BOOZE BOOKS: Giveaway + three reviews
Adam McDowell on cocktail recipe books you might actually use. PLUS: subscribe by Dec. 13 for a chance to win!
Giveaway alert! This holiday season, we’re sending our loyal Moose Milk subscribers the gift of booze books, as a gesture of thanks and goodwill … with a dose of self-promotion. Buy someone a gift subscription and triple your chances! Read to the end of this post for more details. And if this is your first visit to
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For this week: When it comes to cocktail recipe books — one of the bigger subgenres within the realm of booze books — what’s the point of them, for regular people?
I’m asking you, because when it comes to drinks stuff I’m not regular people. My place is cluttered with (as I have complained in this space before) hundreds of booze bottles, and dozens of drinks books. (I wrote one myself; *cough*.) Et cetera, et cetera.
The point I’m getting to is: I can get some use out of a fancy cocktail recipe book because I have an extensive home bar and I know how to use it.
But for, like, regular people? Are you actually able to use a book of cocktail recipes?
Publishers crank out new titles every year, so there must be a market for them. But honestly I don’t know what benefit most people derive from them, because almost no one who lacks experience working in a bar ever seems to get to the point where they’re comfortable mixing their own drinks at home.
Moreover, your typical contemporary cocktail book involves pretty high-falutin’ techniques and hard-to-find ingredients — stuff that’s daunting even for moi, to be frank. A professional bartender can absorb some solid inspo from a lot of these books, but for a booze normie I would assume they’re just terrifying.
Is it strictly aspirational, then, the recipe book? It doesn’t have to be. Among several of the books that are angling for your wallet this holiday 2019, three that I’ve skimmed (because let’s be honest, these things are made for skimming) have actually struck me as useful — for the right demographic. Are you it? Or is someone on your gift list? Read on.
For the budding cocktail host: Batch Cocktails: Make-Ahead Pitcher Drinks for Every Occasion
I found the introduction to this book by Maggie Hoffman so spot-on and relatable that I think it’s worth quoting at length:
“As anyone who has hosted a cocktail hour knows, there’s nothing worse than scrambling at the last minute, trying to mix drinks as your guests walk through the door. It’s hard to hold a conversation while searching for lost bitters [and] knocking over the jigger on the counter … And without fail, just when you’re finally about to sit down, your friends are ready for a second round.”
Amen, sister. Making cocktails at home is difficult, it’s messy, and if you’re a regular schmoe as opposed to a professional bartender, it’s tough to concentrate on mixology and conversation at the same time.
Hoffman’s solution? Make your cocktails ahead of time in big batches, and take a more relaxed approach to hosting. I learned this the hard way. I advise skipping that stage and getting this book instead.
There are dozens of recipes here, and they range from pretty straightforward (punches with wide appeal and no “weird” ingredients) to fairly sophisticated boozy stirred numbers. I made two of the latter for the crowd at my stepdad’s 65th recently: a really nice one called the Greyscale, with Cognac and Earl Grey tea syrup; and the Frankie Panky, a tequila-based take on the classic hanky panky.
The latter came out a bit tart for my taste, which suggests the only caveat I’ll provide for this party-fuelling volume: Whip up a single-serving tester of the drinks before you make a full batch, if possible. It’s easier to calibrate to your taste before you make, like, a dozen servings’ worth.
For the intermediate to advanced cocktail enthusiast: Cocktail Codex: Fundamentals, Formulas, Evolutions
Circa 2009, I would have fallen in love with this book. Every cocktail fan has a phase where they’re determined to experience the best. Given that this book is from the crew at Manhattan’s Death & Co. (possibly my favourite cocktail bar circa 2009; still high on the list now), some of the best recipes ought to be here.
This is the second Death & Co. cocktail book. Cocktail Codex focuses less on their Lower East Side repertoire and more on the classics, and permutations thereof. So, for example, you get the classic Champagne cocktail and the French 75, but also co-owner Alex Day’s bubbly riff, the Field Marshall.
Ah, but there’s the rub for Canadians: the Field Marshall, in true Death & Co. form, contains specific brand recommendations for its ingredients that you’re not going to find in Canada — not simply “Armagnac,” for instance, but Tariquet Classique VS Bas-Armagnac (there’s this in Quebec, but it doesn’t look like the exact same product).
Um, I just used what I had around the house. Like, instead of Champagne, I had some Jackson Triggs sparkling wine from the bloody Wine Rack. So this wasn’t so much a field marshal as a one-star general at best. And yet it was tasty!
All in all, I do quite like this book. Beyond fashioning cheap Canadian Death & Co. knockoffs, as I have been doing, you can definitely make use of their renditions of classic recipes. These aren’t as persnickety about brands and varieties of ingredients.
And Cocktail Codex also serves as a reminder that a couple drinks at Death & Co. makes for a sublime pilgrimage. Finally, a reason to go to New York!
The Death & Co. company recommend The Hakushu 12 single malt for highballs (and 2:1 soda-to-whisky ratio, one ice cube, no lemon); I have the No Age Statement Hakushu and this works very nicely indeed.
Cocktails for when you’re over it: Session Cocktails: Low-Alcohol Drinks for Any Occasion
I don’t make cocktails at home too often these days (see above). But when I do, I tend to prefer ’em low-alcohol, because we have a baby, and something like a martini just wipes me out in one go.
This collection of low-octane cocktails by Drew Lazor and the editors of Punch offers a nice variety, from stirred old fashioned substitutes (two vermouths and two common bitters equals an Old Hickory) to light ‘n’ bittersweet (e.g., a Pimm’s spritz).
My favourite so far is the Kirring Me Softly, which sounds bonkers (Greek yogurt, salt, honey, citrus, Champagne and cassis), but keeps everything in balance to produce a delicious, slightly boozy berry smoothie. Kudos to Dorothy Elizabeth of Detroit, inventor of the drink.
If you’re looking for a plethora of low-alcohol cocktail ideas in one book, Session Cocktails is the Goldilocks’s porridge. Many of the competitors in this space are singularly focused on Italian-style aperitivo drinks (not that there’s anything wrong with those). Another recent one, All Day Cocktails: Low (And No) Alcohol Magic, involves way too many labour-intensive infusions and fussy homemade syrups to be of use to a non-bartender.
Session Cocktails, conversely, is diverse and practical. It’s the mature choice — like drinking less hooch in the first place.
Now, what are you waiting for? Subscribe today for a chance to win my very copy!
OK, now for the booze giveaway details
Here’s how it works: On Saturday, Dec. 14, we will put the names of every premium Moose Milk subscriber into a hat* (*prize-draw vessel is subject to not being an actual, literal hat), pick them one at a time, and if your name comes up, you win a booze book. We’ll email you to ask where to send it — Canadian addresses, preferably.
Which booze books are we giving away? We have about 30 altogether, including 20 signed copies of Christine Sismondo and Stephen Beaumont’s excellent Canadian Spirits. Beyond that, we have a few others you’ll recognize from our recent fall booze book reviews, and we’re giving away our copies because we appreciate your support — and because our wee Toronto houses are running out of room.
If you’re a paying, premium Moose Milk subscriber — or become one by Dec. 13 (cough, ahem, HINT) you don’t have to do anything. You’re entered!
And if you want to increase your chances to win, buy someone else a gift subscription: We’ll enter every buyer of a gift sub in the draw twice, and your giftee once. Triple dip! And a splendid gift for the drinks fancier in your life.