Drinkology: The Art and Science of the Cocktail

Rating:
Summary: Love The Title. Hate The Book.
Review: First, to comment regarding a previous review: I don't understand how the lack of pictures of cocktails in this book is a problem. Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" didn't have any pictures either, and I'd find pictures of the final preparation of food to be far more useful then pictures of a finished drink. And this book does have very good drawings in it of glassware, tools, and processes where it needs it.

However, that does not mean that I heartily recommend this book, because I don't.

The size, color, format of the book is amazingly similar to Charles Schumann's "American Bar"... amazingly similar. Although it doesn't appear to have any direct connection to that books publisher, printer, or anything.

When I first opened up the book, it came right up with the "Mai Tai". He has a short little write-up on this drink, and thankfully provides the correct recipe (besides the addition of grenadine). However, in his write-up he states:

"The Mai tai is, in a word, awful. But it's so
flamboyantly, so grandiosely awful that it wins
a place in Drinkology's otherwise unforgiving heart."

While the Mai Tai might not be a traditional and gentile "cocktail", it is still (in my own opinion) a very good drink, and when properly made, worthy of respect. Coming from such a big cocktail snob as myself, that says something.

But ok, everybody has a right to their own opinion, and if this guy doesn't like a Mai Tai, that's fine. Since he is dissing it so strongly, he's probably a real stickler for the real traditional cocktails, so let's take a look at his Old Fashioned.

"...And we hold with those upstarts who recommend
using soda in the drink. (Adding a splash of soda
to the muddled fruit helps blend the flavors; topping
with soda sharpens the taste.)..."

Ok... my blood pressure is starting to rise... Let's take a look at his Manhattan...

"...The recipe below, which employs Canadian blended
whiskey [sic], is the one Drinkology likes the best...
is distinctive in that it suggests including just a tiny
bit of syrup from the maraschino cherry jar..."

Canadian whisky? Cherry juice? I'm sorry, this gentleman has every right to enjoy his cocktails any way he wants to, but in a world which is already too full of poorly researched cocktail books, and ignorant bartenders that try to use those books to learn the trade, we really don't need another one that will turn them down the wrong path.

This book also organizes the recipes by their main "spirit", which I feel for a book that is clearly designed to be used as a recipe reference, is the wrong approach. Recipes should be listed alphabetically. While somebody might have a bottle of rum, and wants to find out what drinks they can make with it, it is more common for them to hear about a drink, and want to find out how to make it.

To its credit, the majority of the cocktail recipes in this book are properly recorded, and he even includes the recipe for the "Tailspin", a hard-to-find recipe that is one of my favorites. But because of a few, and significant, miscues in regards to classic cocktails, I can't recommend this book.

Instead of this book, I would highly recommend "The Joy Of Mixology", "The Bartenders Best Friend", "The Craft of the Cocktail", or "Esquire Drinks", depending on what sort of book you are looking for.

Rating:
Summary: A delight to browse
Review: I am not a cocktail snob like some of the reviewers here (who sound like nothing so much as chili or barbecue fanatics, usually men, who see themselves as keepers of the true flame). But I like a good cocktail, and I like cocktail guides. This is a classic of its kind.

Drinkology is an excellent, highly respectable bar guide that is very much in the spirit of Julia Child: approach classic recipes with an open and respectful mind, and rely on your own (finely honed) abilities to create your own version.

It is also a beautiful book and one meant to be used: a handsome waterproof cover, bound to lie flat and with a helpful grosgrain ribbon marker. It represents careful thought about reference works and is really state-of-the-art. The designer and the author clearly know books. One uses Drinkology, but one also enjoys the "feel" of the book. It's also very well written and gently funny and makes a wonderful armchair companion. A great gift--for others or for yourself.

Rating:
Summary: A delight to browse
Review: I already had one of those 1200+ recipe books, I wanted something that would spend a little time on each drink, explaining what it's like and how it's made, including any interesting history and a bit of editorial. That's exactly what this book is, and I'm glad I picked it out of the shelf of drink recipe books at the bookstore.

I love just looking through this book, reading the little paragraph that accompanies many of the recipes. One useful section: their list of favorite drinks. It's easy to get overwhelmed by the number of drinks out there that nobody ever makes. It's nice to have a place to start.

Rating:
Summary: An essential bar reference that is in itself beautiful
Review: I am not a cocktail snob like some of the reviewers here (who sound like nothing so much as chili or barbecue fanatics, usually men, who see themselves as keepers of the true flame). But I like a good cocktail, and I like cocktail guides. This is a classic of its kind.

Drinkology is an excellent, highly respectable bar guide that is very much in the spirit of Julia Child: approach classic recipes with an open and respectful mind, and rely on your own (finely honed) abilities to create your own version.

It is also a beautiful book and one meant to be used: a handsome waterproof cover, bound to lie flat and with a helpful grosgrain ribbon marker. It represents careful thought about reference works and is really state-of-the-art. The designer and the author clearly know books. One uses Drinkology, but one also enjoys the "feel" of the book. It's also very well written and gently funny and makes a wonderful armchair companion. A great gift--for others or for yourself.

Rating:
Summary: Yet another false bible of bartending.
Review: I gave this book to someone as a christmas present (I wanted to show them the bad, as well as the good books), they instantly thought I had bought them the Charles Schumann book.

The recipe are laughable in parts, some as obviously inaccurate, but then they get some wild explanation about how they are great.

For example, the "Old Fashioned" recipe listed is widely discredited as a product of the post-prohibition "era" (error?), rather than as the original recipe it is often portrayed here.

The "Manhattan" recipe listed is also a travesty, its use of cherry juice is deplorable, and there are many bartenders in London, England who like this. However, a small amount of detective work would have sorted this out.

If you can't trust a book with the classic cocktail recipes, then what can you trust it with?

People go on about there being loads of recipes, etc etc, and no-one being right. Most recipes can be traced back a long time, and in doing so discredit many claims of authenticity.

One cocktail book is never enough, a wide library is needed, coupled with on-going research of one's own (try web-searching for: drinkboy, kingcocktail, ardentspirits, ipbartenders)

Rating:
Summary: An elegant handbook
Review: I got a copy of this as a birthday gift, and am buying more now to give to others. Actually I'm writing this only because the other review (Pieter in South Africa) is so off the mark. This is not a coffee table book, but a handbook on how to mix drinks, and as such it is the best I've seen. It has a really elegant design, and when we tried several of the drinks (from the "favorites" list in the back) they all came out great. A friend of mine who said he'd never made a mixed drink made a wonderful Manhattan.

And it's more than just recipes, it's entertaining to read as well. So if you want to drink cocktails, rather than just look at them, I think this is the best choice.

Oh, by the way, I only found one misspelling.

Rating:
Summary: Amateur book with no pictures!
Review: I'll get to the point first: This book contains no picture, drawing or photo of any cocktail whatsoever. If you are buying this cocktail book in hope of seeing a cocktail, don't buy it. If you are buying this book to get a comprehensive list of cocktails, you might give it a go. This is just a standard cocktail book with nothing special. If you own another cocktail book, don't buy this one. If you do enjoy using the net, rather explore cocktails on the many sites available, they contain just as much info if not more than this book.

In one of the first sections of the book the author mentions that there are few sights as beautiful as a Manhattan cocktail but not one single picture, photo or drawing of a Manhattan, actually not one single picture, photo or drawing of any cocktail exists in the entire book! They explain how important the presentation and looks of a cocktail is to the overall enjoyment of one, but no pictures!!???!?!?

When buying a cocktail book - the most important thing to me is how the cocktails within the book are presented. I don't really care about the history of cocktails or where whiskey or some specific cocktail originated from. This type of extra information does round the book off, but it does not make it a good cocktail book.

To my disappointment this book didn't come even near my expectations. (I don't know what I was thinking; why on earth should a cocktail book have pictures in it? Is oxygen important to sustain life?).

This book was written by amateurs. They wrote a book on one of their favourite pastimes - drinking cocktails. But they failed miserably in capturing the true essence of a beautiful cocktail - its looks.

This book is just another book with a lot of recipes for cocktails you will most probably never try because you don't know how they look. It has a lot of useless information that doesn't make up for the lack of pictures. There are a lot of spelling mistakes (being the 1st edition).