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The Craft of the Cocktail: Everything You Need to Know to Be a Master Bartender, with 500 Recipes Hardcover – October 15, 2002

by
Dale DeGroff (Author)
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Dale DeGroff (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars 143 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 240 pages
  • Publisher: Clarkson Potter; 1 edition (October 15, 2002)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0609608754
  • ISBN-13: 978-0609608753
  • Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 0.8 x 10.4 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (143 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #34,984 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsYou won't find a better indroduction to spirits
By JEG on September 1, 2006
Format: Hardcover
Pros

- Great looking book and great photography

- Detailed intro into all the main spirits

- Detailed info on bartending techniques and measurements

- Good intro into cocktail glasses

- Large number of recipes

- The author definately has command of the subject

- Lots of references of wher to buy items for your bar

Cons

- Inconsistant terminology. He uses different names for the same spirit in different pages of the book which leads to a bit of confusion

- No cross reference of recipes by main spirit. I wish the book would have broken down the recipes by main spirit. Recipes with vodka, recipes with tequila, and so on.

- Some spirits are undefined in the book. There are several recipes that have spirits that aren't defined anywhere on the book.
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3.0 out of 5 starsGreat content poorly organized
By Robert C. Rogers on August 18, 2010
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
Try to imagine your favorite cookbook with the recipes arranged in alphabetical order. Bad. Now imagine all of the recipes had fanciful titles not directly related to their ingredients or method of production and THEN they were arranged in alphabetical order. Worse. Now imagine the book had a halfhearted attempt at any index. (Yes, there are a few alternate drink names in the index, but no attempt to, for instance, list drinks by base spirit, let alone minor ingredients.) Well that is DeGroff's Craft of The Cocktail. If you buy it, you pretty much have to read it cover to cover for it to be of use. If you just use it as a reference you will find excellent recipes of familiar drinks but miss all of the original drinks. (You don't know their names. They are originals. How are you going to be led to them in an alphabetical book?) I don't disagree with any of the positive things that people said about this book. (I did tell you to imagine your FAVORITE cookbook destroyed by disorganization.) But this book is a real disappointment and a missed opportunity.
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3.0 out of 5 starsGreat, but beware!
By spo00n on October 13, 2010
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
Dale DeGroff is the man who set the stage for the return of the great American art of the cocktail. He brought back so many lost cocktail treasures and laid the path for all of us to follow. This book is a great way to learn not only those recipes, but why freshness and quality count. You will learn the proper technique, and attitude and get an idea of what resources to look for and what to research. Cocktail history is extraordinarily important to learning to mix a great cocktail.
The only things to watch out for are a few of his recipe modifications. The most egregious & disgusting is his Sazerac. I wish to make it a crime from here on out to ever make Dale DeGroff's version of The Sazerac. It is a horrid combination of Cognac, Rye Peychaud & Angostura bitters and absinthe and too much simple syrup. Either Cognac or Rye, and no Angostura, please. There are a few others that I don't remember off the top of my head, but otherwise it is a great book. I also disagree with his implying that measuring is less of a talent than free-pouring. Free-pouring accurately is possible, but is in my opinion best left for the likes of Mr. DeGroff, and no one else. I've encountered far too many who are insulted at the suggestion they measure over demonstrating their total lack of accuracy at the free-pour. A measured cocktail will always be the same & is made no slower. There are quite a few drinks that are easily destroyed by lack of absolute accuracy. Stick to measuring.
The ingredients section could be a bit more in depth. For example, he doesn't really point out the differences among London Dry, Plymouth, Old Tom (it is indeed avaiable), and Genever or Holland Gin & what kind of cocktails they are used in.
Mr. DeGroff has a refreshingly democratic approach to cocktails.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsGreat book - small critique
By A Customer on May 6, 2004
Format: Hardcover
I agree with everyone else's praise for this book. It's definitely my "desert island" cocktail book. There are many bad cocktail books out there, there are a few good cocktail books, but this is the only "great" cocktail book.
My only gripe is the index is not thorough enough to look up drinks by ingredient. For instance, you can't look up Benedictine and find all drink recipes containing that ingredient.
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5.0 out of 5 starsMaster Craftsman shares his wisdom
By G. Roukas on June 23, 2003
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
I took a course with Dale and found out first hand what it takes to make a truly great cocktail--and found out how bad most cocktails in bars really are. This book not only tells how to create really memorable drinks for yourself and guests, it also delves into the history of the various spirits and how they've been combined by savvy bartenders to create classics old and new. I've read through it several times, lapping up classics like the sidecar and DeGroff signature drinks like the Ritz. If you like cocktails, this is an amazing book. Nobody cares about getting the best results like Dale.
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5.0 out of 5 starsA fine cocktail book from one of the great bartenders.
By Amazon Customer on August 23, 2005
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
Dale DeGroff is to blame for setting me off on a quest for the perfect Sazerac.

While it lasted (and I can testify that its demise had nothing to do with the quality of the drink and food) DeGroff's Blackbird bar/restaurant in Manhattan was a place I enjoyed going when I could spare the time and cash. When you got DeGroff into the realm of the bitters-tinged cocktail, his subtly aromatic, complex, and a little bit dark and twisted drinks were a treat for the nose and tongue, even as his urbane presence and stylish economy of motion made it clear you were in the presence of a Real Bartender. I still remember the first Sazerac I had there, and the way it unfolded to my senses.

Although in the ensuing years, when it comes to that particular drink, I've developed a slight preference for the simpler perfection of the classic (just rye, Peychaud's Bitters, simple syrup, Herbsaint) Sazerac, I still enjoy the plot twists in the story told by DeGroff's fancified (half-and-half rye and cognac for the liquor, and half-and-half Peychaud's and regular old Angostura handling the bitters requirement) version, and I follow his glass-preparation instructions whichever version I make.

This is all an illustration of the true lesson to be learned about bartenders' references: there is no single book which will tell you everything there is to be learned about mixing drinks. You need to go out and taste what people are mixing, and you need to have several books on hand whose recipes you can read, compare, imagine, try, synthesize, extrapolate. DeGroff's The Craft of the Cocktail, despite having come out as recently as 2002, is clearly one of those essential references you need on your shelf. It's just a bonus (or perhaps, to some, an annoyance) that the book is so lavishly-produced that you could choose to leave it on the coffee table for guests to enjoy when you're not using it yourself.
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