Mr. Boston [Hardcover]

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Warner Books (July 1994)
• ISBN-10: 0446387649
• ISBN-13: 978-0446387644
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,114,051 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Review of the 65th Edition, 1st Printing: 2001, October 10, 2007

By 

M. Allen Greenbaum (California) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mr. Boston: Official Bartender's & Party Guide (Hardcover)

An oddly titled book, with even odder contents, "Mr. Boston" has been around since Leo Cotton first published it in 1935. (This edition was updated and revised by Chris Morris and Renee Cooper.) The book is unapologetically commercial and quaintly old-fashioned (and we're not talking the drink). Bright color pictures of branded liquors decorate the pages, and there are illustrated bar tricks ("BOTTOMS UP BAR TRICK" !)that must be many decades old. The last page reveals that the picture were paid for by--get this--"responsible advertisers." I also love the sloppy editing; here's the opening:

"Welcome. You are holding in your hands the 65th Edition of the definitive guide to mixing perfect drinks."

Two paragraphs down, one reads:

With this, our 64th Edition..."

Whatever edition, this one has a revised format, "organizing recipes into section by the primary liquor in the drink." I found that highly useful, although one may not always know the primary liquor. For example, is a Martini under gin or vodka? Mr. Boston answers, "gin," and there are 6 recipes with "martini" in the title, and many more variations (and a one page blurb on "Tips for Perfecting the Perfect Martini"). The book has hundreds of recipes, and an index containing all the drinks. This edition also features new sections on flavored vodkas, "new" margaritas, "distinctive whiskeys," and "fine cigars," All this conspicuous consumption could give Playboy a run for its bourgeois money.

Drink recipes include the following categories:
Bourbon, brandy, gin, rum, scotch, tequila, vodka, whiskey, cordial and liqueurs, shooters, frozen drinks, hot drinks, eggnogs and punches, beer, wine, and low- and non-alcohol drinks.

The book covers party planning, bar tools, and measurements, as well as the drink categories listed above.