Book: Death & Co – Modern Classic Cocktails (Available from Amazon, $25)
Genre: Cocktails; Mixology; Coffee Table; Educational
I picked up D&C’s cocktail book on the recommendation of a bartender-friend. I was initially hesitant to pay full price ($50) for a book of pictures and nice recipes. However, upon seeing that it was on sale and with the recommendation, I splurged.
D&C put a lot of care into the book. I’ve never been to the bar (it is on my bucket list, along with Amor y Amargo) but I get the impression that to them the details are important, and they have insanely high standards for themselves. This is evident from reading the introduction, let alone the foreword.
Suffice to say this book is far more than a simple recipe book with nice pictures. Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of recipes, and a lot of nice pictures. But the real joy of this book comes from the first half. In it, Dave Kaplan and Andrew Day explain how their drinks are made and why. I also loved the sections where the authors explained how their house infusions were made and gave the recipes for doing just that.
The “how” and “why” parts are a fascinating insight into some of the most creative minds of the cocktail world. Of particular interest to me were the sections that detailed the process by which new drinks were concocted.
I cannot recommend this book more to any home bartender. 5 out of 5 [full] Old Fashioned glasses.
Pros: Aesthetically a gorgeous book; good layout; format is easy to follow; the “how” and “why” sections!; so many recipes!
Cons: A lot of the recipes include hard-to-find ingredients
Recipe: Oaxacan Old Fashioned
Conclusion: Get it.
