The Craft of the Cocktail: Everything You Need to Know to Be a Master Bartender, with 500 Recipes

Dale DeGroff is to blame for setting me off on a quest for the perfect Sazerac. While it lasted (and I can testify that its demise had nothing to do with the quality of the drink and food) DeGroff's Blackbird bar/restaurant in Manhattan was a place I enjoyed going when I could spare the time and cash. When you got DeGroff into the realm of the bitters-tinged cocktail, his subtly aromatic, complex, and a little bit dark and twisted drinks were a treat for the nose and tongue, even as his urbane presence and stylish economy of motion made it clear you were in the presence of a Real Bartender. I still remember the first Sazerac I had there, and the way it unfolded to my senses. Although in the ensuing years, when it comes to that particular drink, I've developed a slight preference for the simpler perfection of the classic (just rye, Peychaud's Bitters, simple syrup, Herbsaint) Sazerac, I still enjoy the plot twists in the story told by DeGroff's fancified (half-and-half rye and cognac for the liquor, and half-and-half Peychaud's and regular old Angostura handling the bitters requirement) version, and I follow his glass-preparation instructions whichever version I make. This is all an illustration of the true lesson to be learned about bartenders' references: there is no single book which will tell you everything there is to be learned about mixing drinks. You need to go out and taste what people are mixing, and you need to have several books on hand whose recipes you can read, compare, imagine, try, synthesize, extrapolate. DeGroff's The Craft of the Cocktail, despite having come out as recently as 2002, is clearly one of those essential references you need on your shelf. It's just a bonus (or perhaps, to some, an annoyance) that the book is so lavishly-produced that you could choose to leave it on the coffee table for guests to enjoy when you're not using it yourself.

I agree with everyone else's praise for this book. It's definitely my "desert island" cocktail book. There are many bad cocktail books out there, there are a few good cocktail books, but this is the only "great" cocktail book. My only gripe is the index is not thorough enough to look up drinks by ingredient. For instance, you can't look up Benedictine and find all drink recipes containing that ingredient.

I took a course with Dale and found out first hand what it takes to make a truly great cocktail--and found out how bad most cocktails in bars really are. This book not only tells how to create really memorable drinks for yourself and guests, it also delves into the history of the various spirits and how they've been combined by savvy bartenders to create classics old and new. I've read through it several times, lapping up classics like the sidecar and DeGroff signature drinks like the Ritz. If you like cocktails, this is an amazing book. Nobody cares about getting the best results like Dale.

First of all, I am just a pretender, and I have no intention of ever becoming a professional bartender. With that said, this is definitely one of the best books I have picked up, and definitely the best bartender book I have ever seen. It contains vivid pictures of everything that Mr. Degroff is trying to explain and he gives great tips on everything from knowing what glassware and alcohols to have in your bar to unbelievable mix drink recipies. For those who do not drink, it even contains an unbelievable non-alcholic drink (the citrius cream). This book also makes a great coffee table book. Vistors that come by cannot keep their hands off of it! I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes to bartend for fun or professionally.

I found this book to be much more than a great collection of elegant cocktail recipes. De Groff entertains the reader with a history of the cocktail from its early beginnings and the role of bars and barmen in American culture. There's a very useful how-to section for setting up a home bar, an interesting guide to the huge variety of spirits, anecdotes about the drinking habits of the famous, and items of "trivia" that even include a cure for hiccups. The photographs that accompany the text are exquisite.