Reddit reviews Meehan's Bartender Manual

The Bar Book - Jeffrey Morgenthaler teaches no bullshit techniques, recipes, and the reasons behind those techniques and recipes.

Liquid Intelligence - Dave Arnold goes full on science nerd on the art of making perfect cocktails.

Death and Co. - Excellent modern classic recipes.

Smuggler's Cover - Pretty much the only Tiki book you'll need nowadays.

Meehan's Bartender Manual - I just bought this as a present for someone, been flipping through it, really nice new book from Jim Meehan.

Meehan's Bartender Manual https://www.amazon.com/dp/1607748622/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_6rB3DbAYJZ3RK

if possible check out this book, it has great info about different bar layouts and designs. it lays out everything you’ll need to open. as for drinks it will depend on the community sounding your location.

Greetings from Santa Cruz!

I think I may be the perfect person to help you here. My bar staff is about the same size as yours, and I've been doing exactly this and lending out books from my personal collection each month.
Everyone else has had some great answers, so I'll try and bring something new to the table:

How's Your Drink? by Eric Felten is my favorite easy introduction to cocktail culture. It's written by the cocktail columnist from the Wall Street Journal and reads in a very conversational way. Can be finished in one sitting. Quick read that I recommend you have anyone new start with.

The Cocktail Chronicles by Paul Clarke is a relatively comprehensive overview of the current state of cocktails. It is based around recipes, but I wouldn't call it a recipe book as each recipe has a lot of commentary that goes into context and history.

Meehan's Bartender Manual by Jim Meehan just came out and is incredible. His previous book, The PDT Cocktail Book, is an invaluable resource for recipes, and the Bartenders Manual is a complete guide dealing with all aspects of the job.

Distillled by Joel Harrison & Neil Ridley is a good introduction to different spirits and goes chapter by chapter from vodka to whiskey with an overview of production processes and other factors that influence the flavor of the drink.

Straight Up or On the Rocks by William Grimes is a history of cocktails in the U.S. starting with the first use of the word and going through the early '90s. The author is a food writer for the NY Times and the book is very well researched.

The Joy of Mixology by Gary Regan does a good job of explaining how cocktails are related to each other by putting them into families. His taxonomy may be a little odd, and in and of itself is not the last word in cocktails, but it offers a good perspective.

The Bar Book by Jeffrey Morgenthaler addresses technique. It's an opinionated book but he's usually right. Lots of great information. If I were starting off as a bartender and could only read one book, this is the one that would probably best set me up for success.

Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails by Ted Haigh is based around historic recipes, but each of them has a lot of history incorporated and you also get a good introduction to some of the more obscure ingredients that have come back into fashion recently.

I've reached eight, so I'll stop there. If you would like additional recommendations in the future, please feel free to reach out. I've been collecting bar books for the last six years and have amassed a fair few and even read one or two.

You sound like you're in an enviable position. It's great to have support for making learning a big part of working with food/beverage. Pretty sure I've read a couple of your owner's books and have loved them and found them very useful. It seems like a really great company to work for, as well.

I'd also like to quickly mention Imbibe Magazine, which comes out every two months and is a great way to keep up with what's going on in the beverage world. I keep the most recent couple issues available for my staff to look through.

If there's anything else you'd like insight on related to bringing bar staff into the fold I'd be very happy to help.

The list is fairly long...

My suggestions:

Jeff Morgenthaler's ( le_cigare_volant) The Bar Book: Elements of Cocktail Technique

Jim Meehan's Meehan's Bartender Manual & The PDT Cocktail Book

David Kaplan's Death & Co: Modern Classic Cocktails

These will get you going. The rest you'll have to learn on your feet.

For creativity, find some of the classic cocktail guides/books online for free. The Savoy Cocktail Book, The Gentleman's Companion and Harry's ABCs Of Mixing Cocktails are good places to start for historical reference. Remember, just because a recipe is in an old cocktail book doesn't automatically make it a classic. It makes it vintage. The classics are the one's that stand the test of time.

Death & Co has an entire chapter on nothing but "classic cocktails".

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You will have to look elsewhere for information on the "cocktails" of the 70s & 80s. You won't find a Slippery Nipple or Sex On The Beach in any of the above books. A reasonable reference is Gary Regan's (of bitters fame) The Bartender's Bible: 1001 Mixed Drinks and Everything You Need to Know to Set Up Your Bar

I would defer to the first 4 books for any discrepancies.

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Good Luck!

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