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jberry09 's review for:
Death & Co: Modern Classic Cocktails
by David Kaplan, Nick Fauchald, Alex Day
An interesting hybrid of a biography of a NYC bar, techniques on how to mix cocktails, and a cookbook of recipes. As the author warns early on, these recipes are incredibly precise, many requiring a variety of specific spirits, enhancers, or additives that no one would just happen to have on hand at home. As such, I did not find myself flagging many of the recipes to try on my own - as I just don't have the required ingredients and don't see myself going out to get many of them.
That aside, overall this was a fascinating read. I particularly enjoyed the middle chunk of the book, which was devoted to techniques and strategies for creating cocktails. I learned the mechanics of how to stir or shake properly, and why you would choose one method over another. The fact that the amount of ice and length of time mixing can be directly titrated to dilute the drink to the desired intensity is something that was completely new to me, and makes perfect sense in retrospect and undoubtedly allows me to create more precise flavors. Also, even though I might not use many of the recipes directly, they do function as excellent starting points for how to think about mixing ingredients to create new drinks. The strategies described that are used to make many of the drinks can be utilized just as effectively with whatever I happen to have on hand or can find in nearby stores, from splitting base liquors in a classic cocktail to using bitters and syrups to enhance certain flavors, to the fact that you can use port in a cocktail and actually make something taste good!
Overall, happy to have read through the book and it will undoubtedly remain as a reference for some time to come.
That aside, overall this was a fascinating read. I particularly enjoyed the middle chunk of the book, which was devoted to techniques and strategies for creating cocktails. I learned the mechanics of how to stir or shake properly, and why you would choose one method over another. The fact that the amount of ice and length of time mixing can be directly titrated to dilute the drink to the desired intensity is something that was completely new to me, and makes perfect sense in retrospect and undoubtedly allows me to create more precise flavors. Also, even though I might not use many of the recipes directly, they do function as excellent starting points for how to think about mixing ingredients to create new drinks. The strategies described that are used to make many of the drinks can be utilized just as effectively with whatever I happen to have on hand or can find in nearby stores, from splitting base liquors in a classic cocktail to using bitters and syrups to enhance certain flavors, to the fact that you can use port in a cocktail and actually make something taste good!
Overall, happy to have read through the book and it will undoubtedly remain as a reference for some time to come.