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The Ultimate Bar Book: The Comprehensive Guide to Over 1,000 Cocktails (Cocktail Book, Bartender Book, Mixology Book, Mixed Drinks Recipe Book)

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Description

The Ultimate Bar Book — The bartender's bible James Beard nominee for Best Wine and Spirit Book The cocktail book for your home: The Ultimate Bar Book is an indispensable guide to classic cocktails and new drink recipes. Loaded with essential-to-know topics such as barware, tools, and mixing tips. Classic cocktails and new drinks: As the mistress of mixology, the author Mittie Hellmich has the classics down for the Martini, the Bloody Mary—and the many variations such as the Dirty Martini and the Virgin Mary. And then there are all the creative new elixirs the author brings to the table, like the Tasmanian Twister Cocktail or the Citron Sparkler. Illustrated secrets of classic cocktails and more: Illustrations show precisely what type of glass should be used for each drink. With dozens of recipes for garnishes, rims, infusions, and syrups; punches, gelatin shooters, hot drinks, and non- alcoholic beverages; and let's not forget an essential selection of hangover remedies, The Ultimate Bar Book is nothing short of top-shelf. If you liked PTD Cocktail Book, 12 Bottle Bar and The Joy of Mixology, you'll love The Ultimate Bar Book This makes for a great gift for bartenders and is the ideal addition to any bartender's book collection or for anyone who's looking for books from these categories: Essential Cocktail BooksBartender Recipe BooksDrink Mixing BooksAlcohol Drink Recipe Books Read more

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Chronicle Books


Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 23, 2006


Edition ‏ : ‎ First Edition


Language ‏ : ‎ English


Print length ‏ : ‎ 476 pages


ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0811843513


ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 15


Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.67 pounds


Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.25 x 1.5 x 7.88 inches


Best Sellers Rank: #19,656 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #4 in Whiskey #11 in Alcoholic Spirits #19 in Cocktails & Mixed Drinks


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Top Amazon Reviews


  • Great book, small print!
Format: Hardcover
I was going to send back simply because the print is small, but it is such a good book for information and so many cocktail recipes that I have decided need to keep it.
Reviewed in the United States on November 24, 2025 by Lora K

  • Very complete and authoritative
Format: Hardcover
After setting up a home bar, I needed a reliable resource for drink recipes. Everything else was rather light on the overall coverage or just very restricted to one type of liquor or another and what I needed was more a standard reference for (almost) everything. True to its title, there are 1,000+ recipes in this, and it's organized in an easy to find manner. Moreover, there are two indexes: One accounts for the drink recipes by drink, the other is organized by major liquor ingredient (say, Bourbon), so finding what I might like to make is simple and quick. There is occasional background on liquor or drink types at the beginning of sections, but unlike other books it doesn't dwell on the history lessons and focuses more on "what will you need", "how to choose", "what should be in my standard bar stock", and other topics like that. The focus is more on providing the ready-reference and necessary background and taking you right into getting the ingredients, measurements, and activities aligned. I wanted just one book that would serve the purpose of "how do I make..." and this for me was it. I'd highly recommend this if that's also your goal in finding that single reference guide. My only complaint is that the actual book is on the small side with a lot of information in smaller type. Keep that in mind and for those needing reading glasses, break those out to review this one. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2022 by Andrew Buck

  • Highly recommend this!
Format: Hardcover
Great book. Have yet to come across a drink that this book doesn't have a recipe for. I reference the recipes in here all the time. Would highly recommend for anyone who enjoys making cocktails
Reviewed in the United States on April 9, 2026 by Dillon

  • A Good Beginners Guide...But...
Format: Hardcover
I don't profess to know a lot about bar work or the myriad of various cocktails that people enjoy. This book is a good guide for somebody who wants to know about mixing drinks for maybe a couple of friends over for a barbecue, or a party with twenty attendees. The book is divided into sections on setting up a basic or fairly well stocked home bar, the various equipment needed and most important, for appearances sake when whipping up a quick 'Tom Collins' or 'Rob Roy', the type of glass to put your masterpiece in. With over 1000 different drink recipes I thought this book was very informative and well laid out. It is a solid book-hard covers and quite heavy with the type of paper used. There are no photographs of the finished mixed drink, however I don't consider this an important requirement; there is a shadow outline of the recommended glass to use next to each drink. These various glass styles are discussed in an earlier section of the book. It is obvious the author has completed a fair amount of research into this book and while there are new drinks emerging all the time and different 'slants' on probably the more readily known drinks; for someone who is a novice, this book is very comprehensive. The book examines drinks that are based around various spirits such as vodka, gin, whisky, cognac etc, together with some non-alcoholic offerings for those who do not imbibe. If there is a critical aspect of this book it is its size. I found the book small and as a consequence, to accommodate all the information, the printing is in a small font; this aspect makes the book difficult to read in some light situations and if you suffer from eyesight problems, then you may find this book frustrating in that regard. Together with the size problem, is the binding, while the book looks very impressive sitting in among books on a shelf, the binding does not allow the book to sit open at a specific page and this would make trying to use it behind a bar frustrating. The paper used in the pages has no water proof capabilities so using it near liquids would see the book easily spoiled. In summary a very good beginners reference to bars and drink mixing, however a book that requires someone to copy drink recipes from, not a user friendly volume for behind a bar. In closing I would like to acknowledge the business who shipped this book to me, after a time lapse in the projected shipping date, I contacted them to inform I had not received this book. They worked to recover the shipping info and contacted me to update me on the status of the order. Well done! ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on July 29, 2021 by Bomb Man58

  • Great for Beginners!
Format: Hardcover
I love this book. I wanted to get into mixology, but I knew very little about not only cocktails, but also the difference in some drinks/alcohols and a bunch of other stuff that I didn't even realize I didn't know until reading this book. It has sections that talk about what kind of tools/utensils are needed or recommended, recommendations for small home bars or even full bars, and a whole chapter on what kind of glassware is used for different drinks (which I didn't even know was necessarily a thing). Then it discusses how each type of alcohol is made, a little history to it, details on variations of it, and how its predominantly used. Then of course it has a TON of mixes, cocktails, and so on. Once I finally got a grasp on the topics discussed in the book, I eventually switched over to a Bar app for my mixes/cocktails. Personally I use "My Bar", because I can select all the ingredients I have in my home bar, and then it populates a list of cocktails I can make with the ingredients I have. Also, if there's a drink I don't have the ingredients to, it will tell me what I'm missing and then let me add it to a shopping list to pick up at a later time. It even allows for custom drinks or variations to popular drinks. Of course I wouldn't have any idea on all the ingredients, glassware, mixes, and alcohols if it weren't for this book though. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on May 18, 2020 by Jeff

  • Recommend
Format: Hardcover
Tons of cocktail recipes, easy to read. Would make a nice gift.
Reviewed in the United States on June 8, 2026 by Fashionista 628

  • Pleased with this handy book 🍸
Format: Hardcover
I’m starting to get more into bartending and saw the establishment I work at have this book behind the bar. I took a peek and I loved the idea of this little piece of inspirational work. It makes bartending more than just drinking. It goes into depth about how to drink and taste certain spirits, and ways to make all kinds of drinks from the array of spirits. It shows much of an art bartending is. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2026 by priscilla

  • All in One Book
Format: Hardcover
I bought this book with three other "Mixology" and "Home Bartender" style books. This one is easily the best of the bunch. It explains the tools, what they do, and which one you need to get started. It goes into detail on the bare bones essentials to start mixing, and what you need if you want to expand into a moderate and even a fully stocked bar. The book breaks down each alcohol and explains the history, labeling (so you know what to look for), and what glass to serve each drinks in. It even gives tips on garnishing, and explains the terminology. Aside from the astonishing detail and information, the book is weighty, but reasonably so given its size and appears to be of great quality. I've seen other comments mention receiving damaged and/or sticky books, mine arrived clean and unscathed. All in all, this is a great starting book that will guide you through being a beginner, and continue to aid you as your mixing skills progress to Advanced. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on April 13, 2024 by D.Jeffreys

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