Customer Reviews

Wine Cocktails: 50 Stylish Sippers That Show Off Your Reds, Whites, and Roses (50 Series)

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(41)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

A 96-page cookbook that reads like a magazine; credit Melissa Punch for impulse purchases as her photography stars in this lightweight mixology entry.

A.J. Rathbun and The Harvard Common Press produced two great bartending books. I wrote five-star ratings for Good Spirits: Recipes, Revelations, Refreshments, and Romance, Shaken and Served with a Twist released in 2007 and Dark Spirits: 200 Classy Concoctions Starring Bourbon, Brandy, Scotch, Whiskey, Rum and More released in 2009.

The former came in at 484 pages, a weighty tome that fit better atop a coffee table than crammed between barware. Good Spirits eschewed the standard bartending book organization by alcohol type in favor of separating the 450 recipes into 12 chapters like Unburied Treasures (great old drinks lost to the years), Pacifying a Crowd (punches) and Fresh Faces (newer creations). Rathbun splashed humor in the recipes and sidebars of obscure facts, drink-related prose and bar talk.

Good Spirits won the 2008 Food Photography and Styling Category from the International Association of Culinary Professionals, recognizing the mouth-watering work of photographer Melissa Punch and food stylist Brian Preston-Campbell.

Dark Spirits served 200 cocktail recipes in 307 pages, focusing on darker liquors that often sit in the back of bartending books, behind vodka, tequila and Champagne. Blessed with the luscious photography and styling of Melissa Punch and Brian Preston-Campbell, I enjoyed Dark Spirits more than its predecessor, toting it to several bars for recipe tests. I started the book as a lover of the Rusty Nail and finished it a slave to the Lalla Rookh.

So, why is Wine Cocktails disappointing? The truth is that size matters.

The book offers 50 recipes divided in four, conventional chapters, abandoning much of the charm that made Rathbun's larger works so enjoyable to read. Rathbun fills less than two pages introducing different wine types under the heading, "A Word or Two about Wine." He writes, "The recipes do cover some ground in the wine they use...if you're not a wine aficionado, don't let this worry you."

I wonder who other than a wine aficionado would consider buying this book.

What is the book missing? Well, for example, Rathbun suggests using "a California Chardonnay" for the Champagne Bowler. That type of specificity is what makes this 96-page cookbook so maddening. He should provide a recommended list of 10-15 brands so we know whether a Central Valley Chardonnay (read: mass produced box and jug wine brands) will suffice. The book should include a cursory overview of American Viticultural Areas, some buying tips, storage tips and suggestions from winegrowers, too. That's just off the top of my head; I'd make a longer list but you get the point.

In summary, this 96-page cookbook offers little that is not readily available through a Google search. Melissa Punch's photography makes this a passable coffee table book - yet, there isn't a single picture of a wine bottle in the entire book -- but the writing is a shadow of Rathbun's earlier works.

Rating: 3 stars.

I never thought about doing much with wine, other than pouring it into my glass and letting it breathe. I am not a wine expert by any means but there were many fun and tasty wine cocktails in this book. The recipes range from complex to simple. I recommend the vanilla-pear mimosa - (or make it a mom-osa which is all I can drink right about now) - delish!

4 stars because I wish that less recipes mixed with other alcohol. We all know what happens when you drink wine all night and then go out and have some tequila shots. So - why do I want to mix the two in a cocktail?

I am the kind of guy who likes a martini with just a tiny bit of good vermouth.

I am the kind of guy who wonders whether Sangria would be nice on a hot day.

I live with straight gin drinkers who think they are having martinis, and who prefer a bottle of wine and a glass of wine and that is how you drink wine, darn it, as wine!

Forced to go it alone, I went out and got a few bottles of rose, some nice white wine, a red, and this book. The recipes are easy, simple syrup is fun to make, the idea of how to mix wines in a pleasing way without "juicing" the wine up is well presented in this book. I found that the different drinks enhance the wines, and among many good concotions, I found my good Sangria recipe.

I recommend this book. And here is the rub.... (No, there is no rub in this book, but here is the nub)... The rub and the nub is this, when you make a good pitcher of one of the drinks in this book, the most stern wine only drinker will come back for seconds. No higher praise exists...

PS: One reviewer complains that to make all the recipes in this book, many esoteric kinds of liquers would have to be purchased. This is true, and gosh, wasn't it ever fun!

I've seen this book offered for awhile, and because the subject seemed outdated I hesitated before finally selecting to review it. Wine cocktails seem to be from a forgotten era while the cover is reminiscent of the 1970's. However, I've read and enjoyed the concoctions within A.J. Rathbun's Dark Spirits so I decided to be adventurous.

Wine Cocktails is a 96 page book which provides 50 recipes using wine as a major ingredient. Once past the introductions and Wine Cocktail Basics, four chapters of enticing photos and tempting recipes follow then ends with a measurement equivalent chart. The recipe chapters cover reds and rosés, white wine, bubbly, and after dinner drinks. Recipes included well known cocktails such as Sangria and the Kir Royale, as well as lesser known libations like the Gong and Cabernet Crusta. Each recipe begins with a brief paragraph about the cocktail and is typically followed by a quote, notation, or both.

After thumbing through this book, I've determined I'm a bit of a wine snob. White wine seems suitable for mixing, while blending delicious reds and my beloved port into cocktails seem sacrilege. The images are beautifully photographed using 70s style props and are reminiscent of those found in gourmet magazines such as Bon Appétit. I'm not only faced with apprehensions of mixing wine cocktails, but these images make me wonder if I'm being asked to revive a long forgotten tradition. Some of the recipes are noted to come from books printed as far back as the mid 1800's, or more recently from the 40s and 50s. Perhaps this is A.J. Rathbun's creative intent, as he asks us in his introduction to have a little trust in him, recognize a long history of "mixing wine with other ingredients to make scrumptious drinks" and to "take advantage of these flavor minglings."

To retain my trust in A.J. Rathbun, I figured I should skip the whites and test the reds. The Bishop, a divine concoction including lemons, Cabernet Sauvignon and rum, appeared to be a mouth watering starting place. With the use of a muddler, shaker, and a strainer, I quickly shook up a few glasses. With my first sip, my apprehension quickly faded and I was an instant convert. Lady Macbeth was next on my list. The sparkling wine and port cocktail was tasty, but unlike the Bishop I don't look forward to making it again.

A.J. Rathburn has written another interesting cocktail recipe book. Most of the recipes appear to be refreshing poolside cocktails, and require ingredients found in a well stocked bar. Mixing with cheap wines is not advised, and I would agree. If you wouldn't drink the wine on its own, it won't taste better as a cocktail. At the same time, it's not necessary to purchase expensive bottles of wine either. If you are open to a little adventure, give this book and its recipes a chance. I'm confident you will find some new favorites.

PROS:
Beautifully photographed images
Delicious recipes
Uses ingredients found in a well stocked bar

CONS:
The book and material feel dated

I've only recently gotten into A.J Rathbun's cocktail and drinks books - this one only furthers my trust in him. Great recipes - something I have never done with wine. I'm really excited to experiment and this book makes it easy to do so. Great photos and more lively than some of my other drink books.

I've tried my non-bar-tending skills on several concoctions in this book. Thankfully not all the recipes - cuz that would mean I was a lush. But for a patio party or a special holiday morning soaking up sun rays, these are pretty good bevies.

The Reds section uses anything from Merlot to dry Sherry, Cabernet Sauvignon to dry rose', and Chianti. The Aloha punch's tropical fruitiness is great for a party but I kinda disagree with the Bordeaux Cup. The author says "This is a nice summer beverage for evening parties." But our late April evening gathering thought it was more appropriate for Christmas time with its taste of cloves, cinnamon, and allspice.

The Whites uses Savignon Blanc, Riesling, Moselle, Sancerre, Chablis, Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, and one sparkling wine. This section proved a little harder for me to emulate as I'm located in one of the states where you can only buy what the state liquor stores has hanging around and some of the suggested wines proved impossible for me to get a hold of so I was left using the most standard types. I would definitely suggest the Loire Lemonade even though i couldn't get my hands on any Sancerre.The Muskrat is good but you'll never get that "Muskrat Love" song out of your head,so beware!

The Bounteous Bubbly was my favorite section since I'm a sucker for Champagne. This category can also save you a few bucks by using sparkling wines.The Vanilla-Pear Mimosa was good if a little too alcohol tasting for my like. ( We also tried making them with left over apricot nectar from the Muskrat's with some success) But my hands down favorite is a Kir Royale which I am now hopelessly hooked on. I liked a modified Venetian Spritz with Prosecco, I'm not drinking anything with an olive in it. Ewwww!

The After-Dinner and Exotic Treats section was another area where I was sometimes stuck to find exact or similar bottles. This section does use a bit of vermouth, sake, ice wine, Vin Santo, Pernod, sparkling, Marsala, Port, Sauternes, mead, and sherry. I look forward to trying these as I've heard great things about ice wine but can't get my hands on it and I've tried sake on vacation but can't find it around these parts. Maybe our next toast will be to hope for the state control board to start stocking them.

The drinks in this bar-book are interesting, no doubt about it. However, the ingredients are far from commonplace. With most cookbooks, the well-stocked kitchen is generally supplied to prepare many or most of the dishes, with a trip to the market required only for fresh produce, meats, etc. For making drinks, though, a well-stocked bar should be capable of supplying all but the most obscure concoctions.

That said, this book is full of obscure concoctions. Not only do I not have most of the specialty liqueurs involved in these recipes, I had never even heard of a fair number of them. I don't mind picking up a few new bottles to try out, but with this book, it would cost at least a thousand dollars to stock up enough to make every recipe in this book. And that's starting from a decently stocked bar.

To me mixed drinks have always been about mixing liquor with juices, ice, or fruit. This book takes it one step further and has you add different wines. Most of us are familar with sangria and with mimosas but there are a multitude of drinks that can be made by combining juices, simple syrup, liquor and yes WINE. The results are fantastic.

This book has 50 receipes that are ready to be mixed, if you have the requisite ingredients which I generally don't because I'm not a professional mixologist. Now, this book is more than just about how to mix, it has a wonderful narrative for each drink that tells you the history of the ingredients, where the drink originated, etc.

It's wine mixers with pizazz.

As summer approaches, I think this book will have me drink more wine based alcohol drinks than just plain old boring beer (not that beer is boring at all).

In any case, I highly recomment this little hardbound jewel of wine cocktails.

Salud.

I'm a single, professional girl and from time to time I like to entertain. I thought this book would be a great idea -- a way to turn boring jug wine into novel cocktails for guests.

I guess this book was not directed towards people like me. I don't go to bars and I'm not a wine aficionada, but I'm not sure how this book would be different from a regular ol' bartender's guide. I don't have the ingredients on hand for any of the recipes. I would have to really have to want to make the drink the center of attention for me to want to go out buy these specialized ingredients.

If you buy a good-quality wine, why would you want to alter its delicate balance? However, I would say that this book might be a fun idea for making something interesting out of lesser-quality wine once you get the ingredients.

I'm not a huge wine drinker. Okay, not even a sometimes wine drinker. I'll have a sangria once in awhile, but never order wine with my dinner or when at a bar. What this means when I'm invited over for wine with friends, is usually beating a path directly to their liquor cabinet. Finally, this book (which all of my friends are getting copies of) lets me appreciate wine, with the extra punch of juice/soda/liqueur I require in order to find it tasty.

The recipes are so good here, that there really doesn't seem to be a good enough reason to drink wine on its own anymore anyway. And honestly, who can resist drinks with names like the Italian Adonis, Monks Converge, Magic Man, and Witch in White?