The Ultimate Book of Cocktails

"The Ultimate Book of Cocktails" is an amazing addition to the ever growing number of books about alcohol, alcohol mixing, and bartending. From the cover to the very last page, the entire thing has a very flashy, professional style, rife with literally hundreds of full color pictures, clearly displaying what each and every bottle or mixed drink should look like. The paper used is a high quality, heavy type that will stand the test of time, as well as all your spilled alcoholic concoctions. This massive tome starts off with a brief, but highly informative, introduction to the history of all of alcohol's various forms. Several artifacts are shown to highlight whatever historical point is being made, such as a small statue dated around 2300 BC of an Egyptian woman mixing beer. All the information presented in the introduction is just a broad overview, though, as the real meat of the history is scattered throughout the book in every entry. Essentially every type of hard liquor that could possibly be imagined is presented in all it's glory, along with it's history and what it tastes good mixed with. Both broad categories, like "Vodka" and specific types or brands, like "Southern Comfort" are given due attention. Several of the entries are rather surprising. Grand Marnier is listed, along with what it mix it with to actually drink, although it's most typically used solely as a cooking aid, or as part of a mix for marinating fruits. Pisan Ambon, an Indonesian liquor made with banana, is just one of many little known or hard to find liquors explained here, and most of them will have the reader out the next day trying to track the thing down. Following the hard liquor is an equally comprehensive section on champagne and wine, which is then followed by a necessarily shorter segment on beer. There are simply far too many types of beer to give a whole page for each without having a two thousand page book. Several non alcoholic mixers, from the most ordinary to most exotic, are also described in detail. The obligatory "bartending techniques" section is present, with all the tools of the trade and the various foods and liquids any bartender should have stocked before entertaining. The bulk of the book is in the drink recipes - and this is where "The Ultimate Cocktail Guide" really shines. Hundreds of cocktails are listed, utilizing nearly every liquor previously mentioned in the book, all with full color photos of the end result and a short little blurb about the drink and it's history. A good variety of styles are present, ranging from fruity tooty drinks, to hardcore "knock you off your seat" drinks, to absolutely bedazzling drinks that exist more for presentation than for drinking. Anyone interested in getting absolutely sloshed, in style, owes it to themselves to purchase this book as quickly as possible.

This a good coffe table book to own, the appearance of the book is fabulous and the information in it is even more interesting. The guide has not only a long list of some of the best drinks but also how to make them, what goes well with them, what kind of glasses to use and a little history on the alcohol itself. I've tried mixing several of the drinks and they came out fabulous. ***This book appears at the Bargain section of Borders a lot. It's usually less than 5 bucks.

I received this book from my parents for my 21st birthday. Now, I knew that such things as beer, wine, and vodka existed and I've had my share of encounters with alcohol before my 21st birthday but I would have never guessed that there was so much information. This book has an introduction which talks about the history of alcohol. Then it has a section on the types of drinks and information about them (I would have never guessed how many there really are: spirits, gin, vodka, rum, whiskey, tequila, brandy, kirsch, etc., etc., etc.). It even talks about non-alcoholic mixers with information on how to serve drinks. Then there is an entire section on bartending techniques (which are very useful when trying to impress guests). And then there are over 130 pages of colorful (ie. pictures) drink recepies with a glossary and an index in the back. This book is easy to use by anyone who has no clue what they are doing and in no time the novice can be impressing their friends at parties and making some interesting and yummy drinks. This book is so easy to use because it spells out how to make these yummy and complicated looking drinks in clearly written steps (and the pictures help too). It will be a long time before I get bored of this guide, I highly recomend it to anyone.

I got this book as a gift and assumed it was just another cocktail guide. Little did I know this book is also a wealth of information on the history of spirits, liqueurs, wines, beers, and more. Also contains bartending techniques, tips and proper etiquette, as well as superb photography of most drinks and popular reccomended brands. I was never too big on cocktails or drinking but now I want to try and make and sample everything. Beautiful book, definitely worth the $12 it's being sold here for.

I love this book!! If you only have one book about cocktails and what goes into them - this is the book. Stuart Walton effortlessly glides you through an amazingly informative and entertaining wealth of information about cocktails, liqueurs, spirts, wines, beer, mixers, and bartending techniques. Get this book!