Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails: From the Alamagoozlum to the Zombie 100 Rediscovered Recipes and the Stories Behind Them Spiral-bound – October 1, 2009

"Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails" is a cocktail recipe book, but--as far as recipe books go--is quite readable and is both easy to digest in part or to read cover-to-cover, depending on your mood. Ted Haigh provides detailed (and interesting) back stories on most of the drinks featured in the book, as well as sidebar sections on many of the lesser-known spirits that the recipes call for. In addition to the main parts of the book, Haigh includes an introduction that covers the resurgence of classic cocktails, a glossary, a bibliography, and a resource guide to help you find many of the rarer ingredients he mentions throughout the text. Haigh clearly put a lot of thought and effort into compiling such a comprehensive guide, and it shows: The book is nicely put together and is wonderfully cohesive, with many of the recipes including references to other, similar or related recipes that can be found elsewhere within the book.I do have a few complaints about the book: First of all, it's spiral-bound, which makes it nice as a recipe book and not so nice as something to sit down and read through. Second, the recipes are often not updated to modern tastes and are geared towards the sweet palates of those who originally created the drinks. For example, try the first cocktail listed, the Almagoozlum, which is virtually undrinkable given its syrupy combination of 1.5 ounces of both Chartreuse and simple syrup, with no citrus to balance. Make sure to carefully review the recipes before pouring and shaking, in order to avoid pouring expensive ingredients down the drain. Finally, the resources section at the end of the book, while a great addition, generally favors a few extremely overpriced Internet retailers. Google around and you'll easily find better options.All in all, despite these few issues, I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about the hows, whys, and whens of classic cocktails. I suspect that many of these recipes were forgotten for a good reason (certainly the Almagoozlum!), but just as many deserve to be revisited so that they can once again grace drinkers' glasses. And even if you find the recipes to be entirely without merit, the background stories will still make this book a worthwhile purchase.

This book really is meant for the cocktail enthusiast. This book is for you if you:1. Love making cocktails2. Like reading about the history of individual cocktails3. Enjoy truly classic cocktails that are meant to enjoy the spirit itself (and not the terribleness you get at most bars today)Do not buy this book is you are just looking for a recipe book, or if you think a martini is made with vodka....on second thought, maybe you should buy this book if you think a martini is made with vodka and get educated.Ted Haigh (author, "Dr. Cocktail") does an excellent job with this book with his recipes and history of every single cocktail listed. It is essentially a library of cocktails within one book. The first part deals with the history of cocktails and Prohibition. He has some "extra" cocktails in the back as well, basically an excellent list of cocktails worth mentioning that aren't in the main part of the book. In the histories of the drinks, broad subjects end up being covered like specific bitters, spirits, rare ingredients, etc.The book itself has a stiff cover to it which is nice. Smaller size book, 7'' x 8''. Inside the spine of the book it is wire bound though, which is fine in my opinion. I haven't had any problems with that. The pages are thick, and well "laminated" (I don't know the specific type of paper), but it is not regular paper such as in a paperback book, much thicker and resilient. Lots of pictures throughout the book, and not just of drinks, but of actual bars, photos, cartoons, etc.

This book has been a lot of fun for us.We recently got into making cocktails after renovating the family room, which has a built-in bar from the 60s. After a year of stocking it and making a lot of standard, popular drinks and trying recipes we found online, we started exploring with bitters and aperitifs and some of the less common spirits.That's why this book was a lot of fun for us. There are classic, original recipes for some of the more common drinks we'd already been making, and it was fun comparing them. And there are a lot of unusual drinks we've never heard of. Plus all of the interesting historical backgrounds.What we did was go through page by page, find something interesting that we have ingredients for, read about it and make it and taste. Then on to the next page! It'll take some time to go through it all (I hope) but it's entertaining.As for the ingredients, many cocktails can be made with basic bar liquors (make sure you have some bitters and both dry & sweet vermouth, at least). I'd say that if your bar is stocked with the basics, all you'll want to do is flip through for a few of the unusual things you don't already have so you can try something new. And then have some fun!

One of, if not my favourite cocktail book. If you're interested in the history and provenance of cocktails, then this is a classic. It guides you through the impact of prohibition, covers some great but nearly forgotten cocktails of that era and he sprinkles the book with his opinions and observations on cocktails, their ingredients and how to make them.

this cocktail book is great but you have to make sure you have the same percentage proof 100 proof in the booze that you had back then,otherwise they will taste different with the normal 80 proof that you find in this days.great recipes

Very interesting book with cocktail recipes and history. My brother loved it, he enjoys making old fashioned cocktails so I bought him this as a gift. It was very well presented.

Good well written clear book with interesting anecdotes.Drink recipes are okay as a basis, sits with the others that I bought in my mini mixologists library and comes out every Christmas

Good lay out, therefore easy to browse when you're in a hurry to find a classic recipe. I would suggested to get this book, great recipes!