The New Craft of the Cocktail

In this excellent update of bartender DeGroff’s seminal 2002 work, The Craft of the Cocktail, DeGroff serves up a whopping 500 recipes. He begins with a thumbnail history of drinking, from the invention of the mixed drink to the return of trendy “speakeasy” style bars. Next, he deconstructs the cocktail, analyzing the ingredients, tools, and techniques that contribute to its artistry, before getting into the recipes, a stirring mix of old classics and new twists, which borrow “both ingredients and techniques from the culinary world.” The drinks are presented alphabetically, usually several to a page, so the Michelada, the mimosa, and the mojito are all side by side. Readers can, however, browse by spirit in the index; under the gin listing, for example, there are more than 80 concoctions, from the Abbey Cocktail (Aviation American gin and Lillet Blanc) to the Yuzu Gimlet. DeGroff selects brands of liquor he likes best for each drink (Rittenhouse 100-Proof for a classic Manhattan, for instance) and peppers the pages with sidebar remembrances of his many years as a mixologist. He denies inventing the cosmopolitan (despite often being credited for it) and recounts his days at the Rainbow Room, where he made his own ice cubes (“I was like a missionary for the Kold-Draft machines”). Home bartenders will be thrilled by this authoritative and satisfying reference. (Sept.)