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

`The Craft of the Cocktail' is a massively informative referance that I would have maimed for over thirty years ago when I was first started walking the slats behind the wood. I can't wait to try the new recipes at the pub and in my home.Elegant! Scholarly! Humorous! Easy read!As a Hall of Fame bartender, I have studied my profession in Britain, France and the US and have over four thousand Beverage/Literature books going back to 1821. `The Craft of the Cocktail' fits honorably among the top five cocktail volumes on my shelves. It is a treasure that I now study and revere. The historical information is accurate and the barroom philosphy uplifting.Serious and aspiring bartenders, if you acquire only one cocktail-making book in your career this definitely should be it.Dale DeGroff is one of the very few people in the saloon business worldwide who could have delivered such an important and complete work. He is an unusual and rare talent and is truly what a professional bartender should be. His playful anecdotes and story telling abilities show he is definitely one of us.Come to the Fox & Hounds in St. Louis to imbibe and discuss this joyous book. If we are very lucky, Mr. DeGroff and some of his mentors might join us in a discussion about the history of our industry.#N.B: Pay attention Cocktail Nation, this is a monumental work!

I have 5 cocktail books that all have 4+ ratings on amazon (Joy of Mixology, Modern Mixologist etc.) and this is easily my favorite. It has many of the classics like the Daiquiri and Margarita, but they are amazing! Dale's mixes are the best I've tried and my guests absolutely rave about "my" bartending skills. If you follow the directions in this book (which means using FRESH ingredients), then you will have happy guests too. He gives plenty of explanation, including some flashy things like flaming orange peels and the blazer (often called the blue blazer, and you can see Dale performing this one on Youtube). Covers all the basics too, like tools and glassware and the basics of each liquor. If you were just beginning and wanted to learn the right way the first time, this is a great book!The one downside is the index is not good enough in my opinion. There isn't a way of looking up drinks by ingredient. I love this book so much though, I'm creating my own ingredient index, and may make it public someday. There aren't a ton of pictures, but there are lots of great drinks.If you like cream based drinks or liquers (like Kahlua) try the Island Rose. His version of the frozen Daiquiri, Margarita and Cosmopolitan are top notch- the best out of the books I have. I enjoy my other books too, but given only one book, my choice would be easy. He also gives the history of various liquors and drinks and includes a number of drinks from nearly a century ago. There's a reason Dale is called the King of Cocktails, and this book does a good job sharing his expertise.

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.