Release date: May 3, 2005 | Series: Hands-Free Step-By-Step Guides
Killer Cocktails is a unique hands-free, stand-up guide with all the advice and guidelines you need to set up a home bar and learn the art of mixing cocktails the right way. The drinks you'll find in here avoid novelty products, artificial flavors, and colors not found in nature. They're heavy on tradition and light on trendiness. You also might learn a thing or two, from the origins of the John Collins (no Toms, Dicks, or Harrys here) to why the Daiquiri should be resurrected from its status as the wimp of all cocktails (it was JFK's fave, after all).
And that's not all. While respecting the traditions of balance and simplicity that our mixological forefathers founded, Killer Cocktails also shows you how to be creative. First you master the basics and only then can you start substituting vanilla vodka for rum, or rhubarb for raspberry. But if you're simply in the mood for a Rye Old-Fashioned, the real recipe is right here.
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David Wondrich is one of the nation's foremost authorities on the history of the cocktail (okay, there's not a lot of competition, but still). A former English professor, he gave up Shakespeare and Freshman Comp to write for Esquire magazine (where he is a contributing editor) and numerous other publications, including Saveur, Gotham, Wine and Spirits, Drinks, and The Snail, the newsletter of Slow Food America. His first book, Esquire Drinks: An Opinionated & Irreverent Guide to Drinking, has been called "a must-have for anyone who enjoys a first-class cocktail" (The Dallas Morning News). Dr. Wondrich is a founding member of the Museum of the American Cocktail, which will open in New Orleans in January 2005. He lives in Brooklyn.
David Wondrich was born on the banks of the Monongahela and raised mostly in suburban New York City. After working as a house painter, a mattress stuffer, messenger, clerk and process server for a mob lawyer, bass player in more bands than he can count and a dozen other things, he settled down and earned a doctorate in Comparative Literature, specializing in Latin scientific poetry. That led to a job as an English professor, which he didn't like. What he did like was writing about jazz and ragtime for the Village Voice and the New York Times and about cocktails for Esquire, a job he began in 1999 and is still happily performing today. Imbibe, his 2007 tribute to Professor Jerry Thomas, has become an essential text for bartenders and cocktail geeks alike. It is the first cocktail book to win a James Beard award. Punch, his 2010 follow-up, has helped refill the flowing bowl around the world. At present he is hard at work on a big, thick reference book.
I found Killer Cocktails to be exceedingly helpful in developing my basic background of mixing drinks. Wondrich's ideas are presented in a witty, relaxed, and outside the box manner. He provides necessary information on not only the right way to mix great cocktails, but also the simple steps in setting up a home bar. Moreover, Killer Cocktails is set up as an easel format, so that it stands on its own while you are busy creating new and flavorful drinks. I actually found this to be an incredibly novel and useful way to thumb through the distinct recipes and tips.
I gave this to my father as an early Father's Day gift, and even he, who I thought to be more of a cocktail connoisseur, found the book to be extremely knowledgeable and fun. For every recipe that is given, there are also entertaining stories and trivia that are great to throw out at cocktail parties.
After following Wondrich's tips and guide, I'm definitely much more comfortable and excited to tend to the bar at my own parties. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to enhance his or her knowledge of creating and mixing cocktails, but doesn't want to spend the money or the time on a bartending class.
There is some great information in this book - it's well written and fun to read. I might make is much use of it as I do Ted Haigh's "Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails" or Dale Degroff's "The Craft of the Cocktail" or Gary Regan's "The Joy of Mixology", but I feel like throwing it away. Why? It is next to impossible to use.
Someone had the bright idea of making it spiral bound at the top. To read through it requires flipping one page at a time, and turning the book over. A cocktail picture will be on one page, the recipe on the reverse - to see the recipe, you have to flip the page over the top and turn the book around. Very annoying, as the pages want to go every which way, since the binding is at the top. There is a cover flap that extends below that gets in the way as you flip back and forth. It makes it very hard to use.
It really is a mess. Avoid the aggrevation, save your money, and buy one of the three mentioned previously. If you have them, you might consider it, as there is good stuff here. But be prepared for a struggle reading it. I finally removed the spiral binding, punched holes in the side, and put it in a small loose-leaf binder. Now I can relax while I prepare for the cocktail hour.
There is lots of good information in this book; but it is the most infuriating to use book that I can ever recall. I'm tempted to cut it apart and take it to Kinkos to have the put the pages into a spiral binder. If they ever reprint it I hope they do it as a conventional book with a conventional spine.
There are some great recipes, and I like the organizational themes (gin drinks, iced drinks, etc.). I do find the format to be frustrating, however. It's very clumsy to leaf through the recipes, since you have to keep turning from side to side and the pages don't flip all that easily. Part of the fun of cocktail guides is skimming through until something new catches your eye. The cover seems to get in the way when trying to stand it up easel style, as well (at least, I haven't uncovered the magic way to fold it back, but I have trouble refolding maps, so your mileage may vary!).
That said, I've used it frequently and really enjoyed many of the new drinks I've discovered or seen elsewhere but finally been inspired to make. My favorite at the moment is probably the Piscadora.
The recipes are stellar, the writing is casual and witty, and the history fascinating and relevant. A good selection of classic and modern drinks. My new favorite reference when cocktail hour rolls around... and with this book, it never seems to come quickly enough. I like to find recipes in Killer Cocktail and turn to Gary Regan's Joy of Mixology as the ultimate reference. I recommend this book for cocktail novices and experienced mixologists alike. Wondrich's writing really seals the deal for me, and his bottomless knowledge of history ties it all together.
