GSN Alert: Cocktail & Spirits Book Preview – Autumn 2018 (October-December)

Summer is almost over, so now it’s time for our quarterly GSN Cocktail & Spirits Guide Roundup. Cheers!

The Martini Field Guide: Martini Culture for the Cocktail Renaissance by Shane Carley Cider Mill Press (October 2, 2018) The Martini Field Guide is as potent as the gin used to make the iconic drink. Both cocktail connoisseurs and Happy Hour newbies will lose themselves in this heavily illustrated book, featuring vintage ads and imagery from some of the world’s top distillers, as they read about the Martini’s muddled origins and how an American concoction became popular worldwide. Whether you prefer it shaken or stirred, dry or dirty, The Martini Field Guide provides plenty of ways to think about, make, and drink this popular cocktail, making for the perfect addition to any cocktail lover’s collection.

Experimental Cocktail Club: London. Paris. New York. Ibiza by Experimental Cocktail Club Mitchell Beazley (October 2, 2018) Over 85 recipes for extraordinary cocktails from the award-winning, internationally renowned Experimental Cocktail Club. Treat your taste buds to this collection of very special cocktail recipes that take inspiration from classic American and French cocktails – served with the unmistakable Experimental Cocktail Club flair and style. Recipes include Stockholm Syndrome (Ketel 1 vodka infused with cumin & dill, Linie aquavit, lemon juice, simple syrup, pink Himalayan salt and Peychauds bitters) and Tete de Mule (or ‘Kind of Stubborn’, a salty cocktail containing Don Fulano Blanco, orange juice, tomato juice, agave syrup and topped with ginger beer) – as well as their take on classic cocktails such as Negroni, Margarita, Moscow Mule and Strawberry Daiquiri.

Cocktail Codex: Fundamentals, Formulas, Evolutions by Alex Day, Nick Fauchald & David Kaplan Ten Speed Press (October 30, 2018) From the authors of the best-selling and genre-defining cocktail book Death & Co, Cocktail Codex is a comprehensive primer on the craft of mixing drinks that employs the authors’ unique “root cocktails” approach to give drink-makers of every level the tools to understand, execute, and improvise both classic and original cocktails. “There are only six cocktails.” So say Alex Day, Nick Fauchald, and David Kaplan, the visionaries behind the seminal craft cocktail bar Death & Co. In Cocktail Codex, these experts reveal for the first time their surprisingly simple approach to mastering cocktails: the “root recipes,” six easily identifiable (and memorizable!) templates that encompass all cocktails: the old-fashioned, martini, daiquiri, sidecar, whisky highball, and flip. Once you understand the hows and whys of each “family,” you’ll understand why some cocktails work and others don’t, when to shake and when to stir, what you can omit and what you can substitute when you’re missing ingredients, why you like the drinks you do, and what sorts of drinks you should turn to–or invent–if you want to try something new.

The Dead Rabbit Mixology & Mayhem by Sean Muldoon, Jack McGarry & Jillian Vose Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (October 30, 2018) A groundbreaking graphic novel-style cocktail book from world-renowned bar The Dead Rabbit in New York City. The Dead Rabbit Grocery & Grog in lower Manhattan has won every cocktail award there is to win, including being named “Best Bar in the World” in 2016. Since their award-winning cocktail book The Dead Rabbit Drinks Manual was published in 2015, founders Sean Muldoon and Jack McGarry, along with bar manager Jillian Vose, have completely revamped the bar’s menus in a bold, graphic novel style, now featured in their newest collection The Dead Rabbit Mixology & Mayhem. Based on “Gangs of New York”-era tales retold with modern personalities from the bar world (including the authors) portrayed as the heroes and villains of the story, the menus are highly sought-after works of art. This stunning new book, featuring 100 cocktail recipes, fleshes out the tall tales even further in a collectible hardcover edition—making it a must-have for the bar’s passionate fans who line up every night of the week.

A Drinkable Feast: A Cocktail Companion to 1920s Paris by Philip Greene TarcherPerigee (October 16, 2018) A history of the Lost Generation in 1920s Paris told through the lens of the cocktails they loved. In the Prohibition era, American cocktail enthusiasts flocked to the one place that would have them–Paris. In this sweeping look at the City of Light, cocktail historian Philip Greene follows the notable American ex-pats who made themselves at home in Parisian cafes and bars, from Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Gertrude Stein to Picasso, Coco Chanel, Cole Porter, and many more. A Drinkable Feast reveals the history of more than 50 cocktails: who was imbibing them, where they were made popular, and how to make them yourself from the original recipes of nearly a century ago. Filled with anecdotes and photos of the major players of the day, you’ll feel as if you were there yourself, walking down the boulevards with the Lost Generation.

The Cocktail Companion: A Guide to Cocktail History, Culture, Trivia and Favorite Drinks by Cheryl Charming Mango (November 15, 2018) Cheryl Charming aka Miss Charming™ has been heavily steeped in the cocktail culture as a bartender since 1980. She has 15 published bar and cocktail related books. In high school she worked as a pizza waitress then quickly progressed to cocktail waitress, bar back, bartender, and head bartender. With a penchant for travel, Cheryl tended bar many places around America, a cruise ship in the Caribbean, and Walt Disney World. While working at WDW she became the bar trick/bar magic instructor for Disney’s F&B training program, Quest for the Best. Cheryl was also involved with hosting and participating in events for Tales of the Cocktail and teaching “Edutaining” cocktail classes for Royal Caribbean Cruise Line passengers. She is a member of The Bartenders Guild and The Museum of the American Cocktail. Cheryl studied Graphic and Interactive Communication at Ringling College of Art & Design and works as a freelance graphic artist on the side. Currently, she lives in the French Quarter and is the bar director at Bourbon O Bar on the corner of Bourbon and Orleans inside the Bourbon Orleans Hotel in the French Quarter. She was named “Mixologist of the Year” on 2014 by New Orleans Magazine.

Spirit of the North: COCKTAIL RECIPES AND STORIES FROM SCANDINAVIA by Selma Slabiak teNeues Publishing Company (November 15, 2018) What could possibly be better than sharing and enjoying in life’s simpler pleasures with friends and loved ones? This idea is at the heart of the Scandinavian lifestyle trends that many in contemporary culture have come to embrace. In an ever-present, all-encompassing quest to create this “just right” feeling when entertaining guests, star mixologist Selma Slabiak celebrates her Danish heritage by combining her personal and professional ethos for conviviality and togetherness with her expert, innovative knowledge of foraging and farm-to-table practice to present inventive drink and cocktail recipes in one multi-faceted book. Slabiak shares with her readers elevated bartending expertise and finesse, layering familiar and unusual flavors and ingredients, along with Scandinavian traditions and nostalgic stories from her childhood in Denmark, in an inspiring, delicious, and original recipe book of Nordic-based cocktails—so we can all capture the extraordinary in the everyday.

Ciderology: From History and Heritage to the Craft Cider Revolution by Gabe Cook Spruce (October 2, 2018) In Ciderology, Gabe Cook, aka ‘The Ciderologist,’ leading global cider expert, shares his passion for all things cider (and perry!), with an essential history of the drink and production processes, and a round-the-world tour of the most important and exciting cider makers in operation. You’ll find delicious recipes incorporating cider, tasting notes for cider styles that you can try yourself, and a wealth of anecdotes and tales that intermingle fact and myth. A real treat for the drinks enthusiast, inveterate cider lover and cider novice alike, Ciderology contains anything and everything you have ever needed to know about cider.

The Home Bar: A Guide to Designing, Equipping & Stocking Your Own Bar by Henry Jeffreys Gibbs Smith (October 9, 2018) Whether you desire a small, selectively stocked bar cart or are planning a bespoke entertaining space in your home, this book is a beautiful and indispensable guide to enjoying drinks at home, anytime. The Home Bar traces the cultural history of social drinking and bar design, and how this translates into highly desirable and stylish bars in a home setting. You will find advice on everything from the best bar surface to how to make and store ice, from cocktail shakers to stools, from stirrers to selecting the best glassware. For the discerning drinker fascinated by the mystique of soda siphons, cocktail kits, and seriously interesting aperitifs and digestives, there are tips on how to build up an enviable drinks collection. With a comprehensive selection of more than thirty superlative cocktail recipes, this is a fascinating and informative aid to stocking and enjoying your own home bar.

Whiskey America by Dominic Roskrow Mitchell Beazley (October 2, 2018) What can we expect from the best whiskey producers in America today? Whiskey America showcases some of the most exciting new styles of whiskey and why they are so special. Offering fascinating interviews with some of the leading characters in the recent distilling revolution, this absorbing book relates the stories of how successful lawyers, doctors and city slickers made the life-changing decision to turn their backs on conventional careers to pursue the ‘good life’ of making spirits in the most far-flung outreaches of America. And thank goodness they did, because this new generation of distillers not only customized conventional whiskey styles but also invented new ones never seen before. Whiskey America investigates how best to enjoy the new whiskies – in cocktails, with food, mixed or straight – and looks forward to where these exciting American spirits are going next.

Ten Drinks That Changed the World by Seki Lynch & Tom Maryniak Acc Art Books (November 5, 2018) Walk into any bar, in almost any part of the world, and there, on the back shelf you’re likely to see Vodka, Gin, Scotch, Bourbon, Brandy, Rum, Shochu, Tequila, Absinthe, Vermouth. These drinks helped shape our culture; inspired authors and painters, brought both anarchy and harmony and even, in some cases, induced mass hysteria. In 10 Drinks That Changed the World, bartender, poet and writer Seki Lynch tells the stories behind the spirits. Tracing the origins of each drink, he dissects the ingredients and locates the first makers, exploring how perceptions and consumption levels have ebbed and flowed through the centuries. Cocktail recipes, lists of artisan makers and insights from the great, good and notorious drinkers of history help complete the résumé for each drink. London artist Tom Maryniak has created original illustrations of each drink for the book.

Eat, Drink and Be Sherry: The Stylish Renaissance of a Great Wine by Ben Howkins & Hugh Johnson Quiller Publishing (November 1, 2018) Eat Drink and Be Sherry highlights the world’s most underrated fine wine. With over 50 years of experience in the wine industry, Ben Howkins looks outside the box to bring to life this increasingly popular drink. Howkins includes history, geography, and the production process to help position the sherry category in a wider context, with contributions from 50 of the leading sherry influencers. Sherry is a magnificent multi-faceted wine now very much on the “up” as a popular drink and this fascinating and accessible history will be of great interest to all who love good food and wine.

Apéritif: Cocktail Hour the French Way by Rebekah Peppler Clarkson Potter (October 16, 2018) For the French, the fleeting interlude between a long workday and the evening meal to come is not meant to be hectic or crazed. Instead, that time is a much-needed chance to pause, take a breath, and reset with light drinks and snacks. Whether it’s a quick affair before dashing out the door to your favorite Parisian bistro or a lead-up to a more lavish party, Apéritif is about kicking off the night, rousing the appetite, and doing so with the carefree spirit of connection and conviviality. Apéritif celebrates that easygoing lifestyle with simple yet stylish recipes for both classic and modern French apéritif-style cocktails, along with French-inspired bites and hors d’oeuvres. Keeping true to the apéritif tradition, you’ll find cocktail recipes that use lighter, low-alcohol spirits, fortified wines, and bitter liqueurs. The impressive drinks have influences from both Old World and New, but are always low fuss and served barely embellished–an easy feat to pull off for the relaxed host at home. Apéritif also offers recipes for equally breezy bites, such as Radishes with Poppy Butter, Gougères, Ratatouille Dip, and Buckwheat-Sel Gris Crackers. For evenings that are all about ease and approachability without sacrificing style or flavor, Apéritif makes drinking and entertaining at home as effortless, fun, and effervescent as the offerings themselves.