Your Go To Guide on Mixed Drinks

[Patchez]

Peter Borhmann-- The Bartenders Guide is my main mixology book. 1,444 recipes, basic equipment and techniques, ingredients background and info. Plastic covered. Helpful that.

It works for me a ton of classic and newer drinks. Keeps me from being bored and keeps parties interesting.

[Surreal]

Looking back to the mid 80's when I spent as much time working behind the tap handles as I did drinking/sitting in front of them, Mr. Boston was always my go to. Back then it was used to figure how to mix up the curve ball that was just thrown at me. Now, I read it for pleasure. The "Bourbon Straight Up" allways killed me. One of the shortest recipes in there.....

I'm serious.

[Palinka (RIP)]

I have "Dr. Leonard McCoy's Guide to 23rd Century Cocktails (and How to Keep Your Captain Happy and Stress-Free*)". An excellent guide with alternative drink options for us pre-WWW III troglodytes.


* Presumably by getting said Captain liquored up and pointing him at the nearest Orion Cathouse.

[Mr. Viking]

I don't make many cocktails. I ask my dad, brother or sister for the usuals and enjoy Sir Kingsley Amis' "everyday drinking", which is a collection of newspaper articles. Has some enlightening punch recipes

[Frankennietzsche]

As with all things, the only book one ever needs to consult is The Pentateuch. All you need to do is seek, the answer is already there.

[Mr. Viking]

As with all things, the only book one ever needs to consult is The Pentateuch. All you need to do is seek, the answer is already there.

טאַקע

[Palinka (RIP)]

As with all things, the only book one ever needs to consult is The Pentateuch. All you need to do is seek, the answer is already there.

טאַקע

[Patchez]

I had the Klatuu Necktie recipe out of that one. It didn't end well.

[Frankennietzsche]

Try a Shoggoth Fizz next time.

[Frankennietzsche]

One of the up sides with hipster cutlure's obsession with things obscure and "crafted" is the revival and invention of drink recipes. The upside to this upside is that there seem to be more cocktail articles in magazines like Bon Appetite and on cooking websites. It seems that they weren't there not too long ago.

[Jiggers McCoy]

Your better, "Grown Up" cocktails have a pretty strict set of notes to hit: base spirit, weirdo apertif wine, some kind of bitter, and then a plant garnish. Recipes that deviate too far from this ideal are rarely worth the effort. And even recipes that follow this guideline are usually better at a bar, cuz they can afford to buy all the weirdo wines and bitters.

Anyhow, my brother-in-law got me a pocket book called Old Man Drinks that has all the classics. If I feel the need to consult something, thats what I use.

Slightly related story: Had a neighbor back in DC. Wasn't much of a drinker but was a very eager-to-please type and he saw how I was with the whole homebrewing/bingeing/bon vivant lifestyle and he wanted in. He got one of those Bed Bath & Beyond cocktail sets and he was "practicing" with it in advance of a party he wanted to throw. His first try? A gin and tonic. Guy tried to shake up a G&T. He got two shakes in and the thing exploded from the fizz. I still chuckle about that story.

[Patchez]

I'll have a gin and tonic..shaken but not exploded.

[Palinka (RIP)]

For anyone interested in cocktail history, try reading William Terrington's, 1869, magnum opus, "Cooling Cups and Dainty Drinks". To download a free copy, from Google Books, click here. If that link doesn't work, try this one.