Customer Review: A bit too exotic

I have all of the Food & Wine cocktail books, and this one is the most esoteric. There were too many recipes that were more trouble then they were worth. In some ways, it's as if they were writing this book for professional bartenders rather than someone creating cocktails at home. I have a decent size collection of alcohols, yet found that up to half of the recipes require something that I didn't have. For instance, the vodka section was almost entirely worthless because so many of them required infused vodkas or syrups that you would need to create yourself.

With that said, there were still drinks that were quite good. I enjoyed the Limoncello Collins, the Triestine Iced Tea (made with Cynar which isn't easy to find), and the St. Louis #1 (made with rum and Grand Marnier).

I like the focus on innovative cocktails, but I don't want to spend days creating the ingredients for a drink. I hope the 2008 version has a bit more balance to it.

Customer Review: Big Disappointment!

I was excited about receiving this book. When it came in the mail, I started scanning through it and much to my dismay, most of the cocktail recipes included hard to find ingredients not generally stocked at your local liquor store. Although there are references to websites to purchase some ingredients, I found the cocktail recipes to be complicated and cumbersome. Most of the drinks require exotic garnishes and syrups made from scratch. It's better to go to the bars that offer these drinks and order one rather than try and stock your own home with them.

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