Customer Reviews

Good Spirits: Recipes, Revelations, Refreshments, and Romance, Shaken and Served with a Twist

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This enormous box just arrived from Amazon! It only had ONE book in it! This one! Wow! It's so beautiful, it's so heavy, it's so full of gorgeous pictures and even MORE gorgeous writing and recipes.

I love all the lists ("Five drinks to serve to the in-laws" "Six obscure facts to bring up at the bar"). I love that all the French I've seen so far is correct. Of course, I love that the Rebecca gets another shot at greatness. I love the index by primary alcohol. I love the list of specific gravities of different liqueurs so I can make fancy layered drinks. And ohmigoodness, I just love that there is an obscene number of recipes in this book--some for crowds, some for a twosome, some for summer, some for winter. It goes on and on and on.

I was going to have wine tonight, but that's out the window now. There's pineapple juice in the fridge--sounds like it's time for a French Martini!

As a big fan of A.J. Rathbun's previous cocktail book, Party Drinks, I have to admit that I had high expectations for his comprehensive guide, Good Spirits. But as I cracked open the new book, I immediately knew that he had knocked this one out of the park. The recipes are easy to follow, and the descriptions make me want to shake, stir, and sip almost every drink in the book. (The mouthwatering photos in Good Spirits add to the attraction too!) But, most importantly, since this is a book about good times and good fun, A.J. has taken great care to make sure that the book itself is part of the joy of entertaining. Like the cocktails in the book, Good Spirits is perfectly mixed!

Three cheers for the Bacontini! This is just one of the many interesting drinks profiled in this enchanting book. Chock full of recipes and fun anecdotes, Good Spirits is indispensable when it comes to looking for the perfect drink to serve for just about any occasion. The only issue I had with it was getting distracted by the hilarious commentary when trying to quickly reference a recipe--it's just too good to put down! I have my cookbooks and cocktail books displayed in my kitchen and this one always gets commented on by guests because of its good looks. Beauty and brains--a great find! I bought several copies--for myself and as gifts since it makes a great coffee-table book too!

This book is great -- a complete guide to making any drink you can dream up. And it's funny! The author obviously knows what he's talking about!

What makes this book so challenging to review is that author A.J. Rathbun expertly mixes recipes with wit and enough trivia to keep you entertained, educated and inspired through more than 450 pages of libations.

This is more than a recipe book. Rathbun's guide is the next best thing to having your own personal bartender.

I've carried this book around since last December; packing it to my office, to friends' houses and to bars and restaurants. The results were mixed. Several friends asked me to bring the book along. A co-worker borrowed the book and returned the next day, asking me to buy her a copy on Amazon (I did). However, a waitress sneered at the book when I ordered a London Fog (page 114: two ounces gin, a half-ounce Pernod, served over ice in a rock glass). She came back to my table and informed me the bar was out of Pernod.

The book's one fault it is that too many recipes require ingredients you won't find stocked at an average bar. An entire chapter is dedicated to martinis (seriously, how many establishments stock alder-smoked, black peppercorn-crusted bacon for a "Bacontini"). Obviously, Rathbun frequents higher-end drinking establishments (I got the sense he's a regular at Scotch-and-brandy bars throughout Seattle).

In fairness, Rathbun never comes across as snobbish either. His tips are practical and easy to understand. For example, one of the few cold, hard rules he maintains throughout the book is the use of freshly squeezed juice.

Rathbun nicely balances trendy recipes with classics, crowd pleasers and some of my old-time favorites like the Rusty Nail, the Godfather and the Harvey Wallbanger, which are included in a chapter entitled "An Obscure Reliquary."

In summary, Good Spirits is an excellent resource for your home bar as well as an entertaining coffee table book filled with lucious photographs, anecdotes and lots of humor. Rating: Five stars.

Basically I know how to make a "blank" and tonic so this is great book to have in my kitchen. Good Spirits not only gives recipes for more drinks than I ever knew existed, it also gives a bit of history or a short story for each cocktails, tells the reader what every home bar needs, gives tips on mixer prep and even some funny quotes. What I think I like most about this book is how it's organized. A.J. Rathburn has divided the recipes by theme rather than liquor type. This may seem counter-intuitive, but if you're like me (someone who hasn't ever gone to bartender school) so guidance in terms of what to serve when, ideas for drink that are more celebratory in nature, nice cocktails to have at a romantic dinner for two are really, REALLY helpful. All that, and the book is beautiful. The pictures are gorgeous and inspiring, the design is great and the layout lends itself to readability. I'm wondering if that will come handy at my next party when my friends and I try recipe after recipe.

This is the best book for planning a party - big or small! The chapters are divided into the different types of gatherings, which is really helpful. There's also a good index so you can also find different drinks by name and by ingredients. The recipes are really easy to follow, and the author has put in a lot of interesting stuff that's just fun to read. I plan to give this to several people for Christmas and birthdays because they love trying new things, and like to entertain.

This book has awesome recipes for drinks. Easy to use and follow along. A must have for any bar whether you are home or at work.

I love this book! The recipes are just the right mix of fun, informative and irreverent. The Champagne Americana on page 291 is the perfect champagne cocktail. The addition of Bourbon and Bitters takes the complacent drink up ten notches. Hope to see more from A.J. Rathburn.

I'm primarily a (snobby) beer drinker and a (somewhat less knowledgeable) wine fan, but it doesn't take much arm-twisting to get me to say Yes to a margarita or mojito. The trouble is, I don't really know how to make most cocktails. Good Spirits solves my problem.

I dare say that nearly any cocktail book will have decent-to-good recipes for the Usual Suspects, and for most of us any one of the book choices will do. I like this particular book for a few reasons. First, with 450 recipes it is exhaustive without being ridiculous. I don't need _every_ cocktail, but I do want confidence that I can learn to make that delicious concoction someone handed me at last night's party. It follows the Goldilocks rule: not too much, not too little. Just right.

A less obvious advantage is that this book is visually readable, even in a relatively dark bar area. Each recipe has the ingredients in bold type, so at a glance I can see that a cinnamon snap contains amaretto, orange juice, cinnamon schnapps, and heavy cream.

Each recipe has a breezy introduction and the text is fun to read; occasional sidebars share a few bar jokes ("A neutron goes into a bar...") or highlight specific liqueurs (such as maraschino liqueur).

The book's organized in several chapters, such as "the gold standards" (screwdriver, sidecar), "a multitude of martinis," "collegiate classics" (amaretto sour, boilermaker), "turning up the heat" (steaming spiked cider, hot buttered rum) and so on. There's also an index of drinks by primary liqueur, so if someone gave you a bottle of Drambuie as a holiday gift (what nice friends you have!), you can see it's used in a Hot Night Cap and Late Date.

This is a useful and entertaining book, and it's exactly what I wanted. I suspect you'll feel the same way.