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12 Best Cocktail Recipe Books of 2024
Hone your home mixologist with these bartending bibles
So, you’ve stocked your home bar with our recommended spirits, grabbed your cocktail shaker and chilled your glassware. What’s next? Well, you could go off the cuff, but remember how that turned out last time?
When it comes to quality cocktails, simply shaking, stirring and hoping for the best can be a recipe for disappointment — no matter how good your ingredients may be.
The best cocktail recipe books — and certainly those featured in our edit — don't merely tell you how to make a first-class Old Fashioned. They teach you about different techniques and textures and complementary and competing flavours. They can also provide inspiration beyond the recipe itself. After all, many of the most popular drinks today are new iterations of old classics. They're also just a really good read.
Below, you’ll find the books deemed “bibles” by the brightest bartenders in the business, as well as more specialised tomes dedicated to one spirit. Some are new editions of established works; others are hot off the press.
Clear your bookshelf and get ready to find your new favourite 5pm serve.
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