The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks [Paperback]

David Augustus Embury (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1948

New introductions by Audrey Saunders and Robert Hess

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Doubleday; Revised edition (June 1948)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385096836
• ISBN-13: 978-0385096836
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,835,093 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Five stars for the content of this book-- minus one for numerous typos, December 28, 2008

By 

K. Whisler (CHICAGO, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks (Hardcover)

The overall content of this book is excellent and is beautifully written. Even though one might not agree with the author on every point it is a very enjoyable read. Rather than just write a cocktail recipe book, Embury lays out his theories on the underlying principles of mixing a good drink and divides them into general categories. It is somewhat similar Gary Regan's excellent "Joy of Mixology" in that sense, but is in some ways more readable and is written from the standpoint of a passionate and gifted amateur rather than of a professional bartender, and I think more encouraging of personal experimentation. I already had Regan's book in my collection when I acquired this one, but I don't feel that one is a replacement for the other.

The book is also fun for the historical perspective it offers. Not only are Embury's observations on Prohibition interesting (he lived through it) some of his recommendations on how to do things are informative in comparison to how they are done today. For example, he suggests getting large cocktail glasses--"no less than 3 ounces"! A typical cocktail glass today is over twice that size, though some cocktail enthusiasts now recommend using smaller glasses for classic styles of cocktails.

As good as this book is, shame on the publisher of this edition for allowing it to go to press with so many typos! Some reviewers charitably suggest that the typos also appeared in the earlier editions. I doubt this; they are the sort of typos one gets from OCR and relying on a word processor to clean up the OCR output, and then not doing a final page proof before going to press. (E.g. missing punctuation, "sued" for "used," page references to page XXX.) But even if they were in earlier editions, this is not a facsimile reprint and the errors should have been corrected in this edition. Fortunately, none of the typos are of the sort that prevents the reader from understanding what the author is trying to impart. If the publisher does a second printing of this edition, I hope that the typos will be corrected.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 2008 Reprint Full of Typos, December 3, 2008

By 

Fabrizio Serra - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks (Hardcover)

It appears that the editor of the 2008 edition may have been sampling the recipes while on the job. I was shocked by the number of typos, which can make reading the book a rather frustrating endeavor. In some cases, words are replaced by similar-sounding words, and one must backtrack to make sense of things.

(I don't know exactly how books are published these days, but I assume that a computer is involved and that it should be a simple exercise for a competent proofreader to make corrections using some form of text editor prior to publication. Of course, it is entirely possible that these errors were present in previous editions, but there is no reason why they shouldn't be corrected.)

Nonetheless, we should be grateful that this classic is now available as an affordable and otherwise finely executed reprint.

17 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Master Bartender Approves, November 9, 2003

By 

Casey C. Taylor (San Angelo, Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks (Paperback)

As a certified Master Bartender and (purist), I am honored to recommend Mr. Embury's book, and recommend it indeed on several levels. The details and attitude are all there. This is basic and pure mixology. I have used this book as text to train over forty bartenders, some I'm sure have served you well. I have three copies and will probably buy what more I can find, only to give them away and share in the invaluable knowledge therein.
Read this book, and may you never more suffer an intolorable, insipid cocktail again.