Here are twenty new books, reprints, and new editions of drink books including selections on whisky, rum, gin, absinthe, Martinis, and true crime; plus tie-in gift books themed for television shows, video, and board games.

The Whiskey Sour: A Modern Guide to the Classic Cocktail by Jeanette Hurt

Though mostly a cocktail book (with just a few illustrations), The Whiskey Sour includes a great 25 pages of the drink’s history from punch and early books like Oxford Night Caps through to its modern forms. I wasn’t aware that egg whites didn’t come into the drink until after Prohibition, nor that the New York Sour (with a red wine float) was the first printed variation and not a modern invention!

The rest of the book focuses on recipes – the standard formulations then riffs on the drinks divided into chapters for “classic riffs,” “juicy riffs,” and “modern riffs” that add ingredients like yuzu, butterfly pea flower tea, and lager to the drink. If the Whiskey Sour is your favorite drink then this is the book to drink your way through (Editor’s note: Hurt is an Alcohol Professor contributor)

Rum A Tasting Course: A Flavor-Focused Approach to the World of Rum by Ian Burrell

Publisher DK has long been known for its heavily illustrated books including this “tasting course” series covering whiskey, gin, wine, and more. They all feature lots of sections, photos, and illustrations, rather than long sections of text, making them fun to flip through.

For this one on rum they sourced Ian Burrell, who is known as in independent, international rum ambassador who has been in the business longer than many bartenders have been alive.

The book offers about 100 pages of introduction to rum, its history, and how it is made. The second half features information on how to taste rum, a flavor wheel and other tasting tools, and the main content - tasting notes for more than 100 rums divided by region, plus recipes for 30+ cocktails.

Malört : The Redemption of a Revered and Reviled Spirit by Josh Noel

This book traces the history of Chicago’s famously bitter liqueur Malört from its creation to its sale in 2018, with an emphasis on how modern bartenders made it more popular than it ever had been. Author Josh Noel succeeds in this work in making us care about the brand and its elderly owner and a ragtag team of fans and underdogs… until that owner cashes out and keeps the spoils for herself.

The Absinthe Forger: A True Story of Deception, Betrayal, and the World’s Most Dangerous Spirit by Evan Rail

This book retraces the trail of a modern-day absinthe counterfeiter who was once a trusted expert in online absinthe communities. Author Evan Rail tells the history of absinthe in its heyday and as made by moonshiners during its century long prohibition in France and Switzerland, and explores themes of trust and betrayal while retracing the steps of the famous forger. He is not only able to figure out how the fraudster was able to fool other experts, but the specific components and coloring techniques used to create the near-perfect but too-abundant fake products. This is tasty true crime.

A Most Noble Water: Revisiting the Origins of English Gin by Anistatia R Miller and Jared M Brown

This book by married cocktail historians and publishers Anistatia Miller and Jared Brown seeks to overturn some of the history of gin’s origin and early popularity in England. They argue that British gin was not inspired by Dutch genever; that government acts during the early eighteenth century “gin craze” didn’t seek to suppress the sales of gin specifically; and that the “craze” itself may over been over reported.

With lots of footnotes and quoted legal rulings, this is a book meant to be discussed and referenced, and according to its description, “every reader can argue with the authors-or not.”

In Fine Spirits: A Complete Guide to Distilled Drinks by Joel Harrison and Neil Ridley

In Fine Spirits is a look at spirits made around the world, and a “sequel,” as they put it, to the book Distilled written by the same authors ten years ago. It is essentially the same book after a decade of continued learning about the subject.

For all major and many minor categories of distilled spirits, the book describes the spirits’ history, production, regionality, some regulations, usually one iconic cocktail, ten essential bottles to try (some major/legacy brands; some small batch/craft ones; somewhat skewed toward available products in Europe), and often an interview with a distiller. It is accessible but not oversimplified, wide-ranging but not scattershot, follows the path of what’s interesting about the category rather than all the regulations of each one, and is an easy book to read with real expertise behind it.

Spirits Distilled: A Guide to the Ingredients Behind a Better Bottle by Nat Harry

On paper this book sounds similar to In Fine Spirits: it covers many spirit categories and includes recommended brands to shop for in each. In practice, the books are quite different. Spirits Distilled is a book about spirits from the perspective of the plants, people, and places that make them what they are. Author Nat Harry considers the view from the ground up, looking at the agriculture first then the resulting spirits made from them- and in many cases discusses the products that aren’t on store shelves (that would feature certain varieties of heirloom corn, for example) as well as the ones that are. As a former spirits buyer for boutique liquor stores in San Francisco, Harry’s recommendations may seem esoteric but are chosen from the perspective of not just how each one tastes but how and where each is made, who it is made by, and what it is made from.

Cocktail Theory: A Sensory Approach to Transcendent Drinks by Dr. Kevin Peterson

This unique book comes from a mechanical engineering PhD who is a co-owner of a perfumery by day that’s a cocktail bar at night. Peterson’s credentials explain how the book is divided into two halves: The first is a very math-and-graphs-forward exploration of ideal ingredient ratios, temperature, and dilution for major drink categories, and concludes with a very satisfying set of ideal conditions for cocktails. The second half of the book covers how perfumes are assembled in different ways, and how the same techniques can be used to create cocktails with base, middle, and top notes that echo each other or surprise and delight.

Behind Bars: True Crime Stories of Whiskey Heists, Beer Bandits, and Fake Million-Dollar Wines by Mike Gerrard

The combination of spirits and true crime seems to be a hot topic lately, with books including Dusty Booze and The Absinthe Forger coming out within the last year, in addition to this one (see our review of The Absinthe Forger). In Behind Bars, drinks writer Mike Gerrard (Gerrard is an Alcohol Professor contributor) groups the text by type of crime – moonshining, rum-running, creating fakes, thefts and heists, and more. It covers eras from wine swindlers in Pompeii to tax-dodging distillers in the Scottish Highlands to the modern-day fakers and the radiocarbon-dating techniques used to detect them.

Scotch: The Balmoral Guide to Scottish Whisky by Cameron Ewen and Moa Reynolds

This book comes from the whisky bar called SCOTCH in Edinburgh’s luxe The Balmoral hotel, and in many ways reads as a bar menu. After 40 pages of entry-level introduction to the category and just eight specialty cocktails, the book lists “Our Top 100 Whiskies” that come from about 50 distilleries. The whiskies are listed alphabetically by distillery and include an introduction to the distillery and the range of spirits it produces, and then usually two bottlings from each with tasting notes, like an 18 Year Old and 21 Year Old Portwood Finish both from Glen Moray.

Martini: The Ultimate Guide to a Cocktail Icon by Alice Lascelles

Primarily a recipe book by Financial Times columnist Alice Lascelles, Martini features 60 recipes split into categories of Classic, Vintage, Contemporary, and Honorary. Most of the Classic variations alter ratios of vermouth and change garnishes (Gibson, Vesper); the Vintage ones swap out or add ingredients (Martinez, Hanky Panky); the Contemporary listings come from world-famous bartenders (Hidetsugu Ueno, Julie Reiner); and the Honorary category includes many “martinis” from the era when anything served up was called a Martini (Espresso, Lychee, French).

The Hour of Absinthe: A Cultural History of France's Most Notorious Drink By Nina Studer

Surprisingly, at least three books about absinthe have been published this year: Absinthe: The Forbidden Spirit by Tania Brasseur, The Absinthe Forger by Evan Rail (see above), and this one. Each takes a different approach to its subject. The Hour of Absinthe appears to be an academic text published by McGill-Queen’s University Press of about 190 pages of text with just a few images, with another 60 pages of chapter notes and bibliography. The book promises, “The Hour of Absinthe explores how this mythologizing led to the creation and fabrication of a vast modern folklore while key historical events, crucial to understanding the story of absinthe, have been neglected or unreported… Providing keen insight into how local cultural narratives about absinthe shaped what quickly became a global reputation, Nina Studer provides a panoptic view of the French Empire’s influence on absinthe’s spectacular fall from grace.”

The Vedge Bar Book: Plant-Based Cocktails and Light Bites for Inspired Entertaining by Rich Landau and Kate Jacoby

This cocktail book from Philadelphia plant-based fine dining restaurant Vedge features 75 recipes divided by season. Other than its use of plant-based milks and aquafaba instead of eggs and dairy, the book reads like a seasonal cocktail book made by people who know their produce extremely well- as well as how to manipulate that produce.

There are syrups from golden beets, sugar snap peas, and rhubarb (not all mixed together, that would be weird), peanut butter-washed bourbon, clarified cantaloupe juice, fennel liqueur, and a lot more. Most drinks seem simple in construction and with one or two homemade ingredients per drink like the ones mentioned above. Both the ingredients and the photography make everything in this book look delicious.

Culture Books

For every cultural franchise, be it television or movie series, fashion trend, or video or other game, a cocktail book is now de rigueur. Some are “unofficial” and others officially licensed versions, often with the major difference between the two that official books can use images from the shows. Many feature classic cocktails merely renamed; others are written by authors who have taken the time to at least pair something from the culture to each specific drink. But as these are largely destined to be gift books for one’s favorite fan of (fill in the blank), the quality of content and cocktails is always less important than the theme.

The Sopranos: The Official Cocktail Book by Sarah Gualtieri and Emma Carlson Berne

From the publisher: “Featuring 60 classic recipes, The Sopranos: The Official Cocktail Book will have your whole crew sipping in style. This officially licensed collection includes drinks inspired by everyone from Tony and Junior Soprano to Chris Moltisanti, Paulie, Carmela, Doctor Melfi, and more–plus step-by-step instructions, bartender tips, and beautiful full-color photography–making it an essential addition to every wise guy’s bar cart or bookshelf.”

Drink Pink!: Cocktails Inspired by Barbie, Mean Girls, Legally Blonde, and More by Rhiannon Lee and Georgie Glass

This book, described as “totally fetch,” features 75 cocktails dedicated to chick flicks and their star characters. There is a Mojo Dojo Mojito, Burn Book Bellini, and Bend and Schnapps shots (okay lol on that one). The drinks are mostly classics or variations with a different juice or flavor of vodka, with lots of cranberry and grapefruit juice, grenadine, cranberries and raspberries to make most of them pink in color.

Puncheons and Flagons: The Official Dungeons & Dragons Cocktail Book by Andrew Wheeler

Flavor-wise, this book is the opposite of Drink Pink! with cocktails containing tons of amaro, aged spirits, spices, and other heavier and intense flavors often stacked into one drink. There are 75 recipes divided by base spirit, and all recipes serve at least two people as these are optimized for game night. Each drink comes with an introductory paragraph that probably makes sense if you are familiar with the game – and inscrutable if not. A typical drink introduction: “The Cassalanter family of Waterdeep exerts a strong influence across the Sword Coast due to their heavy involvement in the banking sector, but the members of this family are definitely more powerful than popular.” That drink includes brandy, crème de banana, coconut cream, and chocolate bitters.

Cocktails and Consoles: 75 Video Game-Inspired Drinks to Level Up Your Game Night by Elias Eells

This book is for video game fans, with drinks dedicated to The Oregon Trail, Stardew Valley, Elden Ring, Super Smash Bros., and more. The drinks are divided by game categories (classic games, role-playing, MMORPGs, shooters, etc.) with one or mocktail in each section. “Bar Bytes” sidebars feature technique tips like the reverse dry shake, using tea in drinks, and saline solution, plus there are tons of garnish tips. The drinks look interesting, and the author is not afraid to throw together unexpected ingredients like a version of a New York Sour that includes blue curacao; the combination of orgeat and ouzo; and adding a fizzing electrolyte tablet to a green tea mocktail.

New Editions

Reprints and new editions of existing drink books.

Jigger, Beaker, & Glass: Drinking Around the World by Charles H. Baker Jr.

This is a reprint of the second volume of Charles H. Baker Jr.’s epic, all-time classic 1939 book The Gentleman’s Companion. It’s funny that the publishers promote this as “the only book of drink recipes you will ever need,” because this book is not only famous; the recipes are famously bad. So you don’t need this for the recipes but rather for the way the author (who travelled the world during the Prohibition years) wrote about drinks.

Introductions to each are absurd, like, “… we would sit on the rooftop of his bungalow, and while the sun set through the sherry-brown dust cloud that broods over Central India throughout the dry season, would listen to the vain male peacock’s scream, and watched the Rikki-tikki-tavis—or mongooses, or mongeese, or whatever the hell they choose to call those trim little animals that would sooner fight snakes than live—scuttling about their mongoosing business among the bushes in the garden.” And then the drink is a mash-up of a French 75 and Champagne Cocktail with a lot of cognac.

Bartending Basics: More Than 400 Classic and Contemporary Cocktails for Any Occasion by Cheryl Charming

Cheryl Charming is the author of nearly 20 books published over the last 25 years, with this book Bartending Basics first printed in 2009. While the book is very much of its time (featuring sections for Kamikazes and Dessert Martinis, for example) and apparently not updated since (it cites many defunct bars and restaurants), it is actually packed with useful tips and information if not current brands or cocktails. Reading it is like looking back in time just as the world was entering the craft cocktail renaissance.

The World Atlas of Whisky 3rd Edition by Dave Broom

Whisky author superstar Dave Broom has profiled more than 500 distilleries and over 480 whiskies in this “fully updated and revised” third edition of The World Atlas of Whisky, published ten years after the last edition.

After a short introduction about how whiskey is made, the book covers the whiskey distilleries of the world, region by region. In each section there's a little history of the distillery and the place in which it's located, the types of equipment that each might have, factors that make each unique, general tasting notes for the type of whiskey that comes out of the distillery, and then usually a few tasting notes on specific bottlings. It's about the size of a coffee table book and it has great (but not full-page coffee table book) photos. It’s not only a stellar reference, it makes every distillery look like a distillery you want to visit.

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