Customer Reviews

Complete World Bartender Guide: The Standard Reference to More than 2,400 Drinks

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This book is filled with different drinks, but it seems none of them are made today (in the USA, at least) I recommend buying another book if you plan on being a bartender or serving drinks at home. If bizarre cocktails from the 20s are what your looking for, then buy this book.

entirely old fashioned drinks, many you may have never heard of before. since old fashioned drinks have become trendy lately, more of these recipies are popping up on hip specialty drink lists of lounge bars. don't expect to use any of the latest schnapps with these drinks, and many of them include natural ingredients for flavoring.

be sure to have a modern bartending book for pleasing the crowd, but this should be for secret specialties from years gone by.

I purchased this book mainly for a wider array of recipes, however, I was a bit disappointed with its contents. Although it has more than 2,400 drinks included, it boasts more old-fashioned type of drink, it did not even include a White Russian! Also, some of the recipes I did not agree with because they have evolved over time. I would not recommend it as a ready-reference for bar personnel since it is too out-dated for today's drinking crowd.

I've just started learning to bartend and I think this book will be pretty good. Haven't gotten to into yet but its pretty thick/big so im excited about the information its going to provide me. I would recommend it .

I have the previous edition. This book has been around forever, it seems. It is one of those cheap books slapped together by someone who may not really understand what he is assembling. In this case it is an absolute treasure of classic cocktail and beverage recipes. It is a time capsule. A famous image of Jerry Thomas mixing a Blue Blazer graces the introduction of the previous edition, but is unidentified! For many years, up till the middle of this past decade, it was the only place to find true classic recipes...and there are thousands in this volume! It is the cheapest way by far to have a complete recipe collection for classic cocktails, punches, flips, sangarees, toddies, cobblers, etc. It reaches far back to the early 19th Century and carries through to Prohibition, into the Post-Prohibition revival and is peppered with a smattering of "modern" recipes.
Where does one find true Peach Brandy these days? Nowhere. How 'bout a recipe for making your own? It's in there. Need a recipe for making mead? Yep. It even lists Abbot's Bitters as a 'must have' for any bar, being that it's one of the "most popular". Abbott's has been defunct since the 1950s.
Definitely worth putting on your shelf along with Gary Regan's "Joy of Mixology", David Wondrich's "Imbibe", and Ted Haigh's "Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails". Get it as a curiosity, use it for making great drinks from by-gone eras!
Recipes are listed alphabetically, not by family or style, therefore this book is really only effective if you are using it as a repository of recipes & have read up on the various types & know what you're looking for in it.
A word of warning, there are archaic descriptions of measurements at the front of the book - a modern US teaspoon is 1/6 oz, not 1/8 and a Tablespoon is 1/2 oz, not 3/8. Modern additions and edits are sometimes clumsy. It does have other peculiarities; of interest, the Martini recipe is ancient - 2oz Gin, 1 oz Vermouth; negatively, the Manhattan recipe strangely omits bitters. A far as peculiarities of recipes goes, my rule is when in doubt, do as Ted "Dr. Cocktail" Haigh says. Check oddities against his cocktaildb.com site.

Although I thought this book would have pictures by the style of the cover I must say I am more than satisfied. I ordered it with hopes of finding some great ideas for superbowl sunday...I ended up finding drinks for every occasion out there. I'm very happy with my purchase.