Customer Reviews

Party Drinks!: 50 Classic Cocktails and Lively Libations (50 Series)

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I love Party Drinks! It's a completely useful book full of recipes for tasty drinks both new and classic, along with gorgeous pictures of them all. Whether you need to come up with drinks for a crowd or just a few cocktails for company, you can flip through the pages and find something new and special that won't take an extra trip to the liquor store. Naturally, I love "The Rebecca," (raspberries! champagne! yum!), but I've already mixed up a pitcher of "Don't Just Stand There" (mmm, apple-y for fall!) and my guests were pleased. Got a liquor cabinet? Then you need this beautiful, brilliant little book!

I think this will be a great gift for the holidays--I plan to get several to give to family and friends. The book is slim, but packed with lots of great drinks, plus gorgeous photos! One thing I really like about the book is that it gives lots of suggestions on variations of the drinks--in case you need to mix different amounts, or don't like or have a particular ingredient. Plus, there's some good general bartending advice at the beginning of the book.

So far we've tried two of the drinks. We had some friends over last weekend and my husband made the Champagne Punch, which has light and dark rum, lemons, and champagne. It was delicious! Even one of our friends, who isn't a huge champagne fan, really loved it. We also have tried The Rebecca, another champagne drink. We actually froze the raspberries in the vodka during the day, and had the drink in the evening--the frozen raspberries were delicious, and a perfect garnish for this very pretty drink.

I love this book! It has so much more to offer than the book I bought at Crate and Barrel for 5x the price. It's quirky and fun and filled with unusual recipes. Great selection of drinks for summer days, cold nights, casual get togethers or swanky cocktail parties. Plus it's filled with tons of hilarious footnotes that are worth quoting while you mix. My favorite drinks (not just because the names are great): the Red Carpet, the Presidential, Silk Stockings, and the Slow Comfortable Screw. You have to try the mojito. This really is the prettiest cocktail book I've seen. Perfect gift item--just tie a bow around it and add a bottle of your friend's favorite alcohol.

Ne'er have the pleasures of contemporary pleasure-drinking been so lucidly and persuasively and clearly set forth with not only the time and liver tested recipies but also the literary, social, and personal contexts of a true, rare spirit such as Mr. Rathbun, whose fine poetry is as intoxicating as the pewter cupped juleps, the spiraling highballs, and the mystifications of the orange buck, known in the southern hemisphere as le māle orange. I am buying a copy for every (over-21) friend this Christmas.

This book is worth reading even if you don't drink! If you do, all the better. Great recipes, very inspiring commentary. Rathbun quotes Gogol on vodka, W. C. Fields on whiskey ("Always carry a large flagon of whiskey in case of snakebite and furthermore always carry a small snake") and provides plenty of good party ideas for intemperate friends.

Said friends will also find this to be a welcome gift.

As one who was a bit clueless when it came to offering friends something more exciting than tap water or tea, I've found Party Drinks! to be indispensable. I love the conversational tone of the author--like a helpful friend showing you how easy it can be to turn up the fun factor for any gathering. He provides clear instructions, but also keeps it light--if you don't have one ingredient or if you want to put a new twist on an old favorite, he offers delicious alternatives.

The book comes loaded with colorful, inspiring images; a vast array of classic and contemporary drink recipes; and helpful information, including what essential liquors to have on hand, the low-down on mixers, how to make simple syrup, and how to present--from the right glassware to the finishing touch of a variety of garnishes to that final toast to mark the occasion. It also suggests the right equipment to use--not to be overlooked. After a failed attempt of using my food processor to blend Daiquiris, which ended in my friends helping me mop up sticky red liquid from all over the counter, I finally invested in a solid blender. Party Drinks! has definitely helped raise me up to a more sophisticated level of adulthood.

I keep the book prominently displayed on my shelf in the kitchen, so it's always ready with suggestions on how to enhance a summer barbecue (watermelon Daiquiris -- hello!) or a cozy evening indoors by the fire (big fan of the steaming spiked cider). Beautifully presented, the handy cocktail book makes a great gift for friends or family who love to host memorable parties or would like to learn how.

Before I met Party Drinks by A.J. Rathbun, I would literally host my gatherings at the bar down the street, because I was incapable of mixing anything other than vodka and orange juice in plastic cups. A.J., friend to cocktailers everywhere, took me to school with his great book, and showed me how to easily make lavish libations on a cheapskate's budget and to make 'em look like a million bucks. The Summer Beer (beer, vodka, and lemonade) is a treat, even in wintertime. The recipes have little tales about the drinks so you can really "act like ya know" when serving them up. Don't weep for the bar down the street, though. Until A.J. can fit a pinball machine in his jam-packed guide, there's always time for a occasional tavern call. Bottoms up!