The Complete Cocktail Manual: Recipes and Tricks of the Trade for Modern Mixologists

by Lou Bustamante

Overview

Discover the best drink recipes, techniques, and histories in this must-have volume for every home bar. With 85+ recipes, including mocktails and classics, this comprehensive manual is perfect for any occasion.

The Complete Cocktail Manual will help you stock your bar, plan a drinks menu, and create the perfect cocktail, from worldwide classics to creative new combinations. More than 85 cocktail recipes are included throughout, as well as recipes for mocktails, tinctures, simple syrups, and unique twists on beloved classics.

Learn what makes the difference between an antique old-fashioned and a modern one, get the twist right for your muddling, and know which tools to use for which cocktails.

Entertain with ease, with advice on food pairings to set up, party punches to supply quantities. Helpful tips include how to hack your garnish and set a drink aflame—the right way—and advice for dealing with intoxicated guests and next-day hangovers.

This is a must-read volume for any spirits fan, casual mixologist, or craft cocktail enthusiast.

A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE: Expand your home bar set up with step-by-step instructions, easy-to-follow recipes, tool guides, and shopping lists. Learn all about liquors, mixers, bar tools, hospitality, and more.

INCLUDES EVERY KIND OF COCKTAIL: Get the best recipes for every type of drink, from aperitifs to citrus, spirit-forward to spicy, and the classics to the most-Googled, in all their many forms.

85+ RECIPES: The Complete Cocktail Manual includes dozens of great recipes to help you craft the perfect cocktail or mocktail.

EXPERT RESOURCES: This essential guide is written by spirits writer and expert Lou Bustamante, in partnership with the United States Bartenders’ Guild, and packed with expert tips from bartenders across the globe.

FULL-COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY: The Complete Cocktail Manual features 500+ full-color photos and illustrations throughout to inspire and ensure success.

PERFECT GIFT: This manual is a quintessential addition for any home bar and is perfect for the cocktail lover or modern mixologist in your life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781681888958
Publisher:	Weldon Owen
Publication date:	09/13/2022
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	672,119
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 9.50(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Lou Bustamante is a bar, spirits, and cocktail writer who has done everything from recipe and product development and distillery work to bartending and teaching cocktail classes. He covers the local and national spirits scene for the San Francisco Chronicle, The Bold Italic, 7x7, Wine & Spirits Weekly, and many others.

Read an Excerpt

Tip 144: Flame an Orange Peel
 
The most common and relatively safe—yet still quite dramatic—way to add a little fire to your cocktails is by flaming an orange peel over a drink. This caramelizes the citrus oils and also creates a sudden flash of fire that keeps things interesting.
 
STEP ONE Prepare the drink. Using a paring knife, cut a small circle of peel from an unwaxed orange. Hold the peel between the thumb and forefinger of your dominant hand, zest side towards the drink.
 
STEP TWO Light a match and position it about 4 inches (10 cm) from the drink, then pinch the zest quickly so that the oils in the skin jet towards the match and cocktail.
 
STEP THREE Moisten the rim of the glass with the orange peel. Note: If you end up with a sooty peel, it means that your orange is waxed. Avoid using waxed fruit as it will contribute a sooty-chemical flavor.
 
STEP FOUR Garnish your drink with the flamed peel and enjoy!

———————————————————————————————————————————————-

THE BOOTHBY

This version of William “Cocktail Bill” Boothby’s signature cocktail comes from barman H. Joseph Ehrmann. Boothby was a bartender and author who tended bar at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco in the pre-quake days of the early 1900s. This variation on a Manhattan strikes the right sweetness and bitter balance, and it lends a nice effervescence and sophistication worthy of a cocktail party.
 
1½ oz bonded rye whiskey
1½ oz Italian (sweet) vermouth
2 dashes Angostura bitters
1 oz sparkling wine (Brut preferred)
 
Combine all ingredients except sparkling wine in an ice-filled mixing glass and stir 20–30 seconds, until well chilled. Strain the cocktail into a chilled coupe or cocktail glass. Float sparkling wine on top.
 

Table of Contents

Basics & Setup

001 Choose Your Drink

002 Shake It Till You Make It

003 Practice, Practice, Practice

004 Speak in Tongues

005 Build Your Tool Kit

006 Distill Your Beer, Wine, or Smoothie

007 Run Your Still Waters Deep (and Tall)

008 Sip the Basics of Barrel Aging

009 Get Over the Barrel

010 Keep It Under Cover

011 Buy Size Smart

012 Clean Your Bar

013 Build Your Backbar

014 Assemble Versatile Bottles

015 Sherry Up, Get the Vermouth Out

016 Stock Your Cellar

017 Imbibe Sweet Liquor

018 Watch Your Sugar Content

019 Find Your Sweet Spot

020 Boast Better Bitters

021 Get Into Mixers

022 Get Hooked on Tonics

023 Produce the Juice

024 Know Your Glasses Specs

025 Ramp It Up

Spirit Profile: Whisk(e)y

026 Sip a Taste of Whisk(e)y

027 Say "Oak No He Didn't"

028 Decipher the Label

029 Cook Up a Whisk(e)y

030 Get Fresh

031 Make Things Juicy

032 Juice Up Your Drinks

033 Customize Your Drinks

034 Infuse It or Lose It

035 Flavor with Tinctures

036 Shrub it the Right Way

037 Put Your Drink On Ice

038 Keep It Clear

039 Break the Ice

040 Commission an Artist to Sculpt Perfect Ice

041 Don't Break the Mold

042 Get Jigger Happy

043 Measure Twice, Mix Once

044 Accessorize Your Bar

045 Cover Your Assets with Coasters

046 Choose Your Family

047 Keep It Simple

048 Choose Your Sweetener

049 Refine Your Sugar Syrups

Spirit Profile: Agave

050 Get the History

051 Meet Agave's Relative

052 Learn the Process

053 Typecast Your Tequila

Recipes & Techniques

054 Choose Your Light & Sparkling Drink

055 Appreciate Aperitivos

056 The Americano

057 Classic Negroni

058 Serve It Up

059 Make It Wrong

060 Make It Really Wrong

061 Embrace an Old Pal

062 Vary Your Vermouth

063 The Boulevardier

064 The Bellini

065 Crack Some Bubbly

066 Kir Royale

067 The Mighty Mimosa

068 Go On the Spritz

069 Bayside Fog

070 The Hummingbird

071 A Meadow for Eeyore

072 Anaranjadito

073 French 75

074 Sunshine Superman

075 Clermont

076 Choose Your Spirit Forward Drink

077 Get a Kick in the Glass

078 Be the Big Spoon

079 Don't Stir Up Trouble

080 Crack Up Your Cocktail

Spirit Profile: Gin

081 Learn the History

082 Pluck a Berry

083 Take a Tonic

084 Know Your Gins

085 Mix It Old School

086 The Muddled Old Fashioned

087 The Kentucky Connection

088 The Wisconsin Old Fashioned

089 Manhattan

090 Make It Perfect

091 The Boothby

092 Work Your Canadian Whisky

093 Make It a Snow Day

094 Rob Roy

095 Make It Burns

096 Study Your Scotch Whisky

097 Get Jazzy with Sazeracs

098 Classic Sazerac

099 Pomme d'Amour

100 Taste the Martini's Timeline

101 J.P.A. Martini

102 Julia Child (aka Inverted Martini)

103 Martinez

104 Vesper

105 Fifty-Fifty Split

106 Dirty Martini

107 Make Your Own Vermouth Base

108 Song About an Ex

109 Bone Machine

110 Bending Blades

111 Broken Compass

Spirit Profile: Rum

112 Learn the History

113 Drink in Tongues

114 Know the Process

115 Tick Off the Types

116 Get to Know the Movers and Shakers

117 Open the Floodgates

118 Don't Strain Yourself

119 Understand the Shake

120 Shake Your Cocktail Maker

121 Choose Your Tart & Tangy Drink

122 Get the Basic Daiquiri

123 Compose a Hemingway Daiquiri

124 Make It Frozen

125 Recruit Some Fruit

126 Know Your American Whiskey

127 Classic Whiskey Sour

128 Gum Things Up

129 Get in the Limelight

130 The Classic Aviation

131 Keep It Cordial

132 Make It Blue

133 Gimlet

134 Cosmopolitan

135 Swap the Cranberry

136 Vary the Vodka

137 Lemon Drop

138 Extract Flavor from a Pro

139 Control the Spice, Control the Cocktail

140 The Spice Invader

141 Orange You Glad You Made a Tincture?

142 The Final Four

143 Willa Brown

144 The Baudin

145 Rind Your Own Business

146 Shark God of Molokai

147 Quarantine Order

148 Go Tiki

149 Mai Tai

150 Mai Tai Float

151 Jamaican Scorpion Bowl

152 Tommy's Margarita

153 Know Your Highlands and Lowlands

154 Use a Blender Jar

155 Pisco Sour

156 Maracuyá Pisco Sour

157 Shake It High and Dry

158 Blend Your Pisco

Spirit Profile: Bitter Liqueurs

159 Drink Your Medicine

160 Don't Fernet the Past

161 Get to Know the Creators

162 Formulate Your Remedy

163 Drink to the Bitter End

164 Choose Your Patio & Poolside Drink

165 Mojito

166 Get Muddle-Headed

167 Carry a Big Stick

168 Buck Like a Mule

169 The Moscow Mule (or Vodka Buck)

170 Cure What Ales You

171 Mix Up the Formula

172 Be the Yoda of Soda

173 Cherry Blossom

174 Parker House Cocktail

175 Black Friar Tea

176 Mint Julep

177 Single-Serving Sangria

178 Whip Up a White Sangria

179 Lonely Island

180 DST

181 Brandy Lift

182 Michelada

183 Bloody Mary

184 Long Island Iced Tea

185 Endlessly Vary the Formula

186 Have Sex on the Beach

187 Know Your Fetishes

188 Choose Your Hot & Sweet Drink

189 Pull Shots Like a Barista

190 Shakerato

191 Rockaway Beach

192 The Burnside

193 Understand Irish Whiskey

194 Irish Coffee

195 Hot English Rum Flip

196 Lake Effect

197 You Had Me at Hot Toddy

Spirit Profile: Brandy

198 Know the History

199 Know Your French Fried Vines

200 Learn the Process

201 Identify the Types

202 Pink Sands

203 Bittersweet Symphony

204 Coco-Alexander

205 The Golden Fleece

206 The Great Compromise

207 Devil's Backbone

208 Fernet About Dre

209 Stage Dives & Fist Fights

210 Sacra Monti

Entertaining & Hospitality

211 Be the Host with the Most

212 Deal with Drunken Guests

213 Get Ready To Party

214 Plan Your Glassware and Booze

215 Build a Pro Cocktail Menu

216 Cook Up a Home Bar

217 Design a Pop-Up Bar

218 Set Up Your Bar Like a Pro

219 Go with the Flow

220 Make Eye Contact

221 Set the Mood

222 Don't Do the Dishes

223 Batch a Plan

224 Scale Your Recipe by Ratios

225 Mix the Bucket

226 Pre-Batch Your Drinks

227 Give a Warm Welcome and a Cold Drink

228 Have Fun with Ice Molds

229 Slice and Dice Your Ice

230 Don't Get Stuck

231 Salute Those About to Mock(tail)

232 Craft Deliciously Potable Water

233 Keep Your Drinks and Friends Dry

234 Mock Their Socks Off

235 Saint Tiki

236 Faux-Ioma

237 Honeybee Fizz

238 Wild Mule

239 Watermelon-Ginger Gelatin Shots

240 Have No Bones About it

241 Fear the Edible Shot

242 Grow Some Bourbon Balls

243 Play Matchmaker with Drinks and Dinner

244 Avoid Making a Meal Out of Cocktails

245 Prepare to Layer

246 Make Your Drinks as Cold as a Polar Bear's Glass

247 Layer Your Drink with Arsenic and Lace

248 Drink Around the World

249 Party with Punch

250 Fish House Punch

251 Make Oleo Saccharum

252 Brew Some Tea Syrup

253 Festoon Your Drinks

254 Garnish Like a Pro

255 Get a Rosy Outlook

256 Do the Twist

257 Take Wing

Spirit Profile: Vodka

258 Get the History

259 Rediscover Vodka's Uses

260 Learn the Process

261 Define Vodka

262 Set Your Drink Aflame

263 Float a Tiki Torch Garnish

264 Flame an Orange Peel

265 Use a Red-Hot Poker

266 Add Some Flair, Bartender

267 Learn the Bottle Stall

268 Pour Behind the Head

269 Pour Behind the Back

270 Say Cheers … or Sláinte! Salud! Prost!

271 Become a Neat Freak

272 Throw No Stones

273 Taste Like a Pro

274 Give a Goody Bag

275 Get Invited Back

276 Tackle the Cleanup

277 Get Out of a Sticky Situation

278 Save the Furniture

279 Get Salty

280 Finesse Your Flask

281 Devise a Cure

282 Get a Cola Clear-Out

283 Go Pro

284 Bite the Dog Back

285 Eat and Energize

Closing Statement

Index

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Credits

Editorial Reviews

"At first, leafing through The Complete Cocktail Manual: 285 Tips, Tricks & Recipes, a new book by San Francisco cocktail and spirits writer Lou Bustamante, it’s a little disorienting to realize that there are no page numbers. Instead, the book—the only one written in conjunction with the United States Bartenders' Guild—is an amalgam of facts, recipes and techniques, apportioned into easy-to-read chunks. Each of these nuggets is numbered, whether that means one or several per page (285 in all, as the subtitle says)."

Liquor.com

"In Bustamante’s first book, a rapid-fire primer to classic cocktails and techniques, he offers up hundreds of tips, like how to efficiently stock your home bar with booze and tools, and almost as many recipes. All of which will help give your home bartending game a handy boost."

San Francisco Chronicle