The Complete Home Bartender's Guide: Tools, Ingredients, Techniques, & Recipes for the Perfect Drink

By Salvatore Calabrese

Sharpen your skills and master the classics with THE WORLD’S BESTSELLING COCKTAIL BOOK—now thoroughly redesigned, updated, and with all-new, eye-catching photos.
 
From advice on setting up your home bar and planning a successful cocktail party to selecting the right glass and choosing the right garnish in three easy steps, The Complete Home Bartender’s Guide has it all. You’ll learn industry terminology, must-have ingredients, including the six essential syrups you should make at home, how to choose a juicy lime every time, how to batch cocktails, how to chill glasses if you don’t have room in your freezer, how to create layers in a drink, and the secret to inventing memorable cocktails. Written by award-winning bartender and industry legend Salvatore Calabrese, this indispensable volume covers everything you need to know and provides recipes for hundreds of drinks—from the Algonquin and the Martini to the Negroni and Zombie—as well as new developments in the cocktail world.

This book will make the perfect addition and will help you create picture-perfect drinks every time.
 
Salvatore Calabrese is the bestselling author of 10 books and a past president of the UK Bartenders’ Guild. He has received the Tales of the Cocktail Helen David Lifetime Achievement Award and the Imbibe Industry Legend Award. He consults for select brands and judges cocktail competitions internationally. He lives in London with his wife and has three children and one grandson.
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Union Square & Co.
• Release date: Nov 5, 2019
• ISBN: 9781454931768

Book preview

PARTY PLANNING

Start planning your cocktail party at least two weeks before the event. As the host, you will enjoy it more if you don’t have to worry about having enough for everyone.

MENU

If you are having a cocktail party for, say, 20 people, it’s best to decide before the event which cocktails to offer. Generally, a choice of five or six is fine. Read through some classic recipes and choose the ones you like most, or ask your guests in advance what flavors they prefer: bitter, salty, savory, sour, or sweet. If you know your guests prefer a specific spirit, like vodka, then choose two vodka recipes. If others prefer whiskey, add a whiskey-based recipe.

However, the most important thing is to choose recipes you will feel comfortable making. Remember that recipes built directly in the glass are easiest, then stirred drinks, and anything shaken. Blenders are always noisy and frequently messy, but they’re essential for frozen summery cocktails.

When you have a final cocktail menu, make a shopping list of ingredients that includes your garnishes and another for any barware (barspoon, coasters, cocktail spears, muddler, napkins, straws) that you might need. For club soda, seltzer, tonic water, and the like, buy several small cans or bottles rather than one large one that will lose its carbonation quickly. And don’t forget a clean tea towel to wipe up the inevitable spills!

For a cocktail party, plan on three cocktails per person. For drinks served before or after dinner, aim for two per person. For cocktails with a standard measure of 1½ ounces (4.5cl) per ingredient, here’s a count of how many drinks you can make from different-size bottles:

  750ml bottle = 16 cocktails

1L bottle = 22 cocktails

  1.5L bottle = 39 cocktails

A bottle of wine, sparkling or otherwise, contains five 5-ounce (15cl) servings.

ICE

The amount of ice you will need differs according to what cocktails you are making. Buy several small bags of ice, and place them in the freezer. Fill an ice bucket about five minutes before your guests arrive.

BAR ESSENTIALS

Spirits

brandy

gin

vodka

rum

tequila

whiskey

Liqueurs

amaretto

Aperol

Campari

Cynar

triple sec

Wines

dry vermouth

red wine

sherry

sparkling

sweet vermouth

white wine

Bitters

Angostura bitters

Peychaud’s bitters

Mixers

club soda

cola

ginger ale

seltzer

tonic water

lemon-lime soda

Juices

cranberry

lemon

lime

orange

pineapple

Syrups

simple syrup

grenadine

orgeat

vanilla syrup

Extras

black pepper

coconut cream

egg white

ginger

heavy cream

sea salt

superfine sugar

Tabasco sauce

Worcestershire sauce

PREPARATION

Squeeze your juices in advance, the same day, and refrigerate them in airtight containers as needed.

Muddle fruit or herbs in advance, same day, and refrigerate until ready to use.

Prepare your garnishes on a plate in the refrigerator—again, the same day—and cover them with a damp cloth to keep them moist.

If a recipe calls for a chilled cocktail glass, put the glassware in the freezer at least 1 hour before your guests arrive. If not the freezer, the refrigerator will do. Or simply fill them with ice for a few minutes before making the drinks.

Another handy trick is to prepare the glassware in advance—rimming margarita glasses with salt, for example—setting them aside, and then batching the drink. Make the total volume of a cocktail all at once in a large pitcher—with the exception of any carbonated ingredients or ice, if the recipe calls for either. Refrigerate the pitcher until just before your guests arrive. Then make each individual serving as directed—adding or shaking with ice and topping with club soda or sparkling wine.

NEGRONI SVEGLIATO, page 298

SUMMER MEMORY, page 110

THE RECIPES

BRANDY

GIN

RUM

TEQUILA

VODKA

WHISKEY, BOURBON & RYE

CHAMPAGNE & WINE

BITTERS & OTHER SPIRITS

PUNCHES, CUPS & EGGNOGS

LIQUEURS

SHOOTERS

HOT DRINKS

CALABRESE CLASSICS

ADDICTION TO LOVE, page 26

BRANDY

Brandy is a generic term for a spirit distilled from the juice, pulp, seeds, skins, or stems of any kind of fruit. It can come from anywhere in the world, although the name is derived from the Dutch brandewijn, meaning burnt wine. (The creation of brandy was due almost entirely to the Dutch.)

America, Chile, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, South Africa, and Spain all produce brandy, and Spain ranks as the world’s largest consumer of the spirit. Roughly two-thirds of American brandy comes from California. Distillers make traditional brandy by distilling wine, aging it in oak barrels, and maturing it in bottles. A 2- to 3-year-old brandy is young; 10- to 15-year-old bottle is good. 40 to 60 years old is usually of excellent quality. South American brandy comes from Chile and is called pisco. It is made from Muscat grapes that are distilled and then aged in oak or in clay jars. A Pisco Sour cocktail is made only with this brandy.

A proper measure consists of about 1⅔ ounces (5cl) served at room temperature. Almost all bars and restaurants serve brandy in a snifter. Many producers and connoisseurs prefer it in a tulip-shaped glass. Whichever glass you choose, hold the glass by the bowl to warm the liquid with the heat from your hand.

GRAPPA AND MARC

Also called pomace brandy, grappa and marc are regarded as poor man’s brandies and are drunk as digestifs. Both types of brandy are made from the remaining skins, husks, and stems of grapes that have been pressed to make wine. Grappa is produced in Italy and is usually not aged, but some brands may have been matured in wooden casks for between two to four