Meehan's Bartender Manual: [A Cocktail Reference and Recipe Book] Hardcover – October 17, 2017

Released in 2017, this is the second book we’ve featured of Meehan’s (the first being the essential ’PDT Cocktail Book’.)We began 2022 by abstaining from alcohol for the month of January. However, we also pledged to expand and improve our mixology skills during the year.This exhaustive collection of text contains a wealth of information for the professional and home bar enthusiast alike. Within the pages, you’ll find history, essential hospitality industry information, expert advice, techniques and 100 recipes for classic cocktails. Not only did working through this book elevate our skills but it expanded our palate as we explored spirits we were less familiar with (rum and tequila, in particular). The book is gorgeously designed and features simple, beautiful photographs of every drink, as well as wonderful illustrations throughout. Here are the cocktails we made:• Old Friend - Created by the author himself in 2012 for the Chef’s Club in Aspen, Colorado, this cocktail feels like a timeless classic! It features one of our favorite spirits, Campari! This bitter crimson-hued liqueur is definitely an acquired taste but we love it so much we will drink it by itself with a splash of soda. Here, it’s shaken with gin, grapefruit juice and St. Germain (an elderflower liqueur) before garnishing with a lemon twist.• Martinez - Dating back to 1884, the “recipe” from O.H. Byron’s ‘The Modern Bartenders Guide’ simply stated, “same as a Manhattan, only you substitute gin for whiskey.”Here, the drink receives an upgrade - combining Old Tom gin, vermouth, maraschino liqueur and a couple dashes of bitters. Garnish with an orange twist and imbibe!• Five Island Flamingo - This cocktail allowed us the opportunity to explore rum as the featured spirit. As it turns out, there are far more (better) options than that bottle of Malibu we choked down after our senior prom. This delicate creation features white rum, grapefruit soda and lime juice. With minimal ingredients, quality is key - as there’s nothing for them to hide behind.• East India Negroni - This twist on the classic subs Banks 5-Island rum for the gin and Lustau East India Solera sherry for the sweet Vermouth. Although interesting, we ultimately preferred the classic over the remake - not unlike the movie ‘Footloose’ (or ‘Dirty Dancing’).• Tommy’s Margarita - Created in the late 80’s by second-generation owner Julio Bermejo of Tommy’s Mexican Restaurant in San Francisco, this recipe trades triple sec for agave syrup. Using the best quality reposado tequila is crucial - as there’s nothing, aside from lime juice and the agave syrup, for it to hide behind. If your only exposure to margs are the 3 for 1 blended concoctions at your local Tex-Mex joint, give this sophisticated, yet simple, version a try.

With as much anticipation as a 12 year outside Barnes and Noble waiting for the midnight release of Harry Potter #7, I pre-ordered Meehan’s Bartender Manual so it would arrive freshly on my doorstep publication day; 8 hours later, and 260 pages into his manual, I already know this book will be as influential as many of the defining cocktail books of our era that built my mixology hobby - death & co, liquid intelligence, potions of the Caribbean. Although I can yet to comment on the second half (yes I’m reading it front to back) I can recommend with utmost confidence you should buy Meehan’s new manual if you want to be on the forefront of our cocktail revolution; he has taken his decades of experience and vast weath of knowledge and placed it at your fingertips with insights and wisdom stated clearly, efficiently, and beautifully. I’ll give some examples:-Cocktail History: Meehan condenses many worldwide threads of cocktails history (tiki, prohibition, punch, the dark ages aka 60s/70s, our newest revolution) and places them in a logical timeline that clearly makes sense in simple language. I have read many cocktail books explaining these eras separately, but for the first time Mehaan connects and integrates the whole story clearly, showing how our history molded the cocktail renessance we are in today.-Commercial Bar Design: he examines every detail down to the minimum dimension of a bar stool chair cushion, to optimized well bottle organization, to lighting, floor plans, neighborhood selection, all with insights gleaming through from his many years building PDT and other world renown bars.-Home Bar Design: this is the first book I have seen touch on Home bars, where many readers like myself spend the majority of our time crafting drinks.-Tools and Techniques: while many other books have belabored these subjects to death, Meehan added fresh insight to these already well written about topics. It is written at the level both an expert and a novice can draw significant knowledge from.-Production: Meehan takes liquor from the farm to distillation to bottling to table, unmasking a fascinating world only seen by the leaders in the field.And of course as with every book, there is the ‘Spirits and Cocktails’ section. It’s divided by liquor class, each with a beautiful introduction on the birthplace, origin, history, and shaping of that class. Meehan focuses on only 100 cocktails (classics/vintage + some of his creations), allowing more depth by going through the “origin, logic, and hacks” for each drink. I love this organization. It’s a nice variation from so many prior cocktail books.And past page 260 (I’m currently in his rum based section), I’ll leave to you so I don’t spoil it all. Enjoy as you dive into this great new book that will join in history as a defining book of our cocktail revolution.p.s.+It’s bound in a beautiful green thick hardback cover that has both the beauty of a coffee table book to the durability of a barback book+It has beautiful Pictures, Bar Layout Designs, Maps, and imagery making it pleasing to flip through.