Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails by Ted Haigh aka Dr.Cocktail

Here is my Amazon review of this fine little book:

This book comes along like a cocktail guide, but really is a fascinating journey into past lifestyle pleasures and obsessions that are long forgotten, illustrated with rare visual ephemera.

The science of urban archeology has another subcategory now: Cocktail archeology. Jeff Berry and his Polynesian potion research has given us two fine volumes of almost extinct Tiki lounge libations and the way they are to be prepared correctly ("The Grog Log" and "Intoxica"), and now Ted Haigh expands the field to classic cocktail history.

Ted's research of decades has been distilled into this handy little tome, resulting in a powerful concoction of recipes and stories from the golden age of mixology.
The author never was a bartender, but an ardent customer and a fan. In years of experimentation and alcohol alchemy he has honed his sensibilities to determine which quality cocktails deserve to be resurrected and which are better left forgotten. Yet his superior knowledge never tempts him to take an esoteric stance, his language and instructions are easy to follow, even for the amateur who has just gotten his first whiff of the allure that exudes from cocktail culture.

The recipes do not contain any ingredients that are impossible to get, and a resource guide in the back lists the suppliers of those cocktail components not quite available in your neighborhood market.

Thus, finally, after being unremembered for too many years, a taste bud teaser like the Monkey Gland can be enjoyed again, because it does not, as rumor had it, actually contain the supposed virility booster of animal origin, but a rare spirit that has recently enjoyed a revival, the distillation of Herbsaint, Absinth. To create a cocktail with Absinth that tones it's distinct taste down to a faint pleasurable sensation is not easy, but the Monkey Gland achieves this task admirably when the steps delineated in "Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails" are followed correctly.

I sincerely hope that this fine work will not only be used to inspire the home bar aficionado, but also to enrich the menus of quality cocktail bars around the world.

I received a copy this weekend as a present (it was on my Amazon wish list). And I have to say that it's even better than I would have thought. I thought the history lesson in the beginning was a very fun read, as are the extra tidbits about each drink.

Very cool.

-Z

Todd served up "Moscow Mules" and "Sidecars" today ~ i prefered the Moscow Mule, a well-balance drink that sneaks up on ya! i thought the Sidecar was a bit too tart, too lemon-y.

great book, a fun read ~

Ted is also is co-owner of a great cocktail website:

http://cocktaildb.com/