Food & Wine Cocktails

This is a great resource for trendy, often exotic, cocktail recipes. So far I've whipped up the "Au Provence" and "Hibiscus Petal," and both met expectations (which were high). I especially love the use of exotic and unusual herbs and such: thai basil, fresh tarragon, dried hibiscus flowers. Very inventive. Also includes recipes for some classic cocktails, a section on appetizers ("Bar Food") and other useful info. Very happy with this collection.

This book is great for those looking to expand their repetoire broader than gin and tonics and margaritas. one major fault with this edition (2008; i don't know how other year's editions are set up) is that there is no proper index in the back. sure, the book is divided up by major liquor sections (i.e. gin, tequila, vodka, etc) BUT! if you pick up a bottle of, say, st. germaine elderflower liquor, and you want to know all the different drinks you can make with it, you're out of luck, unless you want to page through the entire book to find which recipes use st germaine.

If you like to be on the cutting edge of things like I do, you will appreciate this book. Lots of interesting cocktail facts and wonderful recipes. Just a great book.

I love this series, but this year's edition had many complex drinks with obscure ingredients... Nonetheless it's worth having - this one has "the basics" so it's a good reference, and the recipes for bar snacks look great. I recommend 2005, 2006 and 2007.