Bartender's Ultimate Guide to Cocktails

Fantastic Alcohol Facts, Cocktail Culture, and More“A wealth of knowledge and experiences from virtually every corner of cocktail culture.”― T.A. Breaux, Author of Breaux Absinthe: The Exquisite Elixir#1 Bestseller in Alcoholic Drinks & BeveragesPeruse the interesting histories and lore of alcohol as you fill your cocktail glass and sip a drink―hand-made by you―using one of the many artisanal yet simple recipes inside. Learn fun alcohol facts and tidbits you’ll bring with you everywhere you go.Learn, concoct, and be merry. Are you brand new to alcohol and don’t know where to start? Are you more experienced but looking for something that gives context to the art of mixology? Books with nothing but recipes get stale fast, but this bartender bible is a cocktail codex, combining all the facets of alcohol and classic cocktails―recipes, traditions, stories, and more―so you’ll always find something interesting within.Step into yesteryear and peer at the history of classic cocktails through the lens of those who have created and loved mixed drinks throughout time. Alcohol’s culture is a storied saga full of lore, anecdotes, and experiences. Author Cheryl Charming gathers information from almost every corner of the drinking world and brings it all together in one fun, easy to read, and informative love letter to the heritage of the drinks we all love today.Inside The Bartender’s Ultimate Guide to Cocktails, you’ll find:Recipes for basic bar drinks and classic cocktails everyone should know, like the ManhattanAdvice from your favorite bartender on everything alcohol―facts like what makes the perfect ice cube, bar tool essentials, and the best places to get specialty drinks or artisanal bittersCultural anecdotes, myths, and stories about drinks, their origins, and their rise to popularityIf you liked Liquid Intelligence, The Drunken Botanist, or Death & Co, you’ll love The Bartender’s Ultimate Guide to Cocktails.

“This book is a toboggan ride through the history of the cocktail. Packed with wonderful facts and nuggets at every turn. Cheryl has mined some of the leading experts to come up with a compelling story.”—Dale “King Cocktail” DeGroff, author of The Craft of the Cocktail and The Essential Cocktail “Cheryl has demystified the cocktail, and made it what it should always be, fun and approachable! She takes us on an entertaining journey into the world of libations and those who serve them; their histories, stories, and antidotes. In the end, we better understand how we have arrived where we have and leave a more educated and appreciative imbiber!”—Tony Abou-Ganim, author of The Modern Mixologist “Eureka! Cheryl Charming just made the internet obsolete. The bartending maven once again has done all the digging and delivered the gold on the history of everything bartending, cocktails, and cocktail bars.”—Tobin Ellis, BarMagic of Las Vegas “Cheryl Charming makes facts fun again! In addition to page-turning chapters on drink evolution through the millennia and the backstory of just about every famous cocktail (I particularly enjoyed her revelations about the Cosmopolitan). This book offers thoroughly entertaining sections on cocktails in film, literature, and television. The “Name Your Poison” list, in which Cheryl cites the favorite drink of celebrities past and present, is alone worth the price of the book."—Jeff “Beachbum” Berry, author of Sippin' Safari, Beachbum Berry’s Intoxica!, Beach Bum Berry’s Remixed, Beach Bum Berry's Grog Log, and Beach Bum Berry’s Taboo Table “Cheryl has compiled a wealth of knowledge and experiences from virtually every corner of cocktail culture, and masterfully collated it all into a fun book that ushers the reader along a grand tour of kaleidoscopic indulgence.”—T.A., author of Breaux Absinthe: The Exquisite Elixir “You know what would be valuable? A ten-volume encyclopedia of drink. You know what’s even more valuable? Ten volumes of information condensed into one. And that’s what Cheryl Charming has compiled—a comprehensive resource for both professionals or serious amateurs curious about spirits, cocktails, the history behind them, and how to make ‘em.”—Wayne Curtis, author of And a Bottle of Rum: A History of the New World in Ten Cocktails “This book is a comprehensive, thoroughly researched, easy to read compendium of cocktail history. You can open it to any page and find yourself engrossed for the next hour. Buy a copy for your bar, your coffee table, heck, even your bathroom!”—Philip Greene, author of To Have and Have Another: A Hemingway Cocktail Companion and A Drinkable Feast: A Cocktail Companion to 1920s Paris

Cheryl Charming, a.k.a. Miss Charming™, has been heavily steeped in the cocktail culture as a bartender since 1980. She has 15 published bar and cocktail related books.In high school she worked as a pizza waitress then quickly progressed to cocktail waitress, barback, bartender, and head bartender. With a penchant for travel, Cheryl has tended bar in many places around America, on a cruise ship in the Caribbean, and at Walt Disney World. While working at WDW she became the bar trick/bar magic instructor for Disney's F&B training program, Quest for the Best.Cheryl was also involved with hosting and participating in events for Tales of the Cocktail and teaching "Edutaining" cocktail classes for Royal Caribbean Cruise Line passengers. She is a member of The Bartenders Guild and The Museum of the American Cocktail.Cheryl studied Graphic and Interactive Communication at Ringling College of Art & Design and works as a freelance graphic artist on the side.Currently, she lives in the French Quarter and is the bar director at Bourbon O Bar on the corner of Bourbon and Orleans inside the Bourbon Orleans Hotel in the French Quarter.She was named "Mixologist of the Year" on 2014 by New Orleans Magazine. gaz regan, the bartender formerly known as Gary Regan, wrote The Cocktailian, a bi-weekly column, for The San Francisco Chronicle. He also wrote regular columns in The Malt Advocate, Nation's Restaurant News, Cheers Magazine, and The Wine Enthusiast, and his work was featured in magazines such as Food Arts, Food & Wine, Wine & Spirits, Imbibe (UK & USA), and various others. His work was also published in magazines in the UK, Australia, Austria, China, Czech Republic, Germany, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, New Zealand, Slovakia, South Africa, Switzerland, and Russia.gaz worked regularly with companies such as Diageo, Pernod-Ricard, Heaven Hill, and other major spirits producers and marketers, and he traveled the world holding workshops, judging cocktail competitions, and making public appearances. A regular judge at Diageo's World Class competition, he spoke at the London Cocktail Week and judged cocktail competitions in Australia, France, London, Slovakia, and of course, the USA.gaz also led the Bar Smarts Graduates Program for Pernod-Ricard USA—a traveling roadshow of cocktail innovators, movers, and shakers that roams the USA highlighting innovative bartending techniques of the best of the best in the bar business.gaz published a free email newsletter, gaz regan's Notion, that reached over 9,000 bartenders and consumers, and he maintained the online Worldwide Bartender Database. He also conducted Cocktails in the Country, a series of two-day bartender workshops, for seven years, from 2001 until 2007. During his 7-year run, gaz trained bartenders from top cocktail bars in New York, London, Bratislava, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Boston, and various other major cities. gaz's first book, The Bartender's Bible, was published in 1991, and betwe