More than just a collection of recipes - this explains the frameworks and how the different ingredient categories interact, with examples.

Day, Fauchald and Kaplan focus in on six major cocktail archetypes (the Martini, The Daiquiri, etc) and explore in excruciating detail what the core ratios are that define each drink and how bartenders have developed variants over the years (i. The concept of the six root cocktails is so interesting and they explain each of these root cocktails so well and extensive. At Slightly Pretentious we're on a quest to visit the top 100 bars in the world, and here we share stories from those travels while also helping you create killer cocktails at home.

The Smokescreen was smokey without being overpowering, and the mint and simple syrup played beautifully with just enough Chartreuse to balance out the scotches. Each "main six" cocktail, for instance the Old Fashioned, will be broken down into its core (whiskey), balance (sugar/syrup), and seasoning (bitters). By understanding how elements like bright, tangy lemon juice balance a rich, heavy ingredient, you can then swap in other sources of acid — grapefruit juice, say, or yogurt — for infinite iterations.

I came into this book a novice and finished it with a fairly robust understanding of cocktail composition, differences between liquors, liquers, and bitters, and balance. When I'm designing a new drink, I often flip through their recipes to see what formula I'm approximating, or what recipe might be a counterpoint against which I can innovate. Sean has spent the last decade teaching people how to build small businesses, playing golf, and sneaking into high class establishments where he probably doesn't belong.All cocktails, they claim, can be traced back to 6 root recipes: The Old-Fashioned, The Martini, The Daiquiri, The Sidecar, The Whisky Highball, and The Flip. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. And, unlike every other book you'll read this year, Cocktail Codex is packed with actual knowledge you can use in the real world. The method to the madness of categorizing, making and enjoying the various cocktails and their riffs is fascinating and educational. Fortunately, almost every "classic" cocktail is included in this book, though a couple are needlessly omitted.

This framework will not make you an expert, or even able to competently step behind the bar of a high-end bar, but you will gain a baseline understanding of what's going on. Once you understand the hows and whys of each root recipe you'll be able to invent entirely new cocktails. although perhaps a few steps beyond my level of cocktail making I loved this book for the basics - the review of the core basics of drinks, both the traditions, the exansions and variations as well as the chemistry of them. This is stuff (aside from infusions) that you should honestly avoid until you know what you're doing, but it's all very cool and raises your horizons of what a cocktail can be.By studying each of the six drinks, you’ll learn the mechanics of a particular style of cocktail and important lessons in technique and ingredients that elevate your cocktail game. This book is perfect for someone who wants to learn how to mix drinks to their own accord and break some rules rather than just have a recipe to go by and nothing else. If you pick up the book, there’s a sister recipe that switches out the Chartreuse for Absinthe that I’m looking forward to trying out as well.

I am a novice and enjoyed learning about how to make cocktails based on 6 core cocktails and then being able to develop it. While there is a sameness about everything when all you do is work and home, the attention to the food and drink has been exquisite. My spouse informed me France was our destination, and we would be bringing home aperitifs and such that are not available outside of there. The idea reminds me a lot of the book DIY Cocktails, by Marcia Simmons, which also divides up cocktails by their basic ratio, though it has more categories. Plenty of great ones out there but this covers everything you could possibly want as a home bartender (unless you’re into tiki drinks, in which case you’ll want the Smuggler’s Cove book instead and thinking on it now yeah that’s a better desert island cocktail book…) making classic cocktails.You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. More importantly, through practice, you'll absorb a broader gestalt of concepts like "balance", "depth", and "quality", or the art of distinguishing a well-made Daiquiri from a flat one. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others.