The Essential Cocktail: The Art of Mixing Perfect Drinks Hardcover – October 28, 2008

I ordered two cocktail books. This one is by far the better one. It lists great cocktails with simple to follow directions and fabulous backstories. I had no idea real grenadine was a pomegranate product! This is improving our knowledge and mixology skill set, plus helping us endure the covid self isolation. We miss our favorite bars, but we are saving a bundle by making cocktails ourselves.We are planning on buying copies of this for some of our friends.

I decided it was time to start finding some more things I'd like to drink other than the 3 things I order at every bar. So I checked a bunch of books on bar tending out of the library. This is by far my favorite so I bought a copy to keep. First, it has a lot of the classic drinks that you'd get at a bar and also lots of others and all the drinks I've made so far are really great. Second, the photos are super - I pick half the drinks just by their looks alone. Third, the stories with each drink just add another layer of fun. I didn't expect to learn anything about the history of cocktails in America, but I have and it's been really fun.

Dale DeGroff is the master and a sort of "original" in the craft cocktail re-emergence. Sure, cocktails were around before Dale, but few in history have put together a more instructive book. Good photos and historic comments make for a fun read and good insight on why a cocktail might be a good one for you. Though I have a dozen or so other cocktail books to which I refer, this is by far the one I "go-to" the most. If I had to have just one cocktail book, this is it. I have one of these in each of my houses. I have purchased and gifted this book several times to my cocktail/mixology friends. You can't go wrong with this one. Cheers! Tony

on my journey. So, my new adventure into mixed drinks started with this book. So rich in detail, anecdotes and history that you may need to restrain yourself from mixing TOO many delicious drinks and not remembering ANY of them! I ordered the Kindle version and this is very convenient at the bar, just pull-up the recipe and mix. The discussion of flavors, tools, spirit brands and products is both interesting and entertaining. Highly recommended.

Great book! We've now made tons of the recipes in here. It is really easy to follow, easy to find something specific if you are looking to use a certain ingredient or in a certain mood. And I love the blurbs about drink histories and alternative options. A staple bar reference for any cocktail lover, beginner or experienced.The book also offers really helpful resources for finding certain ingredients, tools, or barware online. I love that and have used it to hunt down certain things!

This book is all you need to make perfect drinks, every time. It also teaches you about the history of the drink and why the author has selected the particular recipe they have. Love it.

The Negroni and Margarita are 2 of my favorites, but the drinks and history are so fun and interesting, without being intimidating for a nocive. Lots of fun to share with friends or just reading and experimenting on your own.

I like the book. I read it fast. It made me a better person. That doesn't mean that I think I am better than others though. Not everyone anyway, some people. You know who you are. I used some of the recipes in the book. Don's Mixx #1 was fun. It made my house smell good, wich was nice because I have a cat. My cat doesn't pee everywhere but sometimes it smells like he does. I hate when he uses his cat box then jumps in my bed and there is still litter on his paws. Another thing I like about the book was that it says where the history knowledge came from, this is something alot of beverage books does not do. I think the burn on my leg is infected and i'm scared.

This is the best book of cocktails you can ever think of.You see what’s inside every cocktail and the history behind it.

Great

Having worked in the industry and being an enthusiastic home cocktail afficinado I am always looking to enhance my knowledge of cocktails. This book gives great insight into the history of the major players in the classic cocktail reportoire. Crafted by a true legend in the industry, Dale de Groff gives you an exemplary lesson in the art of mixing drinks. Plus his own variations are a lovely addition and show how far cocktail recipes have, and can, go. This book will take pride of place in my library along side older and more modern tomes. I cant recommend it enough. So if your just looking to learn recipes then no this isnt essential reading, I would recommend Diffords guide for that, but for history, humour and a great deal of knowledge this book surpasses most.

This is a good solid repository of recipes, knowledge and stories but it falls a way short of being a great work. Fairly simplistic in its delivery and somewhat gaudy in presentation it smacks of a book very much aimed at American readers, which is fair enough as cocktails are a very American thing. There's no arguing with Mr. DeGroff''s knowledge, experience and experience but I think he could have produced a much better book if he'd gone for a more stylish, European coffee table type tome. It's also a bit smaller than I expected. All in all there is nothing wrong with this book just nothing exceptional.