craft Cocktails at Home" by Kevin Liu
If Bar Book is your high school Geometry, Liu's, "Craftcocktails at Home" is your college Linear Algebra class. Provides you with hard science on what exactly going on in the glass if we shake VS stir or the happenings in an egg-based drink. Awesome read.
"How's Your Drink" by Eric Felten
Felten runs through history and entertains with stories behind some of the biggest drinks in cocktails. Did you know the Vesper (a vodka/gin Martini hybrid of sorts) was created in a Jame's Bond book and was named after the sultry villain? That President Theodore Roosevelt loved himself a good mint julep and even had his own mint bed to supply himself plenty when he wanted one? Fun read.
"Drunken Botanist" by Amy Stewart
Alcohol is derived from things. This is the best book that talks about those things. Agave, Juniper, Barley, Cinchona Bark. Understand the drink from a Botanist's point of view.
"Bitters" by Brad Thomas Parsons
Bitters are an incredible way to add both aromatics and flavor into a cocktail. This book will help you not only understand what they are and what they do, but will kickstart your own bitter brewing process if desired. Homemade Orange Bitters kick ass.
Barsmarts
Last but not least, Barsmarts is a great online tool to help rundown the basis of what we with cocktails. It goes through the various spirits, a brief look at cocktail history, and even has a "drink builder". Definitely worth the $30.
Everything said so far is a solid backbone.
One thing I might suggest is to stick with the classics for a while, sip as many as you can. Negroni, Manhattan, Old Fashioned, Improved Whiskey, Last Word, Aviation. Once you master the form you can play within the form. Like Jazz.
Also, I'm surprised no one has mentioned David Wondrich. Go buy Imbibe! and steep yourself in the rich tradition and classics.
EDIT: Whoops! Someone did mention Wondrich's column in Esquire. Might I recommend an Esquire subscription? Beyond Wondrich writing on cocktails and drinking each week, it is the quintessential gentlemen's mag. The greatest writers of every generation have been found in its pages.
First step, get some books!
The Craft of the Cocktail
This is a great beginning book. It's got the right advice, and all of the recipes are spot on. This book will keep you busy for a very long time, as well as teach you the proper way to make each drink.
If you start to get really serious about drink-making, check out:
Imbibe! by David Wondrich. It is remarkable in its authenticity and attention to detail. As interesting as it is, it is more of a history book than a recipe book, so it may be hard to swallow for those less passionate about where the classics really came from.
Aside from that, things to keep in mind:
And, if nothing else, try this.
Put it all into a shaking tin, and shake without ice. Add ice, shake, and strain into whatever. A mason jar is preferred. A lot of people get turned off by the egg white thing, but it will change your life.
http://www.amazon.com/Imbibe-Professor-Featuringthe-Selection-Contributed/dp/0399532870
They have the hardcover version of one of those books for MUCH cheaper: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B0032IZ2KK/ref=tmm_hrd_used_olp_sr?ie=UTF8&condition=used&sr=1-1&qid=1415936555
You should definitely read David Wondrich's books, Punch, and Imbibe!. Both are hybrid social history/drink manuals, so you not only learn how to make a wide variety of drinks, you come to understand their evolution, the stories behind them, and the history of drinking culture in general. They are written with panache and are a great starting point for someone who knows nothing about alcohol (your words, not mine).
To my knowledge, he is unaware that I do this. It happened the other way around in the beginning. I noticed all the specific cocktails mentioned in the season 2 scripts, and decided that I could do enough TIPS to make it interesting.
The only thing I've done to help myself out is give Adam a copy of David Wondrich's IMBIBE as a gift one year. Can't blame me for trying, right?
I'm a fan of classic cocktails and the stories behind them, so here are my top three at the moment:
Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails by Ted Haigh.
Imbibe! By David Wondrich (new edition coming out next April)
Esquire Drinks by David Wondrich (out of print but available used on Amazon).
For those just starting to build a home bar, 12 Bottle Bar by David and Lesley Solmonson is well worth $10.
And another vote for Death & Co. (Amazon's "#1 New Release in Cocktails & Mixed Drinks!)
EDIT: Added links and Death & Co.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0399532870/
check out Imbibe
No, it's not. Notice the total absence of bitters.
The Old Fashioned refers back to the original cocktail recipe, when it was a "bittered sling." A sling is sugar, water, and liquor; add a few dashes of bitters and you have a cocktail. At some point (in the late 1800's), the water was replaced with ice, and the sugar with simple syrup (the lemon twist was added around this time as well). Then, as tends to happen with drinks, all sorts of stuff started getting thrown into it, fruits, garnishes, absinthe, etc.
The Old Fashioned came about as a hearkening back to that simple cocktail. A proper Old Fashioned consists of: sugar (~1tsp, IIRC), a little water (to dissolve the sugar in), 2oz liquor (whiskey, gin, rum, or brandy...I had a proper OF with brandy at a hotel bar once and it was delicious), and 2-3 dashes of bitters, then add ice and the twist of lemon peel.
Of course, even this started getting all sorts of stuff thrown into it, and, in the post-Prohibition days, the cherry and orange slice came to be pretty much standard (though muddling the fruits was...controversial, I believe).
However, even if you go with the fruit as standard, an Old Fashioned still requires sugar and bitters (the bar that was passing off a phony OF did not even have bitters, apparently).
source: Imbibe!, by David Wondrich, and Wikipedia
They teach you the "easy way", and by easy way I mean using sour mix and taking shortcuts like that. There are plenty of good resources online and amazing cocktail books you can buy that have the original recipes for classic cocktails, as well as the proper way to do things behind the bar.
Learn from reputable sources and from good bartenders. If you're interested here's a couple good reads:
As far as knowledge goes, you can learn a lot from reading and studying. For me personally, I love this kind of stuff and I'm constantly trying to learn as much as I can so I could hardly say it feels like actual studying. As for technical skills, learn from people better than you. No matter how good you get, there is always someone out there you can learn from. A lot of how I work I've picked up from watching great bartenders, everything from small stuff like the way I carry a bottle to the way I move behind the bar has come from watching, learning and implementing it into how I bartend.
Prohibition didn't happen until 1920. The drink probably dates to circa-1860s. The original 1:1 ratio (and similar ratios) was very popular with high-quality, sweeter gin (think Old Tom gin) by the 1880s, and similar ratio drinks with true dry gins were popular by the 1890s. The Wikipedia entry is incomplete and unsourced, making claims about things that are poorly documented and repeating common-knowledge ideas about the drink that aren't necessarily correct. Also, there wasn't good vermouth during Prohibition, either.
Most people with experience with good vermouths vastly prefer higher vermouth content ratios for the Martini even today when great gin is super common. I've never met someone with even a moderate interest in cocktails that prefers the virtually-no-vermouth version of a Martini. In short, your explanation for the phenomenon doesn't really make sense. Prohibition may have had an impact, but it was probably predominantly a cultural one or perhaps the reduced availability of good vermouth combined with complicated cultural factors. For a decent history of cocktails, I recommend David Wondrich's Imbibe!, which is a very interesting read.
Don't forget about Boozehound and Imbibe!
I'm from NJ, and I am all too empathetic with your struggle. I started getting into Applejack drinks after reading Imbibe!, which inspired me to quest for lots of more authentic liquors.