Customer Reviews

The Bartender's Black Book

5 star:		(71)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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.

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.'

This book is excellent. My husband works part-time at a liquor store and they have a copy there to help the customer's know what goes into their drinks at a bar. That way if they want they can purchase what they need to make them at home. The book is awesome. I'm always referring to it at the store so I decided I'd like a copy for at home. So I ordered it online from Amazon.com.

Don't know which kind of Orgasm is right for you? The Bartender's Black Book, by Stephen Kittredge Cunningham, offers no fewer than three choices. The original Orgasm (aka Burnt Almond or Roasted Toasted Almond) combines vodka, coffee liqueur and amaretto. Orgasm 2 uses triple sec and white crème de cacao instead of the coffee liqueur; Orgasm 3 uses Irish cream instead of the vodka. If Sex On The Beach is more your motivator, you'll be pleased to discover four varieties as you leaf through this handy, spiral-bound volume.

If The Bartender's Black Book were a simple compendium of titillating or even interesting mixed drink recipes (Sex on the Sidewalk, Atomic Waste, Quaalude, Dying Nazi From Hell, Rigor Mortis, Wharf Rat, International Incident, Root of All Evil, Tongue Stroke, Wombat) it would join the ranks of dozens of other stimulating compendia; good reads perhaps, but incomplete references. The Black Book, published by the Wine Appreciation Guild, is instead a definitive professional guide, featuring over 2600 recipes for every variety of mixed drink (or drink mix), with special sections on garnishes, bar tools, a wine guide by Robert M. Parker, Jr., and anything else you need to know about drink preparation. Cunningham is a professional bartender whose penchant for detail turned him into a drink recipe collector, then into a careful professional compiler. He revises the book each year, adding dozens of new recipes, many of which continue to expand the art of nomenclature: Leg Spreader, Hot Tub, Dirty Ashtray, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Prison Bitch, Brain Tumor, Boston Massacre, Jumper Cable, Stuffed Toilet, Long Sloe Comfortable Fuzzy Screw Against the Wall with Satin Pillows the Hard Way, and whatever else the mind of man can think to drink.

Cunningham covers the novelties, certainly, but he also gives us the ammunition we need to handle the basics. As an example of the care with which the Black Book has been produced, in the case of Martinis, Manhattans, Rob Roys and related spirit/vermouth mixtures, Cunningham provides bold-faced cautions: "DRY can mean either make drink with Dry Vermouth or less Sweet Vermouth than usual; PERFECT means use equal amounts of Sweet and Dry Vermouth; SWEET means use more Sweet Vermouth than usual; NAKED means no Vermouth at all." Speaking of Martinis, Cunningham adds a useful section that cross references more than 100 Martini variants: classics like the Gimlet and the Negroni, more unusual varieties like the Maiden's Prayer and the Purple Russian. A 30-page index cross-lists every drink in the book by constituent ingredient; Amaretto, for example, is used in several hundred drinks from the Abby Road to the Zonker; Dark Rum's applications range from the American Graffiti to the infamous Zombie. There are sections explaining beer and cognac varieties, all spirits, mixers and liqueurs, and an interesting monograph on "Being a Good Tipper" (think, 20%). The beverage references are generic (i.e., "Coffee Liqueur," rather than Kahlua or Tia Maria, "Orange Liqueur" rather than Cointreau or Grand Marnier). The result is a true resource, prized by professionals, supremely useful to amateurs with standards.

By the way, I know you're wondering, but, no, I have never actually had an Orgasm, of any variety, nor do I expect to have any Orgasms in the near future. You ask why not? I'm still working through the hundred or so drinks that begin with the letter "A." Atomic Bodyslam, anyone?

(...)

I have used several bartender books, and have found more of the popular drinks I see at various bars in this book. Most of these popular drinks are missing from other books. Long Island Ice Tea (several variations), Sex On The Beach, Purple Hooter, Buttery Nipple, they all are in there. I am an amateur bartender with a reasonably extensive liquor cabinet (40 bottles or so). My girlfriend left and took my copy, so here I am at Amazon getting one to replace it!

I've bartended for 7 years and I've gotta say that this book has the most current and creative recipes in the market today. It also has many alternate recipes for drinks that may vary by region. I've bought alot of bartending books over the years, but nothing beats this one. I have not been paid for this endorsement. ;)

I own four or five drink recipe books. This is the one that travels with me when I tend bar. I've bought several copies of it over the years -- the single downside of this book is that, if you turn your back on it, one of your fellow bartenders will steal it from you. It's just that good.

It's the most complete drink book I've ever seen. It's easy to use, with drink recipies in a clear, sans-serif font -- in a darkened bar, it can sometimes be a little tricky to read if you're a geezer like me, but I think they did the best possible job of designing the book for use -- a larger font size, and the book would be too bulky to stick in your hip pocket, a smaller one, and even young guys would have trouble reading it.

The cover is water-resistant -- hell, I recently used the sucker as a cutting board to chop up limes. I don't recommend that use, but it survived the treatment. This book takes a beating -- it's been in puddles of beer and vodka, it's had orange juice poured on it, and it lives at the bottom of my bag at all times. I don't treat it nicely, and it treats me great.

There is no better book for a professional. None.

Another user mentioned that it has no pretty pictures. That's true. Because pretty pictures would distract from its primary use -- for a professional bartender to look up an obscure drink while working in a busy bar, in order to find the recipe, make it, and move on to the next customer.

The Kindle edition of this book totally useless to me.
The recipes can only be accessed by scrolling from A to Z,
no index to sort by, no chapters based on each letter of the alphabet.
It takes much to long to find a particular recipe,
and there is no breakdown by type of liquor.
I've used older versions of the printed book,
and the recipes themselves are fine.
It's just the execution of the digital version that is on no use to me.
Can I get a refund?

You will probably discard any other books you have previously purchased. The author/bartender obviously knows his stuff.
This book is not by a wannabe or a corporate monkey. It's great that this book does not push brands and is unbiased. The book lays open flat, and the recipes are easy to follow.

I once had a book with twice the recipes but they were 98% bad recipes. I threw that book out.

There is a wine section written by Robert Parker, that has helped me immensely picking out bottles of wine. Other things that make this book stand out are the Martini instructions, Dessert Drink Section, Hot Drink Section, Frozen Drink Section. Glossary of Bartending Lingo.