Meehan's Bartender Manual: [A Cocktail Reference and Recipe Book]

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.

I’ve had this book on my wishlist for about a year, since it was released. I wish I pulled the trigger earlier. This isn’t for everyone. It’s a pretty boring casual read for most people, and even the geekiest of home bartenders won’t find it particularly useful. But if you actually work behind a craft bar, or manage or own one, this is hands-down the best bar book of the 21st century, even surpassing David Wondrich’s Imbibe! As a bartender with a history BA working in craft establishments for several years, this is right up my alley. There’s about two hundred pages of recipes; a little under half the book. The photos are gorgeous and they’re a healthy mix of classics and Meehan originals, but this isn’t a recipe book. The introduction starts off with a wonderful history of cocktails and also a very detailed historiography of cocktail literature. Meehan writes like a true historian here, relating how pop culture, politics, and changing demographics have affected the history of cocktails. As an added bonus, every few pages have a snippet of insight from industry heavyweights - sommeliers, bartenders, distillers, brewers, historians, artists, etc - think Aubrey Saunders, Garret Oliver, Dale DeGraff, David Wondrich, etc. Some may disagree with some of Meehan’s ideas, as do I. But nonetheless this is a seminal piece of work for our industry. Besides the menus and history/historiography, Meehan touches on menu development, bar setup (mise en place), bar/restaurant design, descriptions of spirits, service standards, cocktail building techniques, and basically anything you can think of. He states in the introduction that you cannot learn how to tend bar from a book, but if you want a head start you really should own and read this one.

This is a nice little book, but it is also a little quirky in its format, so it may not be exactly what you're expecting. What's in the book? History. There's a short history of how cocktails came to America, including factors such as refrigeration affecting cocktail production. Covers a lot of the main points, such as the influence of juleps and Prohibition on American cocktails. This is a good inclusion, as it informs some of the later points. Blueprints of great bars. There is a section with a handful of blueprints of great bars, from award-winning NYC hotspots to a very famous closet bar - as in literally an armoire someone customized into a bar for house parties. The general gist is that no matter your level from home drinker to professional bar owner, you can build a great bar. Bar-geek celebrity interviews and quotes. Interviews with famous bartenders, from quotes jammed into other articles to some small interviews with the bartenders themselves, dot the book. Advice on setting up and running your own bar. From what equipment to get, to financial considerations. The book again tries to run the gamut from home drinker to professional bar owner. Recipes. I don't have the book to hand but it has maybe a dozen cocktail recipes, roughly laid out so that you can plan a minimum set of ingredients and equipment, and build your bar from there. It's a short but effective list of classics. Who's the book for? As a jack of all trades, this book is for everyone and no one. Basically, this book is meant for sort of hipster bar geeks who are just as excited about stocking their home bar as they are for learning about how the same process works at the greatest bars in the world. It's not particularly helpful for any single audience, but it does a great job of being a general overview. It's a great "coffee table book" and conversation starter. You could easily end up passing this around if you have some bar-geek friends. For a home bartender, there are tips to give you some rough ideas for starting your home bar. For instance, start by picking a few cocktails and buy those ingredients. Then find what cocktails recycle those same ingredients - if you bought vodka for martinis, start by looking at other vodka cocktails. Smart tips like this make a big difference - financially and practically. If you want to buy a property and open your own bar, this book would give you some great ideas for a "minimum viable product" of equipment and considerations you should plan for - from the liquors to stock, to locating the bathroom. You obviously need professionals to check your assumptions, but you could definitely use this book to plan your space in broad strokes and check whether a physical space supports your goals. Overall. I'm exactly in the target demographic for this book, so I love it. I built my own basement bar, complete with barstools. There are lots of things from the book that I'm going to look out for next time I go to a bar. How do they lay out their equipment? Are they being efficient with their space? If you're a bar-geek like me, this book rocks. I'm not sure how big of an audience that is, but if you're there, get it.

I am extremely impressed by the entirety of this cocktail book. It has a heavy focus on the logistical and technical aspects of not just making drinks, but opening, setting up, and operating a bar efficiently. The included architectural plans of successful bars and the explanation and analysis of their use of design and space is something you don't see in almost any other cocktail book. The section on drink making technique is handled in an almost tactical narrative. It using the fictional placement of a very large order of 11 or so cocktails requiring every method of drink creation to explain how a bar with two bartenders would most efficiently split the work and create the ensuing drinks so that everything was finished at around the same time while maintaining the quality of every single drink. The photography is stunning, the layout is very intuitive, and the physical binding and quality of printing are all top notch. Each recipe comes with a photograph, the history of the drink, and recommendations on quality of spirits/ingredients to use. I will say, that if you're just looking for a straight recipe book or an introductory cocktail book to get your feet wet, this may be a bit intense. It really is aimed more towards folks who are already, or are interested in becoming, involved in the cocktail/hospitality industry, or cocktail enthusiasts who are in pretty deep. This is not a generalist manual as it goes into very detailed specifics and theory as well as philosophy of being in the service industry. This is not a criticism at all and I think that this is one of Meehan's Bartender Manual's greatest strengths which makes it stand out from the crowd, but that said just be aware if that doesn't sound like something you're into. I'd absolutely recommend this book and am very pleased with this purchase. I already had high expectations when I pre-ordered this since PDT's cocktail book (also by Jim Meehan) was amazing, but this is a book with a different purpose that I think elevates even past it.

This book is definitely a book every bartender/aspiring bartender should check out. Not only are the recipes unique detailing the classics as well as other cocktails, the ingredients it references throughout the recipes are sometimes more usual to find in stores where home bartenders can look rather than stuff you have to make or find specialty. It also has a lot of interesting information on how to properly lay out a commercial bar space and how to utilize the layout of your bar based on famous bars from around the world to maximize the experience by your patrons. I bought this book along with the Cocktail Codex and Death and Co. because I had read all three from a friend and thought that I needed my own to have on hand, they are that great!

Great reference and history of spirits. There are some great recipes in here that go to often. Many of the recipes call for boutique spirits that can be very hard to acquire. I wish substitutions are more clearly spelled out, but to be clear, there are attempts to 'hack' some recipes in cases where some recipes are hard to find. It's a great book and very interesting, but not quite what I was expecting for home mixing. The few recipes I pulled out of it are great--I was just expecting a book/reference with many recipes that I can use. The take away for me would be: if you're looking for a book with a bunch of recipes for home mixing, this may not be the best one for you. The first recipe doesn't show up until hundreds f of pages into the book. However, If you're looking to be highly educated in spirits with a few bullet-proof recipes, you should consider this book. I recommend the Negroni, Boulevardier, Rob Roy, Vesper, Old Friend, and 21st Century.

Wasn't quite what I expected. I thought it was like Boston's guide. This is more of a how to kinda book but I am pleasantly surprised and will spend time reading it. Thanks.