The Bartender's Black Book (Plastic Comb)

by Stephen Kittredge Cunningham (Author) "If you are a AMATEUR BARTENDER, Here are some things you need..." (more)
Key Phrases: thin add ice, strain into chilled glass, thick add fruit, Pineapple Juice, Triple Sec, Lime Juice (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"No one will ever have the creative cocktail knowledge of Stephen Kittredge Cunningham." -- Robert M. Parker, Jr. The Wine Advocate, October 2000 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description
The best bartender's guide turns eight with this new edition, bringing its total recipe count to 2,800, more than doubling any other drink recipe book. Everything classic and obscure are here (martinis, frozen and coffee drinks, shooters, punches, flavored vodkas, gins, rums, cognac, wine, novelty drinks, etc.) with 150 brand new additions. Also new to eighth edition are: * More advice for the professional bartender * A newly expanded wine section with:

Robert M. Parker, Jr.'s Wine Vintage Guide;

"Parker Speaks on Wine";

A glossary of wine terms;

Parker's World's Greatest Wine Values * Expanded Glossary and Beer Section * Cognac Guide And of course all the features that's made it the best selling drink recipe book on the market today are still there: index by ingredients; spiral bound for simultaneous pouring and reading; a complete list of martinis; detailed mixing instructions; sections on hot drinks, frozen drinks, beers, ales, lagers, and "malternatives;" and a list of all drink-specific garnishes. --This text refers to the Plastic Comb edition.

Product Details

• Plastic Comb
• Publisher: Diversified Intl; 5th edition (January 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0965774635
• ISBN-13: 978-0965774635
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 4.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,272,721 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

107 of 107 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Recommended from Behind the Bar, March 16, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Bartender's Black Book: The Drink Recipe Collection for the 21st Century, Sixth Edition (Plastic Comb)

I'm a bartender and there is always one customer who comes along and orders a drink you dont know how to make. Behind the bar we keep several drink books, but this is the only one that actually gets used. Easy to read recipies, non-coded names for liquors, short, sweet, and to the point. Spiral binded so the book will not close while you are mixing. Contains the most variety of drinks I've seen from Vodka Collins for beginners (which most books don't have) through Long Islands all the way to a Mongolian Mother for the more adverse. Highly recommended for anyone who wants to shake, stir, or blend.

50 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Newest Edition Has Recipes, Convenience--and a Wine Guide , December 20, 2004

By	Bill Marsano (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bartender's Black Book, 7th Edition: 2,700 New and Classic Recipes (Plastic Comb)

Tons of Lore and Just as Much Convenience


By Bill Marsano. There are more than enough bar guides around to satisfy even the thirstiest soul, so the question becomes which one is the most helpful, the easiest to use. Well, this one has a pretty fair claim to the title.

At about 4.5 inches by 9, it is of convenient, under-bar size (no bartender wants the customer to know he has to look anything up). It has some 2,700 recipes, and it takes them all with a straight face, from the utterly genteel to the impossibly vulgar (in my view, anyone who orders a German Leg-Spreader or a Duck Fart is a lout who should be flung into the street at the earliest opportunity, but that's the bouncer's job). There's an enlarged section on the martini, that greatest of cocktails, that Fred Astaire of drinks; and sections on flavored vodkas, shooters, floaters and wines. The wine section is especially worthy of note. Bartenders used to take the approach of Tim Costello's old Manhattan saloon, which had its wine list painted on the wall. It said: "Red, $2.50. White, $2.50. No substitutions." But times are changing and with any number of places offering wine by the glass, the able bartender has to know more than how to use a corkscrew. In this book, the wine advice comes from that demigod, Robert Parker Jr. himself. Nuff said.

But the best thing about this book is that it has a comb binding--something like a spiral-wire binding, but made of plastic. It means this book, unlike all the others I've see lately, lies FLAT. No more bending the book open, flexing it until the binding cracks, and then weighting it with a beer bottle to keep the thing from flapping closed. Sometimes strokes of genius are as easy as they are rare.--Bill Marsano is an award-winning writer and editor.

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy this Book, April 10, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Bartender's Black Book: The Drink Recipe Collection for the 21st Century, Sixth Edition (Plastic Comb)

I had to write a review after reading the prior one of a man in search of a picture book. There are a plethora of [bad] picture drink books on the market. It is funny, he was looking for a common thing (a [bad] picture drink book) and he got the finest drink recipe book ever written. The author painstakingly alphabetized and reworked thousands of drinks. He threw out all the [bad stuff] and made a No [fooling] essential tool, that restaurants, bars, and liquor stores must carry (they all seem to). The book is unbiased (no liquor companies pushing their product) It lays flat so I can work and read at the same time. I own a 4th, 5th and a 6th edition and I await new editions. I have learned from them all....THE BARTENDER'S BLACK BOOK IS A 5 STAR BOOK.