The Encyclopedia of co*cktails: The People, Bars & Drinks, with More Than 100 RecipesHardcover (2024)

A lively A-to-Z compendium of the notable drinks, bartenders, and bars that shaped the co*cktail world and produced the vibrant spirits culture we enjoy today, from two-time James Beard Award-nominated author and New York Times co*cktail and spirits writer, Robert Simonson.

"The Encyclopedia of co*cktails is akin to a perfect bar, chock-full of traditional wisdom along with intriguing new information."--Toby Maloney, founder of The Violet Hour and author of The Bartender's Manifesto

How did the Old-Fashioned get its name, and why has the drink endured? What drinks were invented by Sam Ross? What was the Pegu Club, and who bartended there? In The Encyclopedia of co*cktails, Robert Simonson catalogues all the essential people, places, and drinks that make up our co*cktail history in a refreshing take on the conventional reference book.

New York Times co*cktail and spirits writer Robert Simonson's witty and opinionated presentation of the bar world is a refreshing look at all things co*cktail-related. There are more than 100 drink recipes, from the Adonis to the Zombie, with vivid illustrations throughout. Simonson also includes entries for spirits from absinthe to vodka and illuminates the origins of each. This guide isn't a strictly academic text, nor is it simply a collection of drink recipes--it is an animated, sometimes irreverent historical journey highlighting the preeminent bars and top bartenders of record.

The Encyclopedia of co*cktails is perfect for co*cktail nerds as well as anyone interested in learning about co*cktail culture. It's both a recipe book and a reference guide to keep near the bar or flip through while sipping your favorite libation.

ISBN-13: 9781984860668

Media Type: Hardcover

Publisher: Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed

Publication Date: 10-17-2023

Pages: 320

Product Dimensions: 6.10(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.10(d)

Introduction

The name of this book was chosen carefully. This is an encyclopedia of co*cktails. Its focus is co*cktails, just as mine has been for nearly twenty years. Every entry, be it of a spirit or a particular historical bar or a notable person or a professional tool, is written with a view of how that spirit, bar, person, or tool played a role in the history, progress and proliferation of co*cktails and co*cktail culture. So, the entry on rye whiskey, for instance, does not dwell overly long on how rye is made or who makes it—information better left to books whose subject is whiskey or the making of spirits, of which there are many—but rather how it is used in co*cktails, and how that use has changed over time. In other words, I wrote this book wearing co*cktail-colored glasses, and you should read it with the same frames.

The time frame covered by this book ranges from the earliest days of mixology to the current day. There are classic co*cktails and modern classics; bars that live in legend only and bars that operate today; bartenders famous in their day and famous today.

Regarding the tone of the text, I have tried to write a popular, people’s history of co*cktails. During my years as a co*cktail historian, the texts I have enjoyed best and gotten the most out of, be they books or individual pieces of journalism, were the ones written with a point a view and heavy dollops of opinion. That sort of attitude is, I believe, natural. It’s almost impossible to sample a drink or experience a bar without developing almost instant impressions of them. The urge to express those impressions follows almost immediately after. I’ve tried to follow in that outspoken tradition in these pages. Throughout, one of the models I kept in mind was Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary of the English Language from 1755. I don’t pretend to Johnson’s greatness, but I have admired since college his decision to inject humor and opinion into his definitions. (Classic example: “Oats: a grain which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people.”) When’s the last time you laughed, or even smiled, while reading a reference book? I hope you will at this one.

That air of playful bias extends to the entries themselves, which number more than three hundred. All were selected by me and me alone. Some choices were obvious. Of course, I had to include the Martini, Jerry Thomas, El Floridita, and gin. If not, there would have been hell to pay. But mixed in between expected topics from absinthe to Zombie you will find more than a few wild cards.

Robert Simonson