Post #795385 by Bam Bam on Mon, May 27, 2019 9:21 PM

Not as much barware as vintage bar literature this time around. Found a trio of drink recipe books, from wildly different eras.

Burke's Complete Cocktail and Tastybite Recipes (1936)

This is an awesome little black book, packed with well-organized and well-written recipes for prohibition and pre-prohibtion-era cocktails (and hors d'oeuvres! Man, did Mr. Burke ever have a thing for anchovies...) Given the date, I didn't expect to find much in a tropical vein, but was surprised with a pair on page 88; the Honolulu and the Hula Hula - both based on gin of all things.

House & Garden's Drink Guide (1973)

This book, from an organizational stand point, is an absolute mess. Want to look up a list of drinks by base spirit? Good freaking luck. I found a (horribly concocted) zombie listed under "tall drinks." How does their Mai Tai stack up from this de-evoluion era book? Pretty much as expected.

The Complete Bartender (Revised 2003)

It's old enough to vote, so I'm classifying this book as vintage. Chock full of the kind of crap drinks you'd see ordered by turn-of-the-century college students just because of the double-entendre name. Pretty darn bad no matter what page you turn to.

Thankfully we have the Bum and others who have set us back on the True Path.