These Are The Best Cocktail Books For Your Home Bar
By Courier Classics
Mar 28, 2019
At Cocktail Courier, we're always cranking out new drinks or looking to the nation's best bartenders for their recipes. When it comes to finding inspiration, these are the books our resident mixologists always return to and recommend for anyone looking to fill up the library in their home bar.
Liquid Intelligence
This tome is a deep dive into the physics of drinks. Dave Arnold, author and founder of The Museum of Food and Drink, knows all the science and techniques behind carbonation, sugar, acidity, and explains them in an approachable way. Arnold focuses less on conventional recipes and more on the methods for crafting the perfect cocktail, including clarifying fruit juice and muddling herbs with liquid nitrogen, so you might want want to pull out a lab coat when reading this!
The Flavor Bible, winner of The James Beard Award, has been referred to as the Pantone swatch book for cooks. Some of the world's best chefs list their suggestions of what foods, spices, herbs complement each other. The thousands of ingredient entries and flavor combinations are sure to help you experiment in both your culinary and mixological endeavors.
The Drunken Botanist is all about the botanical origins of our favorite drinks: beer, wine, spirits, and even mixers. Amy Steward discusses the history of each crop, growing conditions, and its history as an ingredient. This book will get you enthusiastic about plants and all the ways you can drink them!
If you need help choosing bar tools or just want to brush up on some classic bartending skills, The Bar Book is your go-to. There are more than 60 recipes that help reinforce all the skills demonstrated throughout the book, ranging from juicing, garnishing, carbonating, stirring, and shaking to choosing the correct ice for proper chilling and dilution of a drink. Read this book and you'll be impressing your friends with your bar tool artistry in no time!
Not only is this book full of beautiful imagery, but it also has loads of imaginative low ABV cocktails, and even snacks to pair with them! If you're looking for recipes to batch out at your summer soirees - this is a must-read.
