The cover of the book shows eight strainers. This is not what you’d typically need in your home bar, but rather in a commercial bar. However, apart from what the cover might suggest, The Bar Book by Jeffrey Morgenthaler and Martha Holmberg is aimed at providing basic cocktail knowledge for home bar enthusiasts. The chapters cover topics such as citrus juice, simple syrups, infusions, bitters, ice, measuring, stirring and shaking. But even though the book goes through some basic techniques, it’s still intriguing also for the slightly more skilled home bartender. Being richly illustrated The Bar Book is very fun reading from front to back, and of course it also offers a few recipes.

Clear ice

The clearer the ice, the nicer the look of the cocktail. Most cocktail books suggest clear ice as a wow factor. High end bars always use completely clear ice (bar The Aviary in Chicago even employ dedicated ice chefs). The Bar Book offer some methods of obtaining this clear ice, and also lists tools needed. But there are also suggestions for some rather cool ways of chilling punches, at the same time adding some beauty to your creation.

Has anyone managed to create clear ice at home? Please share your success story (or learnings) in the comment field further down this page.

The book is available at Amazon.

Monkey 47 Sloe Gin

This book was easy to pair with a bottle. The rusty red sloe gin from German small batch distiller Monkey 47 looks stunning next to the book. Monkey 47 probably offers the best looking bottle shape in our opinion, but of course it’s content is the real star. Monkey 47’s regular gin is often considered one of the best gins in the world, but the slightly neglected sloe gin is also worth exploring. Obviously  more colorful than ordinary gin, but also sweeter, sloe gin can add some drama to cocktails created with otherwise colorless ingredients.
 

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