Ultimate Guide to Spirits & Cocktails Bar Book
"Honestly, this is probably the best book ever produced on alcohol... every bartender who takes the craft seriously should start reading this book as soon as possible!"The World of Spirits and Cocktails by André Dominé (h.f. ullmann)This book actually came out five years ago, but I was just made aware of it recently.  Honestly, this is probably the best book ever produced on alcohol.  You will learn more from this book about everything from brandies to whiskies to rums to fortified wines than you thought possible.  Six hundred pages are given over to the subject, and every page is beautifully decorated with full-color photographs and reproductions of spirit related art.  An introduction to the history of both alcohol and cocktails takes up the first one hundred pages, and the last one hundred are given over to cocktails and their recipes.  If there was a college level course on liquor and bartending, this would be its textbook.  Perhaps my only criticism is that the recipes are not user-friendly for Americans (it has been translated from German), as many of them call for tablespoons and barspoons of liquor rather than ounces.  That aside, I cannot recommend this book highly enough.  Every bartender who takes the craft seriously should start reading this book as soon as possible!  GSN Rating: A++. http://goodspiritsnews.wordpress.com/Good Spirit News coverage, Feb 10, 2013, by Blair Frodelicious--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.